"He ate my heart .....& then he ate my brain!?" Check your adrenals.

Feeling and being stressed is not news. But when is it beyond  "everyday" stress? A couple of months ago I was feeling like a monster. Not in the fun Lady Gaga's little monster type of way, but more like the type that growl, stay awake all night, then can't wake up, devour a town's worth of caffiene, and was bloated and short-fused. I felt like I was constantly dragging in a way that I hadn't felt before or at least since grad school.

I would've never known to seek help for a condition responsible for this, but fortunately I was going to a holistic approach chiropractic doctor for usual aches and pains. After having an exceptionally bad couple of weeks of pain, he pointed out that we should take a step back and figure out what was going on in my body that was causing the break down.

The first step was to take a test to see what my cortisol levels were doing. Even though I was a bit skeptical, my vanity was curious because I had read that inbalanced cortisol levels cause weight trouble. The test consisted of a painless saliva test that showed that [they] were out of whack and he diagnosed me with adrenal fatigue. I had never heard of it but he explained that it's a common ailment, and very treatable with the right supplements and lifestyle changes (no medications to take with unknown side effects).

I'm oversimplifying the condition here, there's many hormonal, sometimes environmental factors involved and it is usually set off by a major event, i.e. changing jobs/cities, serious illness, etc. You can read more about it here: http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/.

After a couple of months of treatment I feel like myself again; wake up early feeling refreshed, sleep well, even-tempered, less achy despite my heavy training schedule, mentally focused and feel my metabolism responding too! Everyday I talk to so many people that sound like I used to a few months ago that I can't keep this discovery to myself. If any of the symptoms resonate with you, give Dr. Michael Pontarelli a call at Windy City Wellness (windycitywellness.com), and start the New Year feeling brand new! You don't have to feel like a monster but you can date one if you'd like. :)