I just wanted to let you know that this is the last blog post at this site. We have moved our blog and all archived posts to our main site at the Life Enhancement Clinic’s LIFEtalk page. Please follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and our new blog site. Thanks everyone!
16 Nov
Ways to Measure Your Adrenal Stress Response
We have been discussing the adrenal stress response in our previous posts. There are a number of ways to measure and assess the impact stress is having on your health. There are a couple of easy things that you can even try at home.
Taking the time to "measure" your health can save you time suffering with dysfunction.
Positional Blood Pressure Changes
Do you ever feel dizzy or lightheaded when standing up from a lying position? This could be an indicator of adrenal dysfunction. Your body is designed to elevate your blood pressure from 6-10 points when you stand up. Simple reason? To ensure your brain has enough oxygen. If your blood pressure drops when you stand you get lightheaded, or you may actually pass out. Another sign of an abnormality is a heart rate that accelerates beyond 10 points from lying to standing.
How to Measure:
- You can use an automatic blood pressure cuff system and have someone help you.
- Lie on your back for five minutes. Apply the proper size cuff on your arm as indicated.
- Start the machine and lie still and quiet while the blood pressure is being measured. Have your friend record the data.
- Stand up and have your helper start the machine again immediately upon standing. Stand still and quiet and let the pressure be measured. Have your friend record the data.
- Look at your systolic (top number) and diastolic (bottom number) to ensure that they went up slightly when standing of only about 6-10 points.
- Look at your heart rate and ensure that it went up only about 6-10 points and no greater.
Pupil Light Response
With low adrenal function your pupil will not be able to normally hold a contraction when light is shone into it. A short time to fatigue can indicate brain imbalance or adrenal dysfunction.
How to Measure:
- The only equipment you need is a small light, a mirror, a stopwatch and a dark room.
- Darken the room and stand in front of a mirror.
- Shine a light across one eye from the side of your head. Do not shine directly into it.
- Keep the light shining steadily across one eye and watch in the mirror with the other.
- You should see your pupil (the dark circle in the center of the eye) contract immediately as the light hits your eye.
- Your pupil should stay constricted for some time. Fast failure of the response suggests adrenal dysfunction.
Saliva pH Lemon Juice Challenge
This is a simple test that we do in our office that measures your baseline saliva pH, provides you with an acidic challenge of lemon juice and then monitors your pH changes each minute for five minutes. Your baseline measurement, the pH right after the lemon juice consumption, and the one minute measurement are very important for identifying the overall activity of the sympathetic nervous system.
Urinary Chlorides & Urinary Electrolytes & Urine Chemstrip
These tests are a part of the functional diagnostic tests we use in our office called the Integra Profile. These measurements can give insight into the function of the adrenal stress response in your body. Simply providing a first morning urine sample allows us to measure these values and track the changes after implementing appropriate treatment interventions.
Adrenal Stress Index
One of the most effective ways to measure your adrenal stress response is to actually measure your stress hormones…cortisol and DHEA. The Adrenal Stress Index measures your cortisol at 8AM, noon, 4PM and midnight to track your daily rhythms. Cortisol that is too high or too low is a sign of dysfunction and you can experience the symptoms of an abnormal stress response. The test is simple, easy to collect since it uses saliva and can be done at home, and is a great clinical tool that we use quite often to guide our treatment process.
If you try some of the home tests and they are abnormal then have a more comprehensive examination performed.
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15 Nov
Beware of These 7 Symptoms
Are you losing the battle against stress? Are you “sick and tired of feeling sick and tired”? We face a constant barrage of external and internal stressors that our body and mind must be strong enough to counterbalance. All of health requires balance. In endocrinology it’s called “allostasis” which simply means consistency through change.
Like a see-saw, your body is always trying to maintain balance. When balance is lost...health is lost.
There are a multitude of symptoms that you may be struggling with that are clues to an underlying abnormal stress response. However, there are 7 major symptoms of stress that are definite clues that you should evaluate the impact stress is having on your health.
7 Major Stress Symptoms
(1) Headaches
- Do you struggle with headaches when you wake up in the morning, or in the evening when you come home from work?
- Do you have a constant dull ache behind your eyes, at the base of your skull, or in your temples?
(2) Fatigue
- Are you tired when you wake up, no matter how long you slept the night before?
- Do you crash after lunch and in the late afternoon?
- Do you get a “second wind” late at night and this makes it difficult to get to bed at a decent time?
(3) Neck Pain, Midback Pain, Low Back Pain, or Pain in General
- Are your activities and hobbies affected by constant muscle pains and body aches?
- Have you been diagnosed or told you have fibromyalgia?
(4) Sleep Disorders
- Have you tried all the sleeping meds and still can’t get to sleep?
- Are you tired of counting sheep?
- Do you wake up frequently, stare at your alarm clock and hope for just a few minutes of good sleep?
(5) Digestive Troubles
- Do you take antacids and acid blockers frequently?
- Do you get gas, bloating, reflux, or indigestion symptoms?
- Do you have problems with constipation, diarrhea, or a combination of the two?
