Re: Concerned, bruising on spine

Hypo T and adrenal fatigue hang out like two bad friends;
and during my Iodine adventure and working with all these cases I have hardly seen any adult with hypo T without also having adrenal fatigue.

Adrenals like salt, vit C, vit B, MAGNESIUM, zinc; so except for selenium we have more or less the Iodine protocol.
What I take in addition is licorice root, twice daily.
Handling stress with meditation etc. has been a great help too, as my adrenal fatigue was brought on mostly because of an extreme shock some years ago. Meditation calms me down, so do magnesium.

Mike mentioned the vit c;this was my first thought, next was adrenals as Lolite`s excellent post covered.

http://www.holistic-back-relief.com/adrenal-fatigue.html

"Adrenal gland fatigue can be due to improper dietary nutrition, a toxic overload such as Heavy metal toxicity, extreme shock and emotional trauma, physical trauma, working too hard without enough rest, over-indulgence in stimulants like coffee, tea, tobacco, and narcotics.

However, the most common cause of Adrenal Fatigue and Adrenal isufficiency is simply: STRESS!



Stress induces a 'fight or flight' reaction, which requires a lot of energy to be produced by the Adrenals. The Adrenal glands respond to stress by secreting Aldosterone which tells the kidneys to retain more Sodium and Copper which are stimulating and provide a quick energy supply to power the sympathetic nervous system "fight or flight" response. At the same time, Aldosterone tells the kidneys to eliminate large amounts of Zinc and Magnesium which are calming to the nervous system. The body doesn't need anything calming in the nervous system if we need to be alert and ready for action, just as our "fight or flight" defense mechanism was designed: to protect us from danger.

As Zinc and Magnesium levels decline, your ability to digest food, assimilate nutrients, and produce energy from food becomes greatly impaired because Zinc is necessary for the production of all proteins in the body, which includes the enzymes in the stomach, pancreas and intestines which are responsible for the breakdown of food into particles which can then be absorbed through the intestinal lining.



Zinc and Magnesium are the main calming minerals in our body, so if their levels decline, due to constant "fight or flight" stress reactions, our ability to handle stress is greatly impaired.

It's like a Catch-22:

•Stress reactions deplete Zinc and Magnesium.
•You need Zinc and Magnesium in order remain calm and not get stressed out all the time.
•Stress reactions result in a propensity for even more stress.
•More and more Copper is retained by the release of Aldosterone. Copper is itself very stimulating and agitating to the nervous system making you over-emotional and over-reactionary causing an inability to relax, excessive worrying and thinking, difficulty sleeping, and being even more stressed out.
•Copper suppresses Zinc's function in the body, so what little Zinc there is gets even more neutralized by the excess amounts of Copper being retained by our stress reactions.
•Stress keeps compounding on top of stress until you require medications such as anti-anxiety medications, sleep medications, anti-depressants and possibly others which just try to suppress the effects of the excess Copper toxicity and Zinc and Magnesium deficiency.
Zinc and Magnesium are also necessary for many energy producing biochemical pathways in the body. Without these vital nutrients, the Adrenals are called on to work extra hard to produce even more energy, since there is not enough energy being produced by our metabolism of food nutrients. Over time, this can lead to adrenal gland fatigue.

In Traditional Chinese medicine, we term this condition as "Post-natal Qi not nourishing the "Pre-natal Qi" also known as Jing. What this means is that the Qi (meaning energy) from our digestion of food is not sufficient to supplement the Qi that is inherent in our bodies, particularly our Kidney Qi, which is analogous to Adrenal function.



Now you have a biochemical mineral imbalance in the body which keeps you stuck in over-drive, without the calming effects of Zinc and Magnesium to slow you down. This constant sympathetic nervous system "fight or flight" state of being begins to wear down the Adrenal glands. They begin to run out of the nutrients necessary to produce Aldosterone and Cortisol and so these hormones begin to decline, just like the Zinc and Magnesium did before.



The person starts feeling exhausted at the end of his or her busy work day. Sometimes, they are still unable to adequately rest and quiet their mind, due to the lack of Zinc, which responsible for the production of all proteins in the body, which includes the calming neurotransmitters in the brain such as Serotonin and Dopamine. This can result in conditions such as ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), poor memory, spaciness, irritability, insomnia and depression.



The Adrenal glands desperately need to rest, but they can't. The nervous system simply cannot get out of the over-drive sympathetic nervous system and into the parasympathetic nervous system. The Parasympathetic nervous system is the "Rest and Digest" nervous system. This is the physiological state that we need to embody in order to recover from Adrenal Fatigue."