Are you an SOB (stressed out bitch)? Well, are you a mother? Are you a wife? Do you work your ass off all day to come home to another “job”? Are you ALIVE? Then you are an SOB. Woman today do so much, we run around like a squirrel on crack from sun-up to sun-down and then we want to curl up a die. But wait, you crawl into bed (finally) and then your spouse whispers “do you want to get it on?” Jesus Christ. Literally, we pray he either dies a sudden death or we do.
Well, SOBS, we all have stress in our life, no matter how perfect your little universe is. Stress affects us at a cellular level and changes our internal chemistry. After awhile, all these changes cause our adrenal glands to give up on us. I am not going to bore you with the science of it all…instead I am going to tell you the signs of adrenal fatigue and then what we can do about it. You might always be a SOB but you will feel good doing it!
The symptoms of adrenal fatigue or stress-induced-exhaustion are as follows:
Weight gain around the middle or hip area
Fatigue
Sleep disturbances
Depression/Anxiety
Low blood pressure
Low blood sugar
Changes in skin pigment
NO libido (sex drive)
Menstrual irregularities
Sensitivity to caffeine or other chemicals
Allergies
Basically, you just feel like shit and you don’t know why! If you go into any doctors office in the world and complain about the above they might test your thyroid, check for anemia, and then probably suggest an anti-depressant as treatment. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! That really cracks me up and pisses me off. Treat the cause not the symptoms people.
So let’s talk treatment…SOBs have to take charge of their own health to change it! We can’t get rid of stress but we can make our body tougher and more resilient to it. The results of treatment are slow but over time you will feel better and your body chemistry will change. Here are the treatment options I lay out for my SOBs:
1. Lower your cortisol (stress hormone) whenever you can. Whether that means breathing for 5 minutes, a massage, exercise, reading after the kids are in bed, drinking (no, just kidding), just relax and take some ME time.
2.B-Stress Complex–one or two per day with food. I give a liquid B-Stress formula that is like rocket fuel…it works! I have it as a product for sale on the site.
3.B5–I recommend an extra B5 per day.
4.Adrenal glandulars/herbal combination–I like a combo product that is POTENT. I use ADR and do 2-4 caps/day
5.Omega 3 oils–2000-3000mg/day (fish is best)
6. If testing (saliva is what I use) reveals a high cortisol at night—Seriphos (phosphatidyl serine) 2 caps/bedtime
7.If testing reveals low cortisol all day, I do prescriptive cortisol 2-4 times per day. This has to be prescribed by a qualified physician….
8. DHEA– 10-25mg/day if testing reveals low levels
9. Anti-oxidant support–resveratrol, Vitamin C, Vitamin E
10. Diet–Whole foods (which means no crappy processed food–lean proteins, fruits, veg, whole grains)
11. Magnesium citrate–500-800 mg/day
I promise that if all you SOBs make a committment to change by doing some of the above your body will love you for it. You will age slower, you will feel better, you will lose weight, you will SURVIVE! I, personally, treat my adrenals every day with my basic supplementation/wellness guidelines and then do more aggressive treatment once or twice per year to keep my stress in check. I may still be a SOB but atleast my body is reacting healthfully to the stress.
rgds
dr.gb