Please help - I have suddenly been struck down with anxiety, depression and extreme fatigue - updated 10/02/15

"I am a 16 year old male suffering from adrenal fatigue.

About two months ago something happened. During a very long time i had been working out excessively in the gym and using a very high-caffeine drink before my workouts. I only rested one day a week and I usually spent that day studying or doing other activities. 

I felt great untill that one week when suddenly my energy wasn't quite as high as usual. I ignored my tiredness and drank my high-caffeine drink and worked out anyway. Then i started noticing my confidence going down for no reason. By the end of that week i was tired and in a strange way i didn't have my usual confidence. I ignored these symptoms and worked out with my high- caffeine drink anyway. Then one day after my workout something happened. I came home and had a HUGE "down", i was suddenly depressed and was struck by anxiety AND I was so tired. I also felt weak in my knees, wrists and hands. Ever since that day it has not gone away. I sleep over ten hours yet I'm tired and fatigued when i wake up. 

Now i am noticing other symptoms like blue/black under eyes, lines on my fingers and most of all i have lost the lust for life and being happy. (also sex drive for that matter). I also did the pipil test with the flashlight and my pupils seemed to struggle to keep attracting. 

My doctor didn't see anything wrong when he saw the urinal- and blood test but i know there is something wrong with my body. 

I am thinking about buying the Dr Wilson adrenal fatigue quarter pack. The only thing that i am unsure of is if there is any age restriction. I am only 16 but i really need to recover from this. My main concern is that this adrenal fatigue will mess my whole puberty and maturing process because the adrenals are responsible for 40% of the hormones or whatever...

Please help!"

(Quoted with permission)

_________________

Gary:

High caffeine pre-workout supplements are all the rage right now; however they are a deal with the devil, so to speak.  There is payback later in return for the immediate benefits.  

Symptoms of excess caffeine use include:

Immediate

• Fast and irregular heartbeat (palpitations).
• Increased blood pressure.
• Rambling speech and thoughts.
• Jitters.
• Nervousness and anxiety.
• Headaches.
• Tummy upset.
• Insomnia.
• Cardiac arrest (death).

Long term (if still alive!)

• Addiction.
• Stomach ulcers.
• Depression.
• Extreme tiredness, weakness of heart and muscles and extreme loss of stamina.

The risk of death is real:  at least two young men have died from cardiac arrest in New Zealand gyms in recent years, shortly after consuming pre-workout energy supplements.

Enough said about these pre-workout supplements, other than to say, "Don't take them!"

Let's get some help for this young man by answering his questions and giving some helpful advice.

Can he take Dr Wilson's Adrenal Fatigue supplements?

The answer is "Yes!" His signs and symptoms, including pupil test, are consistent with adrenal fatigue and there is no age for diet and nutrient interventions to aid recovery.  His story and description of symptoms point to his having exhausted and or damaged his adrenal glands, presumably from the combination of excessive use of stimulants combined with hard daily workouts and presumably an inadequate diet.

How the adrenals work

The adrenal glands manufacture almost 50 different hormones, including steroid hormones such as adrenalin, cortisol, aldosterone, estrogen and testosterone.  Adrenalin and cortisol are shot into the bloodstream during stress such as when working out.  These hormones quicken the pulse, increase blood pressure, mobilise fats and sugars, heighten the senses and generally prepare the body and mind for battle (very much like caffeine when you think about it).  Yes, caffeine stimulates the adrenals to release these hormones.  Here the problems begin!

The adrenals do not have an endless supply of cortisol and adrenalin: they continuously produce tiny amounts of these hormones which are carefully stored in readiness for the occasional stressful event.  If the adrenals are being constantly signalled to drop their loads due to excessive caffeine consumption, intense workouts and a fast life in general, then the adrenals can quickly be depleted and even begin to suffer damage.  Especially if combined with a nutrient-poor diet.  

The end result can be CRASH and BURN big time, including cardiac failure because the adrenal hormones regulate blood pressure and heart function (think of the paramedic injecting adrenaline directly into the heart muscle when resuscitating a victim of cardiac arrest).

Dr Wilson's products are safe to take at any age.  If they contained hormones, I would not be saying this.  Dr Wilson's products are carefully formulated nutritional products derived from the best ingredients available.  There are no hormones in them at all: The ingredients provide the nutritional substrate that exhausted and damaged glands so desperately need to both repair and to manufacture more hormones as and when required.

There are many adrenal support supplements available nowadays and I have played round with many over the years.  However, each time i have gone full circle back to Dr Wilson's adrenal products.  His may be quite expensive but they are simply the best.

I have looked at the medical tests that this young man's doctor ordered and the doctor is correct when reviewing the test results to conclude that he could see nothing the matter.  

