Has there ever been a time in your life where your body just didn’t feel right? You then go to your doctor who tells you that you’re fine, and you’ll just “have to live with it.”  We hear stories like this over and over again, and today I’d like to share a personal experience I recently went through. A couple of months ago, I started to feel really run down. I was tired all of the time, sometimes I felt anxious, my heart would race (especially in the morning when I woke up), I had difficulty with my digestion, was dizzy and felt lightheaded when I stood up, noticed more hair loss, had cold hands and feet, headaches, and was getting sick more often (my immune system is usually excellent). I also noticed PMS symptoms, which I haven’t had since high school. Mentally I felt as if I were walking in a fog. I had trouble concentrating and an unusually poor memory.

My training in nutrition and wellness lead me to suspect that I had adrenal fatigue, which could also be the cause of my PMS symptoms (The stress hormone, cortisol, that the adrenal glands produce also impacts the production of the female sex hormones. As an aside, I should mention that cortisol also impacts thyroid function). Before I ran my own testing, I went to my primary care physician to get his input. He ran some blood tests and per my request also checked my cortisol, thyroid hormones, and checked for celiac disease (which is intolerance to gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley). After reviewing the results, he said that everything, including my cortisol level, was “normal”. When asked what to do to alleviate these symptoms, he replied  “Sometimes you just have to learn to live with these things”. I must say that I have a tremendous amount of respect for my doctor, and the purpose of this blog is not to speak harshly about him or the medical community. My goal is to bring awareness to the notion that sometimes doctors don’t have all of the answers.

A week later, I repeated the testing through our clinic and was diagnosed with stage 2 adrenal fatigue. As I suspected, my adrenal glands had been overworked, and were not function properly, which was causing the laundry list of symptoms I mentioned earlier. I started taking bio-identical hormones (which are in liquid form and placed under your tongue), made sure to eat according to my metabolic type, and changed my exercise routine to one that would support my overly stressed body. I started to feel better in a couple of days. My mental clarity and mood were the first symptoms I noticed improvement in. My energy level has also gradually increased, and my PMS symptoms are gone.

You might be wondering how the tests my doctor ran came out “normal” while the ones that were conducted through our clinic weren’t. It’s because the tests we run look at sub clinical levels. In other words, the tests your doctor run are set up to identify disease or severe dysfunction. They are not sensitive to the more subtle shifts that take place in your body when you begin to have symptoms THAT CAN LATER BECOME DISEASE.

So, as for me, I’ve found one piece of my puzzle. I’m now working on getting answers to explain why I’m having issues with my digestion, something I’ve never had to deal with. If you need help putting the pieces of the puzzle together for your own medical needs, we’re here to help.

Dorothy Lizak

Nutrition and Wellness Specialist