(6) Irritability and/or Mood Swings
- Do friends and family ask you “what’s wrong” frequently?
- Do you feel irritated and trivial things that you know shouldn’t upset you?
(7) Chronic Sinus or Allergy Problems
- Are you always struggling with another sinus infection that requires more antibiotics?
- Do you seem to stay sicker longer than you used to?
- Are you constantly blowing your nose, wiping your eyes, or clearing your throat?
If you are currently facing any of these symptoms then you should have your adrenal hormones evaluated and consider a program designed specifically for you and your needs to rebuild your faulty adrenal system. Too many people are just squeaking by from day to day and not enjoying the full potential of their life. They have been forced to believe that it’s just normal for them to feel sick and tired all the time. Conventional medicine identifies disease, however, dysfunction precedes disease.
Listen to the warning signs, stop trying to ignore the symptoms and hope they just go away. Take charge of your health and have a doctor on your health care team that understands how to guide you through a cleansing, nourishing and balancing of your body. Start enjoying life again!
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14 Nov
Are You Setting Yourself Up for Disaster?
Planning. Preparation. Interventions. Precautions. We all do our best to take the necessary steps to make sure our life’s events flow smoothly. No planning can prevent some of life’s curve balls, but the better prepared we are, the better able we are able to weather the storms.
The stronger you are going into a storm, the stronger you will be coming out.
You take the time to back up your computer files. You pay your home insurance premiums each month. You make necessary maintenance repairs on your home and vehicles to keep things working right. You protect your valuables in fireproof safes. You archive all of your treasured family photos. You have thought of everything…right?
What if I asked you what you are doing about your adrenals. Do you even know what they are? Do you even know what they do? Do you even know how to see if they are working right? Probably not. Most people don’t go around each day wondering about their adrenals, but as they face life’s stressors day in and day out the adrenal glands are taking a beating.
Your adrenal glands handle ALL of the stressors you face by balancing out the appropriate stress related hormones. When this system works well you are healthy, pain-free, and clear thinking. When they are not working, or are burned out, you are facing disaster.
Are you facing any of these adrenal stressors?
- Emotional triggers (anger, fear, worry, anxiety, guilt)
- Depression
- Overwork (physical or mental strain)
- Late hours / insufficient sleep
- Chronic, severe or prolonged infections
- Surgery
- Trauma / injury
- Excessive exercise
- Temperature extremes (Yes, ND counts as temperature extremes!)
- Toxic exposure
- Chronic inflammation
- Chronic pain
- Chronic illness
- Chronic / severe allergies
- Light cycle disruption (awake at night, asleep during the day)
If you are facing any of these stressors, yet you can’t answer the question, “How are your adrenals doing?” Then you are setting yourself up for disaster in the future.
This week we will be discussing signs and symptoms of adrenal stress, ways to measure the function of your adrenal system, and tips you can use to help heal an abnormal stress response. I’d love to see your comments and questions during this week of posts.
Want to sign up for our newsletter and receive updates, specials and more directly in your email? Subscribe to our newsletter and receive our free one-hour presentation entitled, “Eliminating Your Joint Pain, Depression and Indigestion By Treating Your Leaky Gut”.
12 Nov
Improve Diet…Decrease Stress
What you are eating, and what you are not eating play major roles in your stress response.
So many people rely on artificial “pick me ups” to get through their day. Are you a user of the 5-Hour Energy, Rockstar, Red Bull drink frenzy? The Standard American Diet negatively impacts the adrenal glands, which leads to imbalanced stress responses. Greater than 60% of the population doesn’t even get one vegetable a day in consistently!
Stress depletes magnesium. Magnesium is found in green leafy vegetables which most people don’t eat often.
You do have options though. Using a greens drink each day will provide alkalizing phytonutrients, increased magnesium, and stress relieving nutrients. You can help battle an abnormal stress response and improve your health with one simple scoop a day.
I strongly encourage patients to use Dynamic Greens for their support. They taste great and cover all your bases for vegetable intake each day. So if you’re a picky eater or just don’t get 9-11 servings of veggies each day then use the Dynamic Greens.
3 Nov
The Reason Your Antidepressants May Be Failing You
Millions of Americans are taking anti-depressants for depression and chronic pain issues. The unfortunate fact is that many patients are simply masking symptoms of true underlying imbalances with these medications and the problem just continues to fester and grow under the surface. It’s like putting a piece of tape over your “check engine” light because you are tired of seeing it lit up and aren’t going to do anything about it. That piece of tape no more fixes the root cause of your engine trouble than taking a mix of drugs to mask symptoms of something bigger going on.
You wouldn't ignore your check engine light or try to cover it up. Why would you do that when your body manifests symptoms that something is going wrong?
You are probably familiar with the “selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors” (SSRIs) that are so commonly prescribed. Their mechanism of action is to keep the serotonin molecules in the synaptic cleft longer so their effect can be more pronounced. The synaptic cleft is simply the small region between two nerve cells. It is where all the communication takes place. The first nerve cell in the chain is called the pre-synaptic neuron and it sends information to the post-synaptic neuron.
This is a typical example of a synapse between two neurons.
