Adrenal Insufficiency/Hypothyroid

Just want to hear anyone with Adrenal Insufficiency+Hypothyroid and how they went about eating a Peat inspired diet. To me it seems if you want to heal your adrenals eating Peat like is very hard, due to the sugar, dairy and potassium. Still I've soldiered along and drank milk with sugar even though it lowers my body temperature. Anything with potassium throws my electrolyte balance way off because I end up losing too much sodium. Salt wasting is a problem for me due to my weak adrenal glands.

But surely enough my health has continued to get better even though very slowly.

I just want to reach out to others with a similar issue and discuss how you went about your recovery.

Dezz.

You can take in more sodium if you are losing too much - I add baking soda to juice, and salt food generously. Making sure you get calcium (more than phosphorus) and magnesium may help too.
If milk is lowering your temperature, it could be either because it's too much liquid at this stage - not good, mitigated by more solid or calorie-dense food, eg cheese, or because it is lowering the stress hormones that were previously keeping temps up.
If what you are doing is making you feel worse, it's probably a sign to see if you can improve on it, rather than just soldier on.

If you can get your thyroid metabolism and nutrition up, it will take a load off your adrenals - there won't be so much demand for stress hormones to keep you alive. My impression is they usually recover quickly, if there was anything wrong with them in the first place, which there often isn't.

If you haven't already, you could take a look at the general food guidelines in the Diet subforum.

I'm in this same situation and just found the ray peat forum yesterday. Additionally my sex hormones are also low.

The conflict for me along with the low body temp issue is that I don't do well on dairy. It gives me some congestion and lends to constipation for me.

I would be interested to hear what if any supplements have helped u.

It really depends how bad the insufficiency is. Are you able to sleep at least 5 - 6 hours a night? Google Dr. Lam he has a lot of helpful information on what you should and shouldn't do. The most important supplements for me were salt, vit c, vit b5, magnesium, pregnenolone, melatonin. When I say salt I MEAN A HEAP OF IT. I was taking up to 10 grams a day during the early stages of recovery. Try and get sodium chloride tablets from your pharmacy.

EDIT: Licorice root! It is amazing for helping your kidneys retain salt. It is extremely relaxing. I rate it just as important as salt.

Dezz said:

It really depends how bad the insufficiency is. Are you able to sleep at least 5 - 6 hours a night? Google Dr. Lam he has a lot of helpful information on what you should and shouldn't do. The most important supplements for me were salt, vit c, vit b5, magnesium, pregnenolone, melatonin. When I say salt I MEAN A HEAP OF IT. I was taking up to 10 grams a day during the early stages of recovery. Try and get sodium chloride tablets from your pharmacy.

EDIT: Licorice root! It is amazing for helping your kidneys retain salt. It is extremely relaxing. I rate it just as important as salt.

Click to expand...

I don't think Peat would not recommend melatonin - he's pointed out ways that it contributes to stress metabolism.
Not sure about licorice.

[quote="Dezz"... most important supplements for me were salt, vit c, vit b5, magnesium, pregnenolone, melatonin. When I say salt I MEAN A HEAP OF IT. I was taking up to 10 grams a day during the early stages of recovery....[/quote]

Difficulty retaining sodium is fairly frequent when there is low thyroid function. Improved mineral absorption with improved thyroid function often brings relief of symptoms attributed to adrenal fatigue.

I have met dozens of people who unknowingly or knowingly increased their salt intake to relieve (usually unrecognized) low thyroid function.

http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/hy ... dism.shtml
"Salt, which helps to maintain blood sugar, also tends to lower adrenalin, and hypothyroid people often lose salt too easily in their urine and sweat."

http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/salt.shtml
"Hypothyroidism (which increases the ratio of estrogen to progesterone) is a major cause of excessive sodium loss."

http://peatarian.com/peatexchanges
"[Cortisol & weak adrenals] Cortisol is a little more water soluble than progesterone, and a diurnal cycle can be seen in the saliva, but the absolute amounts aren't as meaningful as in the serum. Thyroid is needed for the adrenals to function well, and adequate cholesterol, as raw material. It's popular to talk about "weak adrenals," but the adrenal cortex regenerates very well. Animal experimenters can make animals that lack the adrenal medulla by scooping out everything inside the adrenal capsule, and the remaining cells quickly regenerate the steroid producing tissues, the cortex. So I think the "low adrenal" people are simply low thyroid, or deficient in cholesterol or nutrients."

Yeh this was just my own case, I am definitely not trying to promote things that aren't peatarian it is just works for me. Thanks for the info btw.

Adrenal, grassfed New Zealand freeze-dried organs & glands, 180 capsules

I am wondering what some of you think about a product like this for adrenal support? I have used their NDT before with success. I know adrenals are supported by adequate thyroid function/vitamin C, etc. Just seems like this could potentially provide a boost for those with some cortisol/adrenal under performance.

Interested in thoughts from many of you including @haidut @tca300 @Such_Saturation @Koveras

Jsaute21 said:

Adrenal, grassfed New Zealand freeze-dried organs & glands, 180 capsules

I am wondering what some of you think about a product like this for adrenal support? I have used their NDT before with success. I know adrenals are supported by adequate thyroid function/vitamin C, etc. Just seems like this could potentially provide a boost for those with some cortisol/adrenal under performance.

Interested in thoughts from many of you including @haidut @tca300 @Such_Saturation @Koveras

Click to expand...

I used an adrenal extract for a few days back in 2008 and felt good on it but after a few days it made me feel wired. So, I think it works but is likely to help only people with low adrenal function, not hyperadrenal/hypercortisol conditions falsely known as "adrenal fatigue".

haidut said:

I used an adrenal extract for a few days back in 2008 and felt good on it but after a few days it made me feel wired. So, I think it works but is likely to help only people with low adrenal function, not hyperadrenal/hypercortisol conditions falsely known as "adrenal fatigue".

Click to expand...

Interesting. Thanks.