For two reasons:

1. The doctor ordered the wrong tests, if he was wanting to assess adrenal function.
2. Doctors are no longer taught about how to recognise or treat adrenal fatigue.  Medicine will only recognise adrenal shutdown at its most extreme (Addison's) for which the treatment is powerful patent steroids.

(Adrenal fatigue has been written out of the medical textbooks since the late 1950's at about the time of the commercial launch of a steroid drug called Prednisone.  Previously, doctors were taught how to use glandular extracts for the treatment of adrenal exhaustion).

Here is what I recommend for this young man:

• Commence a course of Dr Wilson's adrenal fatigue programme under the guidance of a trained health professional.  Refer here to find a practitioner.  
• Start with Dr Wilson's Adrenal Rebuilder, Super Adrenal Stress Formula and Adrenal C.
• It may be necessary to consistently follow an adrenal fatigue recovery programme for as long as three months - sometimes longer - to be sure that one has recovered.  Young people generally recover faster than older people.
• Avoid caffeine and other stimulants and get plenty of rest, including regular sleep.
• Exercise, but only every second day.  The exercise may be invigorating while not being exhausting.
• Ensure the diet is rich in all of the nutrients the body requires to manufacture lean tissue, hormones and neurotransmitters.  This means a wide range of fats and proteins from fresh animal, fish and plant sources.  Eggs are a good source of everything.  Eat bright and dark vegetables and berries for powerful protective antioxidants.  
• In addition to Dr Wilson's adrenal formulations, take a good quality multivitamin.
• Protein is not stored like fat and sugar in the body.  If protein is not immediately available from digestion for tissue repair, hormone production and so on, then the protein will be taken from lean tissues, thus weakening the body.  To become stronger and healthier it is a good rule of thumb to have a little protein about every four waking hours.
• If there has not been a significant improvement within about six weeks then it may be wise to investigate for additional possibilities that may contribute to chronic fatigue, such as glandular fever, which is very common in young men and women but difficult to diagnose until after the disease has run its course.

Further reading:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11398615

About this website 

The advice in these articles is given freely without promise or obligation. Its all about giving you and your family the tools and information to take control of your health and fitness.

Candida and Fungal Infections? Gary Moller recommends you explore this programme: Click Here!

Questions from a client about her nutritional programme

The following article is based on some excellent questions from a client.  So good that I want to share her questions and my answers with my readers:
_______________________________
Gary,
Just a few questions...

Question:

Adrenal C, Adrenal Stress + Smoothie just seems like a BIG dose of vitamins and minerals. Why do I need all of this? I am already showing high levels of Vit B12 in my blood, so I'm struggling to see I need more of the same?

Answer:

The high levels are probably due to having taken supplementary B12.  The good news about producing such high levels in the blood test is this is evidence that the vitamins are being absorbed from the gut into the blood stream.  It may take several days for the levels to return to "normal" as the body either sucks the vitamins into cells and storage, or excretes any excess.  If you are having a blood test that includes vitamin and mineral levels, it would be prudent to avoid any dietary supplements for the best part of a week so that baseline levels in the blood can be determined.

Having said this, it is important to note that the blood is merely the body's delivery system to the cells and what appears in the blood may have no direct bearing on what is found in the cells themselves and it is what is going on the cells which is most important from the viewpoint of health and well-being.  The Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis is arguably the best and most practical tool for assessing what is going on at the cellular level in the body.

The actual doses being taken with the Super Smoothie and Dr Wilson's products is not high at all; but they do exceed official recommendations for daily intake.  This is intentional.  You are not taking mega doses of anything.

WHO and other agency guidelines for daily allowances are very misleading: Levels of recommended intake are based on what is necessary to avoid overt starvation-related disease such as rickets and pellagra.  What is needed for "optimum nutrition" may be completely different.  This may be especially the case if a person is under any kind of stress; be that from injury, illness, exercise or toxic exposures.  With ageing, needs increase - they sure don't decrease!  Also, there are individual differences: Some people naturally need a lot more than others.  Again the Hair Tissue test is one of the best tools for determining individual needs.

Below is an article by Dr James Wilson, which explains the use of vitamins and minerals for adrenal and thyroid support.  Dr Wilson is arguably the World's leading authority on adrenal, thyroid and other glandular disorders:

Adrenal Fatigue Vitamins by Gary Moller

Question:

I have also read that if you take for too long that the result can be permanent depression of adrenal function. How do we know when the “job is done” and the supplements are no longer needed?

 Answer:

Taking vitamins and minerals, including glandular extracts (must be in a form that has ALL hormone residues removed) will not suppress adrenal function.  At least 80% of the people I test require MORE adrenal and thyroid support, not LESS.

