CHEESESLAVE

As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, I suffer from adrenal exhaustion. I’m sure it was caused by the high-stress work I used to do in advertising, compounded by my coffee addiction (which I’ve now kicked — thanks, Dandy Blend!).

Anyhow, about a month or so ago, I started on a supplement called maca.

Maca is a tuber, in the same family as the radish and the turnip, grown in the Andes Mountains in Peru. It’s full of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.

For approximately 2000 years, maca has been an important traditional food and medicinal plant in its growing region. It is regarded as a highly nutritious food and as a medicine that enhances strength and endurance and also acts as an aphrodisiac. During Spanish colonization maca was used as currency. Source: Wikipedia

Maca is used as a hormone regulator — so it helps with symptoms of hormonal imbalances — from PMS to menopause to infertility.

It’s also supposed to be really good for your adrenal glands, which is why I started taking it.

I was on it for about a month or so when I got my period. I was stunned to find that, for the first time ever in my life, I had absolutely no symptoms of PMS.

I’ve always had PMS. Like, always. And it’s always been bad PMS. Such bad cramps that I had to pop ibuprofren like candy.

When I changed my diet and started eating a more WAPF diet (more saturated fats, fewer vegetables oils — except coconut oil and olive oil, pastured meats, raw dairy, etc.), the PMS got a lot better. I’d say the cramping and pain was reduced by half. A pretty substantial improvement!

So you can imagine my astonishment to find that all my PMS symptoms — pain, bloating, cramping, tenderness, irritability, mood swings, etc. — were GONE.

Interestingly, my melasma (hyper-pigmentation, often referred to as “pregnancy mask”) is also starting to clear up. I had forgotten about it because I’ve been wearing bangs. I visited a friend a few weeks ago and she pointed it out — said she could tell that it was definitely lightening.

It makes sense, because I have read that adrenal fatigue causes melasma.

I’m still in a state of amazement. And I’m thrilled that I have proof that I am recovering from adrenal fatigue.

One caveat:

However, maca does contain glucosinolates, which can cause goitres when high consumption is combined with a diet low in iodine. Source: Wikipedia

So if you take maca, you will want to also supplement with Iodoral or Lugol’s to get extra iodine. I am taking 50 mg daily of Iodoral (for one year, at which point I will drop down to a maintenance dose of one pill or 12.5 mg per day), so it should be fine. I personally think everyone should supplement with iodine (12.5 mg daily is considered a maintenance dose for adults).

And I don’t think maca is something that you would need to take forever. It’s something you can take to help with balancing hormones and issues surrounding imbalanced hormones (infertility, low sex drive, menopause, and PMS).

Incidentally, I take 1/2 to 1 tsp of maca per day, in a little kefir or raw milk, along with 1 TBS of coconut oil (when I remember), and I recently started adding 1/2 tsp of bee pollen to the mix.

If you want to know where to get it, I’ve been using two different brands (I got one at the store and then ordered the other online — and have been taking both of them for no particular reason). Maca Magic, which I got at Whole Foods (but you can order online) and the other from Radiant Life Catalog. (And no, I’m not making any money from these people.)

Photo credit: The National Academies Press

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that Seth and I are both suffering from adrenal fatigue (and possibly low thyroid function as well). I started supplementing with 50 mg of Iodoral per day, as well as dessicated adrenal gland a couple of months ago. Seth started taking the supplements a few weeks ago.

We are also off all sugar and starches (we have been on the GAPS diet for over a month). Seth is down to one cup of coffee a day and I’ve given it up completely. (This is all necessary for adrenal recovery.) We are also trying to get more sleep and relaxation (not so easy with two businesses and a baby, but we try.)

Additionally, we are taking a couple of grams of vitamin C per day. We are starting on licorice extract this week. We are also taking extra cod liver oil (for they thyroid), and sea salt in water (for the adrenals).

Dr. Rind has a great website with lots of information on how to recover from thyroid and adrenal imbalance. This page is all about how to chart your temperature.

We have been doing this for the past few weeks. All you have to do is take your temperature 3 times a day, ideally 9 am, 12 noon, and 3 pm. Then you take the average of those 3 temperatures and plot it on the graph.

If you take your temperature 3 times that day, put a 3 on the chart (put 2 if you only take it twice, and 1 if only once). There is also a space down below to make notes of any changes — for example, if something stressful happens or if you change something such as the amount of supplements you are taking.

Here’s my temperature graph:

The temperatures are along the left — on the vertical Y axis (in Celcius and Farenheit). The X (horizontal) axis represents each day. So you can see how I charted a number (usually 3, sometimes 2) on the X axis which represents my average temperature each day.

Obviously my temperatures are pretty low. And they are not stable. This signifies low adrenal function (and possibly also low thyroid function). Low temperatures are indicative of low thyroid (or hypothyroid) function, but they can also be indicative of adrenal exhaustion. Unstable temperatures (up and down) indicate adrenal fatigue.

Here’s Seth’s temperature graph:

Seth’s temperatures are much lower than mine — and much more unstable. However, he started supplementing more recently. It also looks like his temperatures are beginning to stabilize — just in the past few days. We’ll see…

Here is what it says on Dr. Rind’s site about interpreting results:

Thermal activity reflects metabolic activity. A low temperature means low metabolism and vice versa. For example, the temperature typically found in someone who is old, frail, pale and weak is low and typically ranges from 95 to 97 degrees if no infection is present. A healthy person will have an average temperature of 98.6 degrees, but may have a 100 degree or higher temperature in a hyperthyroid state or as high as a 104 to 105 degree temperature if there is a fever present ­ these are high metabolic states.