The problem arises when their is failure to address 3 basic physiological components of this communication system.
- The health and integrity of the pre-synaptic neuron
- The amount of substrate in the synaptic cleft
- The health and integrity of the post-synaptic neuron
Failure to address all three of these aspects can lead to poor clinical outcomes. If the pre-synaptic neuron is unable to manufacture the neurotransmitters (ie serotonin) due to low nutrient reserve then there will be a failure of substrate in the synaptic cleft regardless of whether you are taking SSRI’s or not.
There are many things that are necessary to maintain healthy neuronal integrity. Below I will discuss a few basics that are essential to have good manufacture of the neurotransmitters, healthy transmission and reception of messages across the synaptic cleft, and healthy membranes to continue the message along the path.
- Protein – Adequate protein is vital for healthy neuronal function. The receptors that release and bind to the manufactured neurotransmitters are protein. Poor protein intake can lead to receptor dysfunction.
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids – The neuron membranes are surrounded by fatty myelin sheaths. These allow for proper conduction and insulation of electrochemical signals. Unhealthy diets can replace the necessary healthy fats with abnormal fats that affect neuronal health.
- Vitamins/Minerals – The enzymes that are necessary to manufacture, convert, and reuptake neurotransmitters and nerve messages are dependent on trace minerals and vitamins. These nutrient co-factors help to ensure that all the pathways work as they are intended. Nutrient deficiency can lead to breakdown in proper function.
- Amino Acids – Neurotransmitters are synthesized from amino acids which are derived from protein. For example, serotonin requires the amino acid tryptophan to be manufactured. Stress depletes tryptophan so it can lead to an amino acid imbalance. This, over time, can lead to serotonin deficiency as well.
- Vitamin D - Vitamin D deficiency leads to inflammation in the brain. Inflammation in the brain will to poor nerve cell integrity.
- Probiotics - The majority of your neurotransmitters are manufactured in your gut…yep, in your gut. Irritable bowel, leaky gut, and other digestive complaints can alter neurotransmitter health. Taking daily probiotic supplementation can keep your gut healthy and keep neurotransmitter function healthy.
Living the Magnificent Seven Lifestyle and daily supplementing with the Foundational Five are ways to keep your brain healthy, prevent depression, and keep your mind active and sharp!
Want to sign up for our newsletter and receive updates, specials and more directly in your email? Subscribe to our newsletter and receive our free one-hour presentation entitled, “Eliminating Your Joint Pain, Depression and Indigestion By Treating Your Leaky Gut”.
2 Nov
Is Stress Causing Your Pain?
Your struggle with depression, anxiety, exacerbation of eating disorders or increased sensitivity to acute and chronic pain could all be due to stress. Stress could be the major player in your battle with pain.
Chronic stress can lead to a myriad of symptoms and leave you with pain.
I see a lot of patients each day in my practice that have suffered with chronic pain for months or years. They have tried the novel blockbuster drugs, the injections, the surgeries, the psychoanalysis and on and on and on. Unfortunately for these patients, many practitioners neglect to evaluate (or in some cases refuse to accept) the component of an abnormal stress response in a patient’s pain condition.
So what is the connection? Chronic stress depletes serotonin making all of your serotonergic pathways (those biochemical pathways that require serotonin to function) ineffective. One of the most important of these pathways is the inhibition (blocking) of pain and the ability to support good mood. When you are stressed, your body increases its use of serotonin. At the same time it increases the breakdown of tryptophan in the liver. Tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin.
Serotonin is also the precursor to melatonin which helps us sleep at night. Poor sleep is very inflammatory and makes chronic pain issues worse. So now you have this vicious cycle occurring all started chronic stress. So in order to stop the cycle, you have to attack the start of the cycle and that is the abnormal stress response.
You can patch up the breaks in the pathways that aren’t working, but if you don’t remove the cause of the problem the patches won’t last. Part of the benefits of 5-HTP supplementation (precursor to serotonin) is derived from the increased production of melatonin which has known antioxidant effects, supports immune function, and preserves mitochondrial function.
Serotonin plays a key role in the central processing of pain. When serotonin is deficient you will feel pain more readily than you should. This is one key reason that anti-depressants are used for chronic pain, however, they only work for a short time. Tomorrow I will discuss why failing to look at the whole picture will cause your anti-depressants to fail.
So what are some steps to resolving this problem?
- Know your Stress Subtype. A simple questionnaire can help you identify which of 6 major stress types you are and help develop a stress management program designed for you.
- Measure your stress hormones with an Adrenal Stress Index if necessary.
- Take your fish oil. Fish oil can positively impact serotonin pathways.
- Supplement with 5-HTP and combined methyl supports. You will want to work with a doctor knowledgeable about supplementation, dosing, and timing of supplementation to get the best results.
If you are suffering with chronic pain have your stress response evaluated and treated properly. Stop letting stress be the source of your pain!
Want to sign up for our newsletter and receive updates, specials and more directly in your email? Subscribe to our newsletter and receive our free one-hour presentation entitled, “Eliminating Your Joint Pain, Depression and Indigestion By Treating Your Leaky Gut”.
