TPV Podcast, Episode 264: Coping Mentally with New Physical Limitations

In this episode, Stacy and Sarah talk about Adrenal Fatigue and how to keep your spirits up when you can’t seem to get ahead.

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The Paleo View (TPV), Episode 264: Coping Mentally with New Physical Limitations

• Intro (0:00)
• News and Views (0:41)
  • Stacy is enjoying her long weekend because this is her busy season at work and the kids just went back to school!
  • She picked apples. See our Apple Tutorial!
  • Paleo Principles update: Sarah is doing her final read throughs! Almost done!
  • Sarah really enjoys reading this book. She thinks its her best one yet.
  • Stacy has been focusing on mindset lately to look at things more positively.
• Question from Nancy (8:27): “My issue is I totally feel zonked out. Very little if any energy throughout the day. It’s all I can do to make it through until bedtime at which time I crash and find it difficult to get up in the morning. I do realize this can at least in part be related to my elevated thyroid numbers. But I think that I have adrenal issues on top of it. I have a very stressful job (high school guidance counselor) and see very little reprieve during the day. I’ve worked as a school counselor for almost 20 years and I think it’s caught up with me. I have gotten to the point where I have actually no (and I mean no) fight or flight response. Someone like Michael from Halloween could jump out of the bushes and try to scare me and the only response I would have would be “oh, hi!”. I would have absolutely no racing heart, etc. or any of those normal fight or flight responses. This started about 8 months ago when I could feel my heart racing start to slow down or feel muffled. Now that feeling has evolved into having absolutely no flight or flight response at all…..not even when I see someone cute…..no heart flip flops. I’ve shared this information with my doctor and he feels some of it is related to my thyroid and some of it’s related to adrenal fatigue. My doc wants to slowly regulate my thyroid medication as to move quickly will put too much strain on my adrenals. He says once we get my thyroid on track we’ll work on the adrenals. But I’m not sure and it’s starting to scare me and feel at some point my adrenals will just stop working all together. Not sure what to do about it as I’d like to get my adrenals back on track. Right now my doctor doesn’t want me to do any strenuous exercise as he feels it would overtax my weakened adrenals. I’m an athlete who formerly ran, lifted weights, and biked throughout the week. And now I walk just to get fresh air and try to keep it moving. That’s a downer for me, but it’s all I can do. I also work on stress management by relaxing, meditating, listening to cool music and generally try to mentally separate from my work day when I’m not at work. I enjoyed your blog post Sarah about adrenal fatigue and feel the information helpful. Thanks so much for what you do, Sarah and Stacy. You both rock!!”
  • See Sarah’s post series on Adrenal Fatigue here.
  • Stacy says take the saliva test if you think you have adrenal issues!
  • When Stacy had issues, she took supplements and changed lifestyle when she had issues.
  • Work on your sleep! See Sarah on naps.
  • Look at your life and take out anything that’s not adding value and only adding stress. Stacy had to pull back from Paleo blogging when she had issues.
  • Maybe change your job to be less stressful
  • Nutrient dense foods and supplements as well.
  • Anything that’s a stress, you should tackle it. Stacy had to unpack boxes to reduce her stress.
  • Missing your workouts can be a downer, but focus on the positives of what you can do!
  • Her T3 and T4 thyroid hormones are not too bad, but her Thyroid stimulating hormone is very high.
  • Thyroid levels have to be taken on slowly because overdosing can be life threatening.
  • Sarah had been working on it for years now.
  • See our show with Isabella Wentz for more
  • There is crossover Thyroids, stress axis and sex hormones. She could have low progesterone levels too.
  • And cortisol could be high in the morning, low in the afternoon. She has to test to know how her thyroids are working.
  • There’s so much going on with this stuff that you need a doctor that knows what to do with it.
  • Just because your doctor is working on thyroid doesn’t mean you can’t do diet and lifestyle factors to improve adrenals.
  • Going outside in the day, light therapy, amber glasses, meditation, stress reduction all good ideas
  • Walking is great but maybe yoga or martial arts as well?
  • Supplement with Vitamin C and Magnesium and B Vitamins to combat stress! Sarah likes Metagenics, Douglas Labs, Seeking Health, and Designs for Health brands.
  • Get Omega-3s from seafood once a day and maybe short term fish oil supplementation.
  • The most important tools for recovering: Patience (it takes time!) and self-care (you are important and you need to recognize and meet your needs!).
  • Develop priorities that protect you in the future.
  • This sucks, but you CAN recover from it!
  • Stacy points out that there’s a reason the Serenity Prayer is popular. Don’t focus on what you can’t change. Focus on what you can change and think about the positivity!
  • Should isn’t a positive word. Don’t ever use it on yourself.
  • Again, see Sarah’s post series on Adrenal Fatigue here.
  • Sarah doesn’t know the sign of the horns, apparently. WTF. How is she going to ward off the evil eye?
  • Swedish Death Metal: Listen to Opeth, my favorite band.
• Rate and review us. Goodbye!
• Outro (36:29)