A 9 Part Series on Being Exhausted! Part 5.

Zapped to Zestful: Beating Extreme Fatigue

Extreme fatigue zaps our ability to enjoy life. The next leg of our journey in Exhausted!’s Episode 5: Zapped to Zestful: How Rebalancing Our Hormones can Restore Youthful Energy, Vigor, and Alertness discusses how critical it is to balance our hormones to achieve optimal health by having the body in a well-regulated state where there is coordinated integration of all its systems that are ready to be tuned like a symphony orchestra.

There are critical body functions we must be aware of and take care of in order to boost our energy levels and be able to rise to meet new challenges each and every day. 

Adrenal Dysregulation

When the body’s endocrine system becomes compromised with the overproduction of cortisol,  testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, DHEA, and other hormones, everything is impacted. In addition, adrenal dysfunction affects how the adrenal glands excrete cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine in response to stress. These hormones and adrenal glands play a critical role in fatigue. According to Dani Williamson, MSN, FNP, Integrated Health Nursecare, adrenal dysfunction affects our sleep cycle so that we do not wake up as well as we used to which leads us to become “wired but tired” otherwise known as extreme fatigue.  

Dani Williamson continues to state that the gut affects adrenals which in turn affects the thyroid which in turn affects the body’s hormones. The adrenal glands and hormones are an enormous factor in extreme fatigue and exhaustion. If the whole endocrine system is not functioning properly, neither is the body. Adrenal fatigue is dysregulation of the endocrine system of chronic endocrine dysregulation. The pituitary is the master gland that regulates the hormones below it in descending order:

• Pineal
• Parathyroids
• Thyroid
• Adrenals 
• Pancreas
• Gonads

Micronutrients like magnesium and zinc help balance the endocrine system.

Cortisol and Insulin

Sachin Patel, DC, Founder of The Living Proof Institute, indicates that there are 2 important hormones in the body. When the body is under stress, cortisol always increases blood sugar which in turn increases insulin production. The constant presence of cortisol during stress causes decreased insulin receptor sensitivity that creates a state of insulin resistance. In turn, cortisol resistance occurs when stress makes more cortisol and insulin to get the same blood sugar-regulating response. Dr. Patel states that people need to have control over cortisol.  

Stress can be caused by internal stressors (emotional, chemical, toxins) or external stressors (people change how they feel about the stressor by reconditioning how they see the world). An abundance mindset first impacts a person’s overall health, physiology, and chemistry, then energy, cortisol level, state of the nervous system, and finally the immune, digestive, healing, and repair systems.  

When more insulin is produced, increases in weight gain, cholesterol, blood pressure, and the risk of cancer, as well as decreased hormone production, occur. Dr. Patel states that insulin will carry out its functions in the body regardless of what creates the high state of insulin. Chronic low to high stress creates insulin resistance. The more insulin is secreted, the more the risk of chronic disease and illness increases. According to Dr. Patel, decreases in cortisol and insulin are a result of increasing efficiencies in the body which improves overall health and energy levels – beating extreme fatigue.

Sympathetic Nervous System

When the adrenal glands secrete epinephrine, this sympathetic hormone drives the stress response which includes breathing hard and becoming hyperaware of our surroundings.  Epinephrine is rapid-acting and is considered the fight or flight hormone. Cortisol becomes the ongoing stress maintenance remedy that is the main anti-inflammatory mechanism in the body and suppresses the damage from epinephrine.  

When the adrenal glands are pushed forward in the day from stress, Dr. K.P. Khalsa states that the awakeness hormones are not excreted until the middle of the day. A person is still sleepy when he arrives at work, wakes up in the middle of the day, and the sleepiness hormones are not secreted until well past bedtime. Melatonin that is secreted is not enough for deep sleep and the awakeness hormone (cortisol) is not secreted enough to wake a person up in the morning.

Parasympathetic Nervous System

Summer Bock, Fermentologist, Herbalist, Health Coach, says that people under stress have a fight, flight, or freeze response where blood pressure increases and blood moves out of the digestive tract into the arms to prepare for action. Cortisol and adrenaline increase to mobilize the body for action and insulin shuts off. At this time, people do not digest food well so there are few metabolic reactions to obtain nutrients from the food. People tend to wake up in the middle of the night because their blood sugar drops so inulin has to be secreted to put fuel in the body.  Summer says that people become ‘stuck’ in the sympathetic state and they experience extreme fatigue since they do not sleep well at night. The goal is to shift into the parasympathetic state which is the rest and digest part of the nervous system.

Tests for Hormone Imbalance

Tests that determine the possible hormone imbalances include: Dutch Complete (on the first day of a woman’s cycle and on any day for a man) indicates what hormones are depleted and which ones need to be balanced, TCH, Free T3, Free T4, and thyroid antibodies to identify an autoimmune thyroid condition, a saliva test which determines the adrenal levels in the body, and looking at the signs and symptoms that the person presents with during a medical visit.

Natural Adaptogens

Robert Roundtree, MD, Jill Carnahan, MD, ABIHM, IFMCP, Dani Williamson, MSN, FNP, and Debra Atkinson, recommend using natural adaptogens – non-toxic plants that are marketed as helping the body resist physical, chemical, or biological stressors of all kinds. Natural adaptogens to have better regulation of peak adrenal-endocrine function and provide the elements that are critical in maintaining the body’s energy throughout the day include: 

• Cordyceps (mushrooms)
• Minerals (selenium, magnesium)
• Medicinal plants (maca, ashwangandha, rhodiola rosea, ginseng)
• Vitamins (methylated Vitamin D, Vitamin C)
• Antioxidant (CoQ10)
• Acetylcysteine, alpha-lipoic acid
• Lifestyle changes 

Beating Extreme Fatigue 

When people are experiencing extreme fatigue and exhaustion, assistance from a medical professional, naturopathic doctors, or affiliated alternative care professionals is warranted to determine the root cause of the fatigue or exhaustion to improve metabolic function for optimal energy. When a person determines what systems are depleted, the problems can be corrected to provide a sustainable lifestyle. It is recommended that people use natural adaptogens when they are ’wired and tired’ to reach a calm and energized state. Let’s work on rebalancing our hormones to lead an incredible life journey!