Hormone-based drugs like Cortisone and Prednisone and thyroxine will definitely suppress adrenal and thyroid function and will risk long term dependency.  In fact, the last course by Dr James Wilson that I attended was on the subject of how to safely wean a patient off dependency on Prednisone and cortisone hormones.  Its a huge problem and few medical practitioners know how to do it safely and effectively.  Its a huge problem.

Here is feedback from one of my clients about his struggles with fibromyalgia and dependency on Prednisone:
http://blog.garymoller.com/2013/02/feedback-from-person-who-has-been.html

Question:

How is it that glandular extracts taken by mouth don't just get broken down and absorbed as protein etc, as if I was consuming food?

 Answer:

Glandular extracts are a fascinating and exciting form of therapy and it works.  I'll use myself as an example:
Around about 1990, I was not well and underwent a 24 hour collection of urinary cortisol.  The result was dangerously low cortisol levels, bordering on Addisons.  My Dr wanted me to commence a course of Prednisone immediately.  I said, "leave it with me a few weeks, please".  I located some adrenal glandular extracts and began taking them.  The improvement in symptoms were noticed within a few days.  A followup unrinary cortisol test revealed cortisol levels close to "normal".  My Dr was astonished with the turnaround.  I did not tell him what I had done (should have; but I was part of the "medical system" at the time and taking of natural products was actively discouraged and I could not be seen to be a traitor within!).

Glandular extracts were struggling way back then due to hostility from mainstream medicine, sadly.  With the outbreak of Mad Cow disease in the UK and elsewhere, glandular extracts disappeared entirely off the market.  I understand that Dr Wilson is one of the only sources of glandular extracts nowadays and his are sourced from porcine sources - not bovine.  One very important point about glandular extracts is they must have all hormones removed.

Yes, digestion will break the glandular extracts down to their base nutrients for absorption across the intestinal wall.  The glands will then uptake what is needed from the circulating nutrients to repair and nourish as required.

The following PDF is from Dr Wilson and explains in more detail questions about the use of glandular extrtacts.

Adrenal Rebuilder - Frequently Asked Questions - Doctor Wilson's Original Formulations

Question:

The quantities Dr Wilson recommends for these products seems to be 4 or more tablets a day. If I only take 1-2/day will results just be slower?

Answer:

This is always a difficult one:  The cost of taking lots and lots of pills can be off-putting and some people are simply freaked out by the prospect of taking all hose pills!  I always work on the motto: "Start Low - Go Slow" rather than going for the Big Hit.

In your case, you have what appears to be a good diet and you have been taking additional vitamins and minerals for several months, so we are not starting from scratch.  What your Hair Tissue tests indicate is a consistent pattern of adrenal fatigue and thyroid issues.  So it is time for a switch in emphaisis, zeroing in on adrenal and thyroid support.

It may be slower but I think it is best to take one's time, gently nudging the body in the right direction.  Bear in mind, as well, that the Super Smoothie has many of the ingredients in Dr Wilson's products, so I think we are fine.  Also, you are not a large person, although very active (active people generally have higher nutrient needs).

When do we know the job is done?  The best measure will  be the Hair Tissue test, plus you reporting near or full resolution of signs and symptoms of ill health and feeling full of energy.

 Question:

I can't find out any information on Thyro-Mend which I assume is for thyroid support. What is it? What is it's effect?

Answer:

I have only had this product since the beginning of the year and it plugs a gap in my prescribing wonderfully.  I find it works well with Dr Wilson's adrenal products.  The feedback, to date, has been exciting, especially with athletes who have shown physical improvements in performance.  The stop watch and the weights lifted do not lie.

Here is detailed information about Thyro-Mend:

Douglas Thyromend by Gary Moller

 Question:

Do we still need extra magnesium and iodine solution in our smoothie?

Answer:

The answer is "No!"  The adrenal products and Thyro-Mend have it all covered.  But do not throw these away: Add a small single dose per day to your smoothies until what remains is finished.

 Question:

Where does Candida fit into all of this as after the 2nd hair analysis this was where the focus turned.

Answer:

Sticking to a full-on candida elimination diet is tough to stick to for most people.  I think you have gone hard out for long enough on candida and it is now time to change the emphasis, while - of course - not letting off on dealing with candida.  Please continue to follow a "candida diet" but you can relax a little if you like.  Continue to take a daily probiotic.  Candida is closely associated with adrenal and thyroid problems and related issues such as oestrogen dominance in women which is now a consistent and persistent feature in your Hair Tissue tests.  The adjusted treatment regime that you are now doing definitely continues to address any ongoing issues that may be related to candida and fungal infections.

Healthy adrenals and thyroid are central to having a strong immune system in place and it is your immune system that will ultimately clear you of infection once and for all.  Keep a close eye on signs of candida such as the spit test.  There should be a gradual improvement.

I trust I have answered your questions sufficiently?  And, thank you for asking.

Gary