Your Body’s Guardian Angels

Here you are in the chaos created by a pandemic added to the chaos of the year 2020. But in the middle of this confusion and stress, your body has real heroes: your adrenal glands!

They are your body’s guardian angels, and I want you to understand them because they are the difference between health and vitality, and disease and exhaustion.

In our more primitive incarnations as humans, the “fight or flight” syndrome was over very quickly.  We would either run from the threat or stand and fight, and the body’s stress response would be completed.  Today the stress we are under is often persistent and never-ending.  It overpowers our thoughts and our day-to-day lives, creating scenarios our ancestors could never have imagined.  Your body was not designed to handle a 24/7 stress load. When you don’t have a chance to recover, you can go down the spiral of ill health very quickly.

The Anatomy of Stress

I remember how fascinated I was when I first read about the stages of stress and how the body fatigues. Now, I want to help you to see how your adrenal glands are working for you every minute of every day to keep you healthy.  They compensate for our stress, for our terrible diets, for our busy lives.

Hans Selye, MD PhD (1907-1982) was a Hungarian endocrinologist who is often called the “Father of Stress.” He called his theory of what we now call “stress” the General Adaptation Syndrome, or GAS.

According to Selye, a stress is an “occurrence that could threaten the wellbeing or survival of an organism.”   Here’s what Dr. Selye said:

“Every stress leaves an indelible scar, and the organism pays for its survival after a stressful situation by becoming a little older.” 

We can only imagine how old we become after so many stresses that start so young for some of us!

Selye describes the stress response by using three stages of fatigue: alarm, resistance, and exhaustion.

What Stress Stage Are You?

Alarm: When your body is in a healthy state, with fully-functioning adrenal glands, it marshalls all of its resources effectively to handle stress. This is amazingly effective when the stress is temporary but becomes a problem if the stress goes on too long.

Resistance: With long-term stress, the body calls on other resources from the nervous system, trying to return itself to normal. Meanwhile, it must handle the continuing stress, so it never gets any rest at all. Soon, hormone levels are lessening, and fatigue and exhaustion begin to set in. Your amazing body is working to stay functional despite the ongoing stress, but it’s growing weary.

Exhaustion: Your body can’t keep up a “code red” condition for months and years. The constant output of hormones exhausts your body’s resources and organs, and you become susceptible to illness, or even death. Exhaustion is the stage when I start to see most of my patients.

Symptoms of Adrenal Exhaustion

Here are some clues for you to see how close to exhaustion your body may be:

• Sweet and carbohydrate cravings
• Increased fatigue especially in the afternoon
• Weight gain
• Increased difficulty handling stress
• Anxiousness
• Mood swings
• Memory problems
• Sleep issues
• High blood pressure
• Heartburn
• Yeast infections
• PMS
• Infertility
• Decreased Libido
• Hypoglycemia
• Impaired immune function
• Inflammation

As you age, and your stress continues, and your body strives to keep up. Suddenly, your blood pressure is higher when it’s always been low; your lipid levels and sugar levels are high when they were always normal in the past.  As women age and stress continues, heart disease becomes a genuine risk.  When you are young, you can push through almost anything you encounter.  As your stress increases with work and family and children, however, those days and years add up. Your resistance is reduced, and illness and disease can set in.

You can start to feel very old, very quickly.

Adrenals and Menopause

In addition to managing stress, the adrenals manufacture and secrete steroid hormones such as estrogen, testosterone, and cortisol. All your female hormones are necessary for health and wellness, and after menopause, the adrenals single-handedly create the bulk of these hormones all by themselves! If the adrenals have reached a severe level of fatigue by the time you are in your 40s, as they have for many women, you are in for a long, hard road ahead. 

Adrenal Recovery is Possible

Over the past 27 years, I’ve helped many thousands of patients who have recovered their adrenal function. Here’s a summary of how this can happen:

1. A patient comes in with many symptoms listed above, often in addition to other problems.
2. Labs show the condition of the adrenals, so we’re starting with a known measure of exhaustion.
3. Lifestyle and diet are crucial components of any effective program for recovery.
4. Exact, tested supplementation can reduce stress on the adrenals and supply nutrients to help the body rebuild the damage.
5. Targeted acupressure treatments reduce specific stresses from allergies, toxins, and hormone imbalances.
6. Follow-up labs and reduced or eliminated symptoms show real, stable improvement.

