Progress update

Finally, after 2 years of ups and downs (mostly downs), I am starting to make progress and my symptoms of adrenal fatigue are decreasing. One year ago today, I was basically bed-bound, had zero energy, couldn't go for walks. I would do like 5 minutes of yoga stretching and then be exhausted for days. The worst symptoms for me were not just the fatigue but the intense psychological suffering, had no emotions for anyone or anything, just basically felt like I was in hell. I have had ups and downs in the past year and slowly gained some energy back to the point that I could start working. For the past 7 months, I have been teaching piano and working about 10-12 hours a week, but depending on the week it has been a huge struggle at times to make it through teaching.

I never took any of these crazy supplements that many of you take, although I tried ashwagandha and brahmi which seemed to make things worse. I never went for any of these cortisol tests or testing other hormones because I already knew my hormones were all messed up, and I knew there was nothing any doctor could do for me anyway except prescribe something that could be a crutch. I just always knew that healing is not as complex and difficult as many of us think. We are all at different levels of physical and mental health, but I think for the most part, our body has an innate ability to heal if we just give it a chance.

Within the past month or so, I have been focusing on hydrating my body properly and this has helped me make the most progress so far. Proper body hydration does not mean drinking more water, in fact I have been dehydrated and super thirsty this entire time the past two years and have been drinking tons of water but what I finally realized is that drinking more water just dehydrates you more and more and can deplete your body of electrolytes. So I have been purposely adding more electrolytes in my diet, eating more fruits and vegetables high in potassium, increasing salt intake somewhat, not going crazy with it(I use Real Salt), and feel a ton better right now. One of the best things I have been eating is a vegetable soup, with tons of veggies, ghee (clarified butter), with split yellow mung beans (mung dal), salt it to taste and I just feel better and better every time I eat this. Or I sautee a tone of kale or whatever in ghee with some quinoa, this is great too. I drink less water now (about half of what I would drink previously) and feel more hydrated. There are many other things that I did, certain foods that I avoided or at least reduced, certain foods I emphasized. Overall, my diet is based around healthy, wholesome carbohydrates, including amaranth, quinoa, white basmati rice, beans (mainly mung beans), and all types of fruits and vegetables. Occasionally, I eat some fish but otherwise don't eat very much meat. I use a good amount of butter and ghee and less amounts of other oils. I base everything that I do on the principles of ayurveda, but it has taken me this long to figure out what works for me and what doesn't work for me. Basically, I avoid most things that ayurveda says are 'heating' because as I am dehydrated heating foods have a further dehydrating effect. It is a bit counter-intuitive because most of the same foods that are heating are supposed to be energizing to the body, and I would have thought that is what I needed when I had adrenal fatigue, but it turned out not to be the case. I emphasize all foods that are cooling and moisturizing which are basically most carbohydrates and milk. I am not saying that everyone should do the exact same thing as me because ayurveda teaches that we are all individuals and we all need something different. This is what has worked for me so far. I am not out of the woods yet by any means but this is the first time I can say with certainty that I have a noticeable improvement and not just an upward trend on the adrenal fatigue roller coaster of ups and downs.

Not everything is improving however, I have a bit more digestive discomfort now then when I was bed-bound but I will take this trade off any day. I also get some headaches now that I didn't have at the worst of my adrenal fatigue. But now I actually feel a little bit alive for the first time in 2 years. I care about life a little and can finally go for a walk without feeling terrible for days. I can do gentle yoga almost daily. Oh yeah, my sex drive has started to come back a little that has been non-existent this entire time. Tweet