Anxiety and stress put a great strain on the adrenals and when the adrenals crash they bring the gut down with it. This can result in increased inflammation, anxiety, depression, fatigue and sugar cravings.
I experienced all these symptoms over the summer after finally pushing my adrenals past their limit. The adrenals produce cortisol, a stress hormone that lowers inflammation in the short term but then drives it if it become chronic or absent.
The good news is that you can recover your adrenals and in the same process recover your gut health. But if the adrenals and stress were the root cause for digestive dysfunction, then they need to be healed alongside the gut to get the best results.
Anxiety and depression is one of the most common complaints I see among people with IBS. And in my opinion they are the worst symptoms because they affect every aspect of your life. Every thought you have, every breath you take and the motivation to care for yourself when you are so hopeless or full or fear.
My recent personal experience also proved to me that physical symptoms do get worse when emotional symptoms flare.
I am sharing what I did to recover. Though everyone will have a different path back to health, my aim with this post is to illustrate how life stressors and environmental stressors can lead to all sorts of odd health problems. And how those disturbing symptoms can fuel health anxiety, which in turn makes symptoms worse.
This post offers some ideas on how to break that cycle.
When I lived in San Francisco, my life was low stress. I had community, stability, support and loved my life and house. All theses things lowered my stress and cortisol.
Because I started out in such good health, it took years to crash my adrenals. And it was a cumulative process.
Upon reflection, things could have been much worse for me. I never developed the digestive symptoms that are so common. Perhaps because I am a digestive health coach and give a lot of support and attention to my gut. And even when my diet gets “bad”, it’s still relatively pretty good.
Instead of my gut, I felt my issues in my hormones. This created quite the emotional rollercoaster ride. I was weepy, tired, jumpy and very fearful. And eventually, my perfect periods got ugly.
I think the thing that saved my gut is the my Sig A was never too low. My GI map test showed that it was high and in range both times. This marker of gut immunity was perhaps my saving grace against developing digestive issues.
This was a blessing but my life was very challenging because of how I felt emotionally. When your adrenals are compromised you can have catastrophic thoughts about what could be wrong with you. And this is a unique type of torture that I am sure some of you can relate to.
It has to do with adrenal health and the nervous system. Here is what I did to recover.
How I upset my adrenals
When I started having health issues it made me feel like a failure. As a health coach, this health breakdown also broke my confidence in myself, which I am sure contributed to the problem.
Writing it all down gave me compassion for myself. My trauma were small traumas but they still impacted my body and health.
Health is not about what you have been through, it’s about what you do to recover.
And because this did not happen overnight, it can’t be healed overnight. My solutions took months to finally work. Patience and consistency were key.
Huge life transition/international move/bad news
It all started when we decided to move to Argentina. My husband stopped working and was also diagnosed with a health condition at the same time. Leave my city, friends and home after 12 years broke my heart. Moving to Argentina really scared me. Transitions are stressful. This was a big one and I wasn’t excited about it.
Mold illness
When we got to Argentina my hair began started falling out and I started having daily rashes. I thought this was stress. I found out later it was because I was living in an apartment with toxic black mold. I had mold illness, which stressed the immune system and caused leaky gut. I developed a gluten intolerance because of this.
Because of Argentina’s strict import/export laws, it was impossible to get anything I needed from abroad. I felt like I could not get what I need to take care of myself without flying back home. This was another stressor and made me feel unsafe.
Travel and more transition
Two years later when planned our move to Berlin. Between December and March 2019 I traveled to 4 countries and lived 4 apartments. It was way too much for my nervous system to handle. A destabilizing experience.
My move to Germany was one of the most stressful travel experiences of my life. This was the start of the Corona virus world wide lockdown. I had to change my flight to get into Germany just as the EU borders closed. I almost got stuck in Madrid. That trip took a few years off of my life.
Moving to a new country during a pandemic was pretty crazy. Zero community and could not speak German. It was a wild ride.
Tick bite
After what was supposed to be a stress relieving hike out of town I found a tick on my back. I sent the tick to be tested and it came back positive for two nasty bacteria: rickettsia and anaplasma.
I did not treated them with antibiotics because I never developed any classic symptoms (rashes, fevers, joint pain, headaches, chills, nausea) but it triggered a lot of trauma from when I first got Lyme disease years and had to take IV antibiotics for 3 weeks. That was the root cause of my IBS. While there were no antibiotics this time, it triggered stress and hyper vigilance because I have not processed the trauma of having IBS 15 years ago.
Trauma
Trauma is any intense emotional experience that you can’t process in the moment. It locks up your nervous system and because it is stored in your body instead of being released, it can be easily triggered.
The mold toxicity was traumatic. Corona was traumatic. And it was beginning to add up and overwhelm and lock down my nervous system.
Overworking and diet
This was the last straw.
A publisher contacted me with the opportunity to write a book about GERD in 6 weeks. It included 100 GERD friendly recipes and was A LOT of work. During those 6 weeks I wrote a book, while also carrying my normal client caseload.
To say it kept me busy was an understatement. My sleep and adrenals began to suffer. And I was also stress eating (like the rest of the world) too much dairy free ice cream, chocolate and gluten free processed carbs.
Symptoms began
I started having dizzy spells and head rushes after finishing the book. It would happen after getting up off the couch. I almost fainted in a store. My hands and feet started tingling and feeling numb. I would start and jump at every noise or sudden movement.
This scared me, which stressed my adrenals even more. I never experienced such intense adrenal fatigue. Depression joined the anxiety. I lost a lot of weight.
I got some standard blood tests done and was thrown for a loop when my thyroid panel showed slightly elevated antibodies. I was diagnosed with mild Hashimotos disease, an autoimmune disease of the thyroid.
That made me feel like a failure (more emotional stress).
