Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Adrenal Fatigue and Estrogen Dominance

As I mentioned in my earlier blog, Paul Check is a Holistic Health Practitioner and trainer who founded the C.H.E.K. Institute in California for advanced trainers and holistic health coaches.  He wrote How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy, and I recommend his website and blog.  (Paulcheksblog.com and Chekinstitute.com)    

I came to know about Paul Chek training as I began working in a private, personal training gym in Chicago.  The operation primarily employs C.H.E.K. certified trainers.  For the most part the facility operates under the C.H.E.K. philosophy, which entails his method of exercise, nutrition and holistic health.  This includes exercise based on natural movements such as bending, lunging and squatting, as well as organic eating, and most of the trainers buy their food directly from farms, including raw milk.  (I will talk about the pros and cons of raw milk in a later post.)


Last year I met Kristie Yaakoby, a certified C.H.E.K. trainer and C.H.E.K. Functional Diagnostic Nutritionist who happened to be at the gym.  Kristie had purchased all the equipment for the workout room and was stopping by to look at it, as she was engaged in moving to Michigan to open her own gym and farm.  (Pictures of her gym and farm can be seen on her website, www.Balancemethods.com)

As I shared in the last blog, I mentioned to Kristie that I was chronically tired.  Kristie told me that she would not be surprised if I was estrogen dominant and had adrenal fatigue.  I was not familiar with these terms, as I had not heard them after years on telling my Western medicine doctors that I was tired.  A saliva test Kristie gave me revealed that indeed I had very low levels of progesterone causing an imbalance with the estrogen, as well as Adrenal Fatigue.  I told this to my Western medicine doctor who recommended that I follow Kristie's protocol.

The protocol is detailed and extensive, but well worth it:  I now began to eat all organic food (before I was eating some organic food) and I am able to get really good quality filtered water from the gym (the filter is about $300), and I am thinking about buying a good water filter for my apartment.  My home Brita filter is in no way as comprehensive as a better filter--it's just not that effective.  Actually Kangen water is available at the gym.  Kangen water, which is alkaline, is used in hospitals in Japan, and I will talk about this in a later blog.

I put a water filter on my shower head as the toxins absorbed in one shower equates to about a weeks worth of drinking it.  The City of Chicago, where I live, sends out an annual brochure about it's water quality, listing trace amount of toxins present in the water--but, in general, many cities can have water containing not just chlorine, but the more dangerous disinfectant byproducts, which are carcinogenic, as well as heavy metals, and pharmaceuticals. 

Obviously eating all organic food is indeed more expensive, and I am easily tempted to shop at Whole Foods, located right across the street from the gym, and also right across the street from my apartment elsewhere in the city, rather than make the trip to Trader Joe's to save money.  But at this point, I am beginning to shop at a Farmer's Market, using Whole Foods only as a supplement in order to minimize costs.  I am going to track my expenses and hopefully come up with a relatively cost effective way to shop, and post it, since I have run into several people who have told me that they don't buy organic because of the expense.

I also avoid eating GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms).  GMOs are so ubiquitous that Whole Foods in the Chicago Loop said they use GMO canola oil in their deli--according to them all canola oil is from GMO sources.*  I will talk about GMOs in another forum, but they have been banned in some other countries, and there is some research linking them to various kinds of diseases.

Another complicity in my protocol is that I also took a blood test for food sensitivities.  (The MRT--Mediated Relief Food Sensitivity test)  Food sensitivities are different from food allergies and food intolerances.  Food allergies happen in the tissue.  For example, swelling from a bee sting or a rash from strawberries is a reaction in the tissues.  Food intolerance occurs in the gut.  Gluten or lactose intolerance are examples.  Food sensitivities occur in the blood and trigger an immune response and inflammation. 

Not rotating foods can lead to food sensitivities, and I have avoided many common foods for six months, and I can now re-introduce them back into my diet one-by-one:  Tomatoes, onions, carrots, and a host of others that reacted in my blood.  Since I am on a protocol for exhaustion caused by the Adrenal Fatigue and Estrogen Dominance, it is essential for me to avoid these foods that still cause me an immune response.

The protocol includes bio identical progesterone.  Before starting the progesterone, I would sleep 10-12 hours or more and wake up feeling "beat-up," aching like I had been kicked all over.  This fatigue was occurring on and off again for years.  Eventually, I scaled back my life, my schedule, and chose jobs for which I did not have to get up in the morning.   My adrenal fatigue had progressed so far that I was no longer even making enough cortisol to wake me up early, and I "didn't do" mornings. 

The estrogen dominance was making the Adrenal Fatigue worse and exhausting me as well.  (These two conditinos are often linked.)  The other two bio identicals in my protocol are Pregnenolone (the "mother" hormone needed to produce other hormones) and a very small dose of DHEA.  I have experienced no negative side effects from any of the bio identicals, and of course, these are natural so I don't have to worry about them causing cancer.

Aside from my very specific organic diet, dealing with the food sensitivities, there was an another test I took that has helped me immensely.  I took the Metabolic Typing test, which revealed that I needed a certain amount of protein and fat in my diet, as well as carbs from vegetables.  Depending on which type a person is (protein, carb, or mixed type) it is essential to balance the ratio of protein, carbs, and fats.  In my case, I was so hungry I was eating all day long, I could not get full--until I started eating for my type.  When I snack I also stick to this appropriate ratio for my Protein Type.  I will do a whole post on Metabolic Typing.

I took Healthexcel's Metabolic Typing Test online as recommended by Kristie, and then received a whole supplemental protocol from Kristie through Ultra Life, Inc.--this company, where I get my vitamins and glandulars, can only be utilized via a holistic/health professional.  But aside from the bio identicals and glandulars, I take and multivitamin from Ultra Life--very important to get a high quality one--I will not buy the one's at Whole Foods--there will be list of ingredients to avoid in vitamins in a future blog.  I take Glutathione from MaxGL for removing heavy metals, and a pro biotic from Ultra Life.

All in all, although this is a complex protocol based on several tests, I have seen great results.  I am now sleeping 10 hours a night (down from 10-12 or more), and still have several more months on the protocol, so I expect to have even more energy then.

A Votre Sante (Here's to your health), Alix




*Tip of the day:  Whole Foods sells a great house brand ruffled potato chip--and they are non GMO.

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