 Find Out More

Here is a free booklet with the story of how I developed my techniques and how those techniques work (practical information that shows how your body works and how to start recovering your health for the rest of your life).

Does Your Body Seem Out of Control—Your World Flipped Upside-Down? You may be suffering from hormone imbalances

Did you know that there are about 50 hormones in your body and that these hormones control almost everything?  Hormones affect the way you look, the way you act, your emotions, and your overall health. Many factors can damage your body’s hormonal control, such as aging, toxic buildup, microbial imbalance, and emotional or physical stress.

If your hormones are out of balance, you don’t feel well, and your world becomes out of whack. There are many symptoms related to hormone imbalances. Some of these you are probably familiar with like hot flashes, night sweats, extreme irritability, moodiness, digestive issues, joint pain, sleep problems, libido problems, and PMS. There are others that you might find surprising, such as:

Incontinence, migraines, depression, fatigue, wrinkly skin, weight, cold hands or feet, acne, thyroid dysfunction, endometriosis, PCOS, infertility, concentration, short term memory issues, no energy, poor muscle tone, poor balance and coordination, excess facial hair or hair loss, inability to handle stress (and quite a few more).

My Doctor Says My Blood Tests are Normal

Unfortunately, standard blood labs don’t adequately test for or reflect many hormonal imbalances and problems. If your doctor says that you are entirely healthy (despite your complaints) or that your problem “is in your head” or is “due to your nerves,” then it could be your hormones causing your problems.

Hormones are dynamic and continually changing, especially in women. To understand hormone problems, you would have to know how and when these changes are occurring and how they are changing relative to other hormones. A snapshot of blood hormone levels may appear to be “normal,” despite severe hormone imbalances.

Two Steps to a Happy Woman

STEP ONE: Testing

I have had to overcome the common problem of inaccurate hormone testing. To do this, I have researched and gained experience with a large number of different lab testing techniques. In addition to traditional blood labs, I use saliva, urine, and dried urine (“DUTCH”) labs. These labs are usually done at specific points in the menstrual cycle or are done as “cycle mapping” every few days throughout the cycle.

I also use extensive case history and reflex testing of the autonomic nervous system to determine high-level stresses and priorities. For example, is the body more stressed by the adrenal glands, thyroid gland, or ovaries? Starting with a hormone case knowing these basic facts allows me to “cut to the chase” and lab test only those areas that are causing the problems.

STEP TWO: Health Improvement

I don’t “treat” hormone problems. Treatment would involve using hormones, drugs, or surgeries to change the function or structure of the body in an attempt to improve a woman’s health.

My approach is to recognize that the body is already doing everything it can to heal itself. Also, only the body knows the entire scope of the problem and what needs to be done about it. No doctor could ever discover all of this information.

Therefore, I test and discover from the body what assistance it needs to overcome the “blocks and stops” that it’s running into, and help it to continue with the healing process. This technique can include exact supplementation, bio-identical hormones, diet and lifestyle changes, and some gentle yet powerful acupressure hormone techniques to relieve specific stresses.

I help your body to address the causes behind why it isn’t healing instead of treating the symptoms that result from its problems. You may achieve a stable state of health that you can maintain, instead of continually chasing an elusive “balance” for your hormones.

It is my greatest honor to have worked with thousands of patients and to have assisted their bodies with hormone imbalances. I have helped many women who have not responded well to medical or other alternative treatments with great success. I have numerous tools and protocols to handle difficult cases that have resisted all previous efforts. My approach is unique in many ways among medical and alternative health practices in helping women to recover their health and quality of life.

 Find Out More

Here is a free booklet with the story of how I developed my techniques and how those techniques work (practical information that shows how your body works and how to start recovering your health for the rest of your life).