How are Migraines, Adrenal Fatigue, DHEA and Exhaustion related?
Every day millions of people around the world suffer in silent, unnoticed pain with migraines.
At the same time, millions(if not billions) of people around the world are completely drained and in a deep stage of adrenal fatigue.
Here are some common symptoms of adrenal fatigue:
Could they be connected?
We already know that cortisol which is our main stress hormone does a great deal of work to give us energy and keep us focused as well as keep a healthy amount of sugar in our blood.
But when it gets overused… We get problems.
Inflammatory conditions like migraines, and conditions with the ending itis start to happen. (ex. arthritis, colitis, tendonitis)
Itis literally means inflammation.
When these conditions aren’t healed, when our body continues to get stressed and can’t turn off our stress mechanism so it can heal, tissue begins to harden.
This is when itis becomes osis and serious problems can come about.
So how can we connect migraines and adrenal fatigue?
Both are highly complex issues and can be caused by a number of sources.
But… They are both very connected to inflammation and hormones.
Just like Migraines, when we burn the wick at both ends, when we take too much out of our body and forget to put just as much back in, we run into exhaustion.
First, we burn our resources and our body will turn on because it thinks we are in danger.
This is when hormones like DHEA get burned to produce all the stress hormones we need like cortisol.
This is Stage 1 Adrenal Fatigue and we can feel really good, alert, aroused, even high in this stage.
Migraines aren’t very likely to be triggered here as you are still resilient and your body has resources available.
It’s always go go go when you’re Stage 1.
What you can do about it:
– Get tested by your doctor
– Slow it down (“Nature does not rush, yet everything is accomplished”) (Click here for a guide on avoiding the burnout that often leads to weekend headaches)
– Eat plenty of high-quality organic fats and proteins to feed the production of hormones(See this article for easy foods)
– Eat plenty of organic low sugar vegetables to cool the inflammation
– Use more energy building exercises to counterbalance the burn
– Find your triggers and eliminate them immediately
– Follow the foundation principles
Then Stage 2 comes and we still feel great, but our hormones start coming down because just like a car, they can’t maintain full throttle forever.
In this stage, things like a need for coffee and stimulants will come and we get cravings for foods full of sugar.
This is where our triggers start showing up, we start getting a high threshold and lots of tension in our bodies just waiting for something to break us into a migraine.
What you can do about it:
– This is when you need to re-evaluate if destroying your body is worth the stress
-You can use different superfoods known as adaptogens to help balance the body’s stress response
– See your functional medicine practitioner as it may be a good idea to supplement with DHEA which is well known to help migraines as well
– Pick up a practice of meditation and breathing to drop cortisol levels and ease your fiery brain
If we continue burning ourselves up Stage 3 comes along.
Stage 3 is when our body stops creating things that aren’t absolutely necessary like sex hormones.
Instead, it will use the resources for stress hormones and we will start getting a lack of energy, cloudy headed, suppressed immune system and just poor enthusiasm for life.
This is when everything starts falling apart, hormonal migraines are huge, migraines will completely drain you and triggers are just growing.
What you can do about it:
– In this stage, it’s very important to go into what is called a ‘fall’ or ‘winter’ phase of life and bring in a whole host of recuperative and healing foods, exercises, supplements, behaviors and deep healing
– Look for support as making changes yourself can be very hard and seem impossible
– These can be complicated migraines
Then it hits us, Stage 4.
Stage 4 is regularly called the burnout phase and rightly so, we feel completely burnt out and we are.
This is when our body can no longer take the abuse and neglect we put it through and its systems are shot.
Sex hormones and stress hormones are low and even neurotransmitters can be fried.
This leads to many symptoms such as depression, anxiety, lack of a sex drive, irritability, apathy, and fear.
In this stage, it seems like everything is triggering us and we simply don’t have the energy to do anything about it.
Migraines are running rampant and we can’t deal with them anymore.
Quality of life is severely diminished.
What you can do about it:
This stage requires help and it’s so incredibly important to reach out to your doctor, functional medicine practitioner or holistic health professional like myself and get support.
– DHEA deficiency is very likely and should be tested and supplemented for
– Follow the foundation principles
Remember that our body will produce stress hormones before sex hormones because it wants to be able to survive before it wants to be able to procreate.
But they both come from the same place, amino acids(which come from proteins) and fat/cholesterol.
It is much easier and much more bioavailable for you to eat high quality organic pastured fatty meats and get the hormones and support from them than it is through plants.
BUT if you eat low quality meats you will be creating the same problems you’re trying to fix so it would be better to eat vegetables.
See our video on adrenal fatigue, exhaustion migraines and tension headaches below:
Always check with your doctor before making any changes to your health or diet.
Do you find a connection between your energy and your migraines?
Try our 10 step system to build the body back up and help it recover from things like stress, injury, burnout and fatigue here.
Share and comment below to let me know if you’ve experienced that burnt out feeling with migraines.