Spoiler alter: I was able to slash my TPO antibodies from 33 to 17. While they are still higher than ideal they currently can’t be classified as Hashimotos anymore.
Be careful with getting a diagnosis. Don’t label yourself with some disease. There is much you can do to shift that and dealing with your adrenals and nervous system was a big part of it for me. The adrenals can drag the thyroid down with it.
The good news is that the body can heal itself if you give it what it needs. That support includes not just diet and supplements, but also working on your mind, emotions, nervous system and lifestyle.
How I healed my adrenals (and thyroid antibodies)
Removing foods sensitivities
A GI Map test revealed that I had intestinal permeability (leaky gut) so I also took a food sensitivity test and removed some of the foods I was sensitive to. These were foods I ate frequently. I was sensitive to eggs, cow dairy, avocados, cashews, almonds. This helped lower the inflammation in my body.
Rest
I stopped over working which stopped the continued insult to my adrenals. This was not easy because I used my work to escape the isolation that I was feeling. But I made the effort to relax more.
Homeopathy
I started a homeopathic formula for my mood issues. I was skeptical but the depression went away first and then the anxiety slowly followed.
Social media detox
I reduced time spent on Instagram to posting only and stopped scrolling. I even took 2 weeks off from posting. Social media is not inherently bad but I started having negative feelings towards it and knew it was time to limit it.
Bodywork
I saw a physiotherapist who worked on the tension in my jaw with massage. I hold so much stress in my jaw and grind my teeth at night. She helped release it. Afterwards she put a mud pack on my back and it was incredibly relaxing. I felt my nervous system start to relax.
Treat infections
The GI Map revealed that my h. pylori infection came back. This was a bacterial infection of the stomach driving inflammation and cortisol to release.
I treated this stress-induced infection withs some Matula tea over the summer. Clearing that infection took some pressure off my immune system and adrenals.
Spiritual work
I started a spiritual practice with a friend, called inquiry, where we explored a new topic from weekly teachings. We did work on the Superego (inner critical). That was so powerful. It brought awareness to the inner voice that is always beating me up and was able to relax it a bit. I think this is part of the reason that I was able to slash my thyroid antibodies.
Supplements and diet
B vitamins get depleted with stress and that helped with the numbness and tingling in my extremities. I also cut soy and processed gluten free products, like chips and bread sticks, from my diet and ate more veggies and broth.
I also had to reduce my caffeine by one fourth. I don’t drink coffee but I went from drinking 1 teaspoon of matcha green tea to 1/4 of a teaspoon.
Moving my lymphatic system
Movement is health. Gentle movement is best for adrenal recovery as intense workouts can make things worse. To move my lymph I practiced chi gong and took daily walks.
Trauma work
I found a somatic experiencing practitioner online and started working with her to release trauma from my body. I have been wanting to do trauma work for years and it has been really good. It made a difference from the first session.
Fun
It doesn’t all have to be hard work. Adding some fun into life is very healing for the adrenals. I started riding a bike. A good friend stayed with me for two weeks. That connection was so healing. We took bike rides together and hung out in parks.
I also had a few conversations with friends who shared their experiences with their thyroid antibodies and menopause.
It made me realize that some of my issue were being driven by a big life transition into menopause. Knowing that calmed me down even more.
Counseling
This is the part that I am slightly embarrassed to share because it seems so woo woo. But I can’t leave it out because it was an important part of my mindset shift. Whatever works for you is legit in my opinion.
I spoke to a medical intuitive to find out what was wrong with my body.
Her response was that I needed to create better energetic boundaries and stop taking on other people’s symptoms and worries.
It was a good reminder of my empathic nature. Sometimes I pick up passing symptoms from my clients that are not mine. They always go away, but the difference was that I stopped worrying about that. They no longer added to my stress.
I am able to let these symptom go even faster when I realize they are not mine.
It have been feeling a lot better physically, mentally and emotionally. So it was not a shock that my thyroid antibodies went down. Just more proof that stress really does drive disease.
What I learned
I was able to rebalance my adrenals without yoga, meditation, deep breathing or walks in nature. This is the advice I always see online. But I did it in a way that made sense to me.
If you are not a meditator, find an activity that you enjoy that gets you in the zone. Where you no longer have neurotic thoughts and you get absorbed in the activity. That is a meditation.
For me that was riding my bike.
My experience is not a roadmap to follow, it’s an understanding of how the adrenals crash and how to build them back up again. With time, support from different angles and patience.
Diet is important because you need to balance your blood sugar to support adrenals but it is not everything. If you are stressing about food that is counter productive.
Bringing the adrenals back on line requires taking stock of your life and seeing where you are abusing yourself or pushing too hard, and stopping.
Supporting your adrenals means supporting yourself. Following what makes you feel good or puts you in a relaxed state. That is not always easy to do. That is why healing work is so challenging. Sometimes it takes a lot of pain and discomfort to dislodge us from our bad habits or our negative self talk.
Writing out what got me there was very healing. And the bright side of my suffering is that I became a certified mold illness practitioner and can now help people with thyroid disease.
And I regained the most important tool I had. The confidence in my ability to heal myself.
If you can’t do this alone, get help like I did. With the right support your body knows how to heal and rebalance.
Please reach out with any questions about gut or adrenal health or get daily guidance on instagram.
Angela Privin is proof that IBS is NOT an incurable disease or a disease at all. IBS is a body out of balance. It’s an invitation for change. After solving her own IBS mystery more than a decade ago Angela trained as a health coach to help others.
Angela uses both science and intuition to help people figure out what’s out of balance in their body. She works with lab tests, dietary changes, supplementation and nervous system rebalancing. Get help rebalancing your digestive system and solving your IBS mystery here.
Recent Comments