Adrenal Fatigue and Overtraining

[Shai Hulud]

I am 17 years old and I started working out when I was 15. I hit the weight room 3 times a week and did cardio 4 times a week. I got a little overzealous with my training and ended up with over training syndrome. I rested a little bit, but got back into it too soon and ended up relapsing. This pattern kept going on with longer breaks and less time to the relapses. I've gotten to the point where body body can only tolerate a small amount of excersice, compared to what I used to be capable of. Now my sympathetic nervous system has pretty much given up and I've lost a lot of muscle. My resting heart rate is also abnormally low and I need way more sleep than I used to. I sometimes get really fatigued just walking around the mall and I'll feel like I need to sit down.

I need caffeine to wake up on school mornings. I want to quit the caffeine so I can recover, but because of school, I need it just to be a little productive in my first two periods. I also still run a little bit, just because I'm addicted to exercise. Should I keep doing that, or should I just rest completely?

What should I do? I really want to get to where I can work out and lift again, especially since my senior track season is coming up and I'm a very important componant to my teams' sprint relays.

I would really appreciate some help because this is really depressing me. I've looked into a lot of supplements, but it's all so confusing. So here are my main questions:

First of all, what should I do?
Do those adrenal fatigue supplements actually work?
What can I expect from things like Ampheta Restore and AD reset?
Should I take adaptogens?
Would adrenal glandulars help?
What foods should I eat?

I'd love any kind of help.

Thanks,

SH

 

[monsterbox]

I've never had a full blown overtraining issue, but I've battled with low testosterone for the past 2 years...and in the past 2 years I've made phenominal gains with proper diet.

Proper diet allows you to make due with most of the genetic limits of your nervous system and endocrine system.

The number one mistake in my opinion is society's attidue towards cholestrol and fat. People are obsessed with eating low fat, low cholestrol. This will help you loose weight but in the long run you entire hormonal system suffers.

By increasing your daily intake of fats and cholestrol, even if it seems unhealthy, it will surely help to overcome your overtrained endorcrine system. Start eating a 5-6 whole eggs+ per day, take 10g of fish oil, eat peanut butter...etc...

Increase your carbs, but make sure they are low-gi...start eat 2-3bowls of oatmeal per day. This will provide the energy for you muscles without putting stress on your adrenals to handle the sugar/insulin of simple carbs.

Start taking DHEA maybe at 12.5mg/day to help the adrenals and maybe try something like Reset AD. Make sure to get 5,000iu or more of vitamin D per day. Take Vitamin C 3000mg spread throughout the day to help lower cortisol. Cut your cardio back significantly, but keep up the weights or vice versa...you are doing to much at once and your caloric intake probably isn't supportive.

I really cannot give anymore advice because you don't have any blood tests and I can't see the specific problems.

and number 1, SLEEP! Get 8hrs every night...go to bed earlier than usual. Try and take a nap in the afternoon for 30 mins if you have time...Sleep resets your adrenals!!!

 

[Kristopher]

Is it a good idea for 17 year olds to take DHEA?

 

[monsterbox]

if you are deficient

 

[AntonG42O]

add ZMA or ZMK!!! I just started taking it before bed and the difference in recovery is amazing! sleep is deeper too, so definitely cant hurt with nervous system recovery

 

[rxp1997]

and you arent going to the dr because....?

 

[sanchezgreg18]

go to an endo and see if ur deficient in dhea before u take it or else it could have negative effects. and reset ad works really well btw

 

[dmetz]

To hit on one of your unanswered questions, I have used adaptogens, such as schisandra berries and maral root, with some success. That being said I wouldn't consider them a necessity by any means. As monsterbox hit on, I would make sure my diet and sleep were in check first and foremost. Then if you have the extra cash give them a try. I would recommend them in place of your morning caffeine.

 

[Shai Hulud]

I've never had a full blown overtraining issue, but I've battled with low testosterone for the past 2 years...and in the past 2 years I've made phenominal gains with proper diet.

Proper diet allows you to make due with most of the genetic limits of your nervous system and endocrine system.

The number one mistake in my opinion is society's attidue towards cholestrol and fat. People are obsessed with eating low fat, low cholestrol. This will help you loose weight but in the long run you entire hormonal system suffers.

By increasing your daily intake of fats and cholestrol, even if it seems unhealthy, it will surely help to overcome your overtrained endorcrine system. Start eating a 5-6 whole eggs+ per day, take 10g of fish oil, eat peanut butter...etc...

Increase your carbs, but make sure they are low-gi...start eat 2-3bowls of oatmeal per day. This will provide the energy for you muscles without putting stress on your adrenals to handle the sugar/insulin of simple carbs.

