Store
Home > Blog > Adrenal Health > How to Take Dietary Supplements in Adrenal Fatigue

How to Take Dietary Supplements in Adrenal Fatigue

As the name suggests, dietary supplements are what you take to supplement your diet. In essence, they are supposed to fill in any nutritional gaps left over by your day-to-day intake of food, and that can vary from person to person and from diet to diet. In some cases, they can also be used in therapeutic doses – meaning doses that generally exceed the daily-recommended allowance – in order to boost a particular function or strengthen a specific weakness.

Although the dietary supplements industry is a 37-billion-dollar business, it’s not regulated by the FDA to the degree that it does with prescription medication because nutritional supplements sold over the counter are considered as safe, generally speaking.

Supplements can range from herbal supplements such as Ginkgo and milk thistle, to animal-based supplements such as royal jelly and fish oil, to vitamin supplements such as B12 and D3. Some dietary supplements have been studied and researched enough to prove their effectiveness. For example:

dietary supplements in a hand to help adrenal fatigue/

  • Folic acid – pregnant women need to get 400 micrograms a day through supplements or fortified foods in order to avoid serious birth defects to their babies.
  • Vitamin B12 – this is essential for vegans and vegetarians since they don’t get enough through their diets, but also many meat-eaters are deficient in B12 and should supplement. Serious B12 deficiency can be very dangerous.
  • Calcium and Vitamin D – both are needed together in order to help strengthen bones, especially for middle-aged women who are more at risk of developing brittle bones and osteoporosis. Not everyone gets enough sun exposure or calcium through diet.
  • Magnesium – most people are deficient in magnesium without even knowing it and so may need to take a supplement for a while to reverse the harmful effects of the deficiency.
  • Omega-3 Fatty Acids – especially those from fish oils, can be very helpful in supporting heart health, lowering triglyceride levels, and even in helping prevent heart disease.

But aside from some of these well-researched cases, there is a sea of options out there, some of which claim powerful health benefits and not really advertising the possible risks associated with taking them. Most people are unaware that some of the labels given to supplements can be misleading.

For example, even though a supplement can be labeled “natural,” that does not automatically make it safe. Keep in mind, not every herb or plant found in nature is fit for human consumption, and the same goes for supplements made from herbs or plants. But even supplements that are harmless in certain cases can prove harmful in others.

Take the case of St. John’s wort – a popular herb that helps with depression. Although a few studies have shown that if it is taken correctly it can and does have a positive effect on mood for many people, it can be quite risky if taken while also on antibiotics, antidepressants, and anticoagulants as it can weaken their effects.

Risks of Dietary Supplements for Adrenal Fatigue

The effectiveness and risks of taking supplements becomes even more important to understand if you have a chronic condition like Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS) or any dysregulation in your NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) Stress Response. And there are many reasons for this.

AFS can become a debilitating condition if not addressed properly and promptly, but because the mainstream medical community does not yet recognize it, many sufferers live with it for years until they find health coaches and functional medical doctors that can provide them with the right guidance. By that time, their adrenal glands may have weakened to the point that even taking safe dietary supplements may backfire and create more stress on the system.

lady who needs to take dietary supplements for stressChronic stress, whether physical or psychological, is the main cause of adrenal fatigue. In the beginning phases of AFS, the adrenal glands increase their output of cortisol, the body’s main anti-stress hormone, in order to neutralize this rising level of stress. These phases are usually asymptomatic, or the symptoms are mild and short-lived and so you wouldn’t really notice them.

But once you get to the more advanced stages where your adrenals are exhausted and can no longer produce enough cortisol, you begin to notice symptoms like fatigue, weight issues, sleep problems, PMS, hair loss, mild depression, anxiety, heart palpitations, infertility, lowered immunity, and food and drug sensitivities, among others.

And because the adrenal glands are part of the NEM, when they are out of balance, they affect the balance of the other organs and systems involved in the body’s global stress response. You can get increased inflammation, impaired detoxification, slowed metabolism, and other disturbances in the different NEM circuits.

