Are You Tired and Wired?

Are You Tired and Wired?

INTRODUCTION:
A New Diagnosis

•  Do you feel exhausted, overwhelmed, and stressed all the time?

•  Do you need five cups of coffee or a constant infusion of soda just to make it through the day?

•  Do you have trouble waking up, falling asleep, or staying asleep, no matter which herbal supplements you try?

•  Do you find yourself feeling constantly irritable or on edge?

•  Do you feel that you need to exercise to stay in shape even though you’re exhausted when you do?

•  Do you feel as though everything you eat turns to fat?

•  Are you always hungry, frequently craving sweets, or tempted by “carbo-binges”?

•  Are you plagued by irregular or painful periods or PMS?

•  Are you struggling with perimenopause or menopause: lowered sex drive, vaginal dryness, mood swings, and hot flashes?

•  Do you find yourself feeling forgetful, “foggy,” or unable to concentrate?

•  Do you find that you do better when you’re always on the go?

•  Do you find that you actually enjoy adrenaline rushes and feel a little bored without a crisis to handle?

•  Are you struggling with anxiety, depression, or despair?

Sound familiar? If I’ve painted a picture you recognize—in yourself, in your family, among your friends and colleagues—you’ve just gotten a good look at adrenal dysfunction, a distressingly common problem in which overworked adrenal glands combined with lifelong emotional patterns add up to a painful set of physical, mental, and emotional symptoms. In the early stages of adrenal dysfunction, you might feel “tired and wired”: keyed up, anxious, fatigued, and depressed. In the later stages, you might simply feel exhausted. Either way, you know something’s wrong—even if your health-care provider has assured you that you’re fine or hasn’t included adrenal dysfunction in his or her diagnosis.
You may not think much about your adrenals, but they are crucial to your health, mood, and well-being. These little triangular-shaped glands sit on top of the kidneys, responsible for giving us those extra surges of vitality that we need to cope with unusual challenges, new demands, and heightened levels of stress. That vitality is commonly known as the fight-or-flight reaction. When a major challenge threatens, our adrenal glands kick up the stress hormones, enabling us to cope with whatever challenge or emergency befalls. Then, when the crisis is over, the stress hormones subside and we relax once more.
But our adrenals don’t just operate during emergencies; they’re on duty all day long. Under ordinary circumstances, our adrenals are designed to give us relatively small blasts of strength, from the little burst of energy that wakes us up in the morning to the stimulating hormones that keep us awake, alert, and focused throughout the day.

Taken from Are You Tired & Wired? Your Proven 30-Day Program for Overcoming Adrenal Fatigue and Feeling Fantastic Again, by Marchelle Pick, MSN, OB.GYN NP. Hay House, March 2011.