Start taking DHEA maybe at 12.5mg/day to help the adrenals and maybe try something like Reset AD. Make sure to get 5,000iu or more of vitamin D per day. Take Vitamin C 3000mg spread throughout the day to help lower cortisol. Cut your cardio back significantly, but keep up the weights or vice versa...you are doing to much at once and your caloric intake probably isn't supportive.

I really cannot give anymore advice because you don't have any blood tests and I can't see the specific problems.

and number 1, SLEEP! Get 8hrs every night...go to bed earlier than usual. Try and take a nap in the afternoon for 30 mins if you have time...Sleep resets your adrenals!!!

I have the vitamin D at my disposal and I can start eating healthier, but I think my problem here is that my body isn't producing enough cortisol. So should I still take vitamin C? When I first started overtraining, my body was in "flight or fight" mode and I couldn't sleep. Now I can sleep just fine, but it doesn't seem to refresh. My body's systems all appear to be hypofunctioning.

I hit up the Vitamin Shoppe today and got:

B complex
Siberian Ginseng (Eleuthero)
ZMA
Soy Lechtin (Which is apparently a precurser to DHEA or something like that.)

That's all I could afford. I wanted to get some adrenal extracts, but they were expensive. I also took your advice on the fish oil and vitamin D. What are you guys' thoughts?

I've started phasing out caffeine as well.

I want to get an appointment with an endocrine person, but from what I've read online, everything can appear within "normal" range, unless you have full blown Addison's disease. I have had my iron and TSH tested and they were fine. I can't remember my iron, but my TSH was 1.85.

I need to get better by track season. Please keep the info coming.

 

[AntonG42O]

pretty good stuff man, ZMA will seriously make a difference on your sleeping and overall well being. make sure you take it half hour before bed on an empty stomach and dont eat foods containing calcium before (milk,cheese, etc).

ginseng and Bcomplex are great for the nervous system, nice job. ditch all the caffeine like you said, it only puts more stress on our nervous system. obviously take plenty of time off from training until you are 100%. different people handle lifting weights differently so you might have to work with a little less intensity.

 

[BBB]

I would advise against DHEA unless you recommended by your doctor. Excessive DHEA can cause free radicals in the liver and initiate liver related issues. Most people below the age of 40 have sufficient DHEA levels. The body normally produces about 10-14 mg per day in healthy individuals.

 

[kingdong]

I've read the too mch vitamin C can make adrenal fatigue worse. Your cortisol lowers, and your adrenals get turned on, just fatigueing them more in the long run. I could be wrong.

 

[Pirate!]

Take a great multi, get 9 hours of sleep, avoid smoking/drinking, limit yourself to 3 hours lifting and 3 hours of other training/ week and SEE A DR.

 

[Bigbuttchicks]

try Zma bro

 

[drvinnybombat]

From what I've heard from doctors, adrenal fatigue does not exist. They always say tate you either have adrenal insufficiency or no adrenaline problem at all. Can anyone shed some light on this?

 

[Bigbuttchicks]

YES GREAT POST dr. Vinny!
Check this question out about adrenal fatigue read the answer Justin Harris gives to this quesiton...
http://asp.elitefts.com/qa/default.asp?qid=92565&tid=

 

[Bigbuttchicks]

adrenal fatigue is some stupid rumor that bodybuilders to busy counting eggwhites deciding to come up with to explain their ****ty progress watajoke

 

[Shai Hulud]

YES GREAT POST dr. Vinny!
Check this question out about adrenal fatigue read the answer Justin Harris gives to this quesiton...

Okay I may have used the wrong word, but there is still something seriously off with my body. I know I don't have full blow Addison's disease, but there is something wrong here. My problem is that my cortisol is too low. I have very little energy now and recovering from workouts and life in general is not the same as it used to be. Whether it's called adrenal fatigue, or adrenal insufficiency or overtraining or whatever, I need some help with it. I'm doing what I can to get my parents to take me to an endo, but for now I'm asking for advice here. So, please quit with the semantics.

 

[Shai Hulud]

Has anyone had success with synthetic cortisol or adrenal extracts in facilitating recovery?

 

[youngandfree]

What do you weigh? Your profile says 90lbs. That's called anorexia in my book. What do you typically eat on a daily basis? At 5'6" you could weigh 130lbs and still be small.

 

[Canadianguy]

a small part of why u dont feel refreshed after sleeping could possibly be how ur sleeping. If u tend to wake up alot in the night this will affect you. If ur like me and have restless leg syndrome where u involuntarily spasm and thrash in ur sleep (it sounds psychotic i know) this will affect ur overall recovery during sleep.

take ZMa i find it helps me sleep and has tons of other benefits. melatonin does the job do..or u could roofy urself...that would work