Wide variability in daily temperatures indicates a weak adrenal function since the adrenal glands help the body maintain stability. Good adrenal function produces a stable temperature. As adrenal function improves, the temperature variability decreases and vice versa. As adrenals get stressed (either from emotional stress, excess metabolic stimulation such as excessive thyroid stimulation, or for other reasons), the variability increases.

In a hypothyroid state, the day-to-day averages are low and very stable. In a hypoadrenal state including adrenal exhaustion or adrenal stress, the temperatures are low and unstable — one day they may average 96 degrees and one to two degrees higher the next day.

It looks like Seth may be beginning to stabilize. I’m not really seeing any improvement in my chart yet — but I have been having some extremely emotionally stressful days, due to my current family emergency. So it may take me a while longer to recover. I’ll keep tracking it.

Note: It is imperative to get a good thermometer if you want to do this. Most thermometers are wildly inaccurate. Dr. Rind recommends the digital Lumiscope thermometer. I found it on Drugstore.com for $6.

We had our phone consultation to go over our test results with Dr. Flechas yesterday. He said that Seth and I are both iodine deficient and we should both take 50 mg of Iodoral per day — for a year. He said in one year, we’ll do the tests again and see where we are.

He said the Iodoral will help us excrete the heavy metals from our system — and he said that in a year’s time, all our heavy metal numbers should go down to zero.

He asked me if I knew how I could have gotten so much arsenic. I have no idea! He said I should look into that. Seth doesn’t have high arsenic — so it must have been something I ate or consumed before I met Seth. It’s not something that is affecting us now (i.e., not in our drinking water), otherwise Seth would have high arsenic too. But he doesn’t.

Seth has high aluminum. Not anywhere near as high as my arsenic levels (this explains the tingling in my hands). After that call, he agreed to throw away his mainstream deodorant and start using my “hippie” deodorant from Terressentials.

We are both high in uranium. Dr. Flechas said it would be a good idea to have our water tested. We have been drinking distilled water only for months now, but I am curious to know what is in the water supply. I asked Dr. Flechas if we can absorb water through the bath or shower, and he said he didn’t know.

Dr. Flechas also told us to take something called ATP Cofactors, because it helps the Iodoral “stick” better. And I asked him about giving Lugol’s to Kate. He said absolutely — 1 drop per day. He said this is really important because iodine has a lot to do with intelligence in children (iodine deficiency is associated with mental retardation and cretinism) and by age 2, her IQ will be set. So we started giving her the Lugol’s yesterday.

I forgot to ask him if it is safe to breastfeed with this much arsenic in my system if I’m taking the Iodoral and excreting it. I know it gets dumped in the breast milk. I will email the lab and ask the assistant to ask him.

I have a feeling though that I won’t be able to breastfeed for a while. It takes a while to get all of this junk out of your system. And, as wonderful as it is for Kate to drink breast milk, I don’t like the idea of her getting a bunch of arsenic. Thank goodness we have the homemade raw milk formula.

I got my new Lumiscope thermometer yesterday. It was only $6.19. (And I ordered some other things so I got free shipping.)

I’m so happy I got it. I took my temperature right away when it arrived in the mail. We had just come back from a long walk so I figured my temperature would be at least 98.6 or maybe even higher.

It was 97.5! I took it again. 97.5.

Then I took my temperature with the thermometer I had been using.

98.9!

Just to be sure, I took my temperature first thing this morning with both thermometers.

Lumiscope: 97.1
Old thermometer: 98.6

So. Now we know. You really have to get a Lumiscope if you want any kind of accuracy at all.

I also just heard back about my lab results. I am deficient in iodine. Got Seth’s too — he is also deficient; his numbers are very close to mine.

Not a big surprise — the doctor’s assistant said that 9 out of 10 people come back deficient. This is also not surprising — since we have such low levels of iodine in our soil and there are so many things in our food supply that block iodine uptake (bromide, fluoride, soy).

Dr. Flechas’ assistant said that for people who are iodine deficient, he usually tells people to take 50 mg of Iodoral per day, which is what I have been doing. She says he usually recommends this for 3-6 months, then you do another test. But most people who are iodine deficient need to take Iodoral for life.

This does not surprise me either. The Japanese get 13 mg per day just from their diet. We get very very little from our diet. One pill of Iodoral supplies your body with 12.5 mg. I’m beginning to believe that everyone should take iodine (either Lugol’s or Iodoral). I will take cod liver oil for the rest of my life — I think Iodoral is a necessary supplement too for most of us.

The thing is, you don’t see results right away. It takes months. Dr. Rind said that darker haired, darker skinned people tend to recover faster from adrenal exhaustion (and you have to have healthy adrenals for your thyroid to function properly). He said blue-eyed blondes take the longest to recover. That would be me. Oh, well!

I will get my heavy metal test results in the next few days, and I am scheduled for a phone consultation with Dr. Flechas next Tuesday.

I’m excited to download my spreadsheet from Dr. Rind’s site and start charting my progress. I’m going to take Seth’s temperature as often as I can, too. I’ll keep track for both of us, since I’m already doing it.