In order to recover from AFS and to rebalance the NEM, a holistic health plan that consists of an adrenal fatigue diet, stress management, a lot of rest and sleep, mild exercise, and dietary supplements is the most effective method. But because your system is so fragile when you are in the grip of AFS, all of these changes need to be gradual, gentle, and preferably supervised. This is especially important with the use of supplements.

dietary supplements in the shape of a question markSupplements in AFS recovery can really be a hit or miss if you do it alone, or if you’re not very experienced. And there are two major risks involved with taking supplements for AFS recovery. The first is that you try the shotgun approach by taking a bunch of different supplements, hoping that some combination will work out.

The best case scenario with this approach is that you will start to see some improvements, but you won’t know which supplements actually worked, and so you may end up having to keep taking the whole lot of them. This can eventually turn into the worst case scenario, which is that you begin to get paradoxical reactions with some supplements interacting negatively with others and with your system, and that could lead to a toxic build up in your body and even an adrenal crash.

The other big risk is that you take the wrong kinds of supplements, or the wrong dosages, or at the wrong times. The best case scenario for this is that they don’t work and you are left without the support of dietary supplements in your road to recovering from AFS. The worst case scenario though is that you get negative effects or paradoxical reactions, and again, that could lead to adrenal crashes or further health problems.

How to Approach Dietary Supplements Correctly

If you have AFS, or another chronic condition, supplements need to be taken with a lot of caution. Those who are sensitive should always consult a health care professional literate in AFS and its many clinical presentations. Take it slow. Letting the body adapt to the supplements can be helpful in some cases. This should be done alongside, or after, implementing a proper diet that covers most of your nutritional needs.

The source and quality of the supplements you take is another consideration. Do your best to make sure the brands you choose have good reviews and source their ingredients from well-established suppliers.

a doctor holding dietary supplementsBe discerning with who gives you advice about supplements. Although some of the employees working at health food stores may have some experience with supplements and nutrition, most of them are not licensed practitioners and don’t have enough experience to understand the risks involved in supplementing for AFS or other chronic conditions.

Nutritional coaches and functional medicine doctors are better options. Even better are AFS specialists, as their years of experience plus their individualized plans can give you the most benefits from supplements with minimal risks.

For adrenal fatigue, there are three types of supplements that are most frequently used:

  1. Nutritional supplements, such as vitamins and minerals.
  2. Adaptogens, which are herbs that help your body adapt more easily to stress, like ashwagandha and rhodiola.
  3. Adrenal glandulars, which help support adrenal gland function.

The last two types in particular should be taken strictly under supervision. In extreme cases, even vitamins and minerals can be problematic. We see this commonly in many who react adversely with vitamin C as they try to self navigate themselves to recovery . Remember that the body changes over time. Without close monitoring and experience, what is right at one point in time can be very wrong at another point in time. Also what works for one person may make another person worse. Do not take supplementation lightly unless you are very confident of your ability to navigate if something goes wrong. While multivitamins may seem to be a simple option as they can cover many different needs at once, they are not very effective at targeting weak points related to certain health conditions, like adrenal fatigue.

When supplementing for AFS, you need to keep the long-view. It may take anywhere from several weeks to several months to begin to see changes. And along the way, you may need to course-correct as your body reacts to the different changes you are making.

A good rule of thumb for dietary supplements for chronic conditions is to begin with smaller doses and then increase if necessary as you gain more strength. And, again, supplements should never replace a proper diet, good sleep, the right kind of exercise, and stress management. They should only be used to fill in any gaps or support these changes until you don’t need the support anymore.

© Copyright 2019 Michael Lam, M.D. All Rights Reserved.


Dr. Lam's Key Question

With labels like herbal, all natural, organic, or effective, you’d think that dietary supplements are at least safe, if not very healthy. But the truth is that there is a right way and a wrong way to take them, and the difference could cost you your health.

dietary supplements

Ready to Start Your
Adrenal Fatigue Recovery Journey?
FREE HEALTH CONSULTATION
Dr. Lam Coaching is rated 4.7 / 5 average from 70+ reviews on Google
userphone-handsetmap-markermagnifiercrossmenu