Women’s stories

“Finding calm in the eye of the storm”

Elise was on a slow slide into adrenal dysfunction when a sudden health crisis in her family ramped up her stress levels — and her symptoms of adrenal imbalance and insulin resistance. The realization that she was on the cusp of her own major health crisis led her to our Personal Program for Adrenal Imbalance, where she found relief almost immediately, as she told us...

“At 43 years old, I’ve really worked hard to “live the dream” with my family. My husband Tom, a carpenter, and I have worked our tails off to build a horse farm in Maine where we could raise our kids away from the concrete jungle. We really went flat out making it happen — spent three years living on my salary alone so my husband could build the house, often living long stretches apart, with me as “single Mom” to my two step-kids, who were in middle school, and my toddler son Matthew. We made a lot of sacrifices, and it was very, very stressful. I wasn’t completely blind to what the stress was doing to my health — I was irritable, and had trouble sleeping, and I gained a lot of weight even though I was getting regular exercise and trying hard to eat well. To a certain extent I knew that the stress was taking a toll on my health, but I kept telling myself that things would get better once we moved and my husband was able to start working again.

Well, not everything went as planned. Just before the move, I found out I was pregnant again, which was exciting, but totally unexpected — we hadn’t factored a new baby into our plans! Then, just after we moved, the economy tanked and my husband couldn’t find any work — no one was building houses at that point. I had planned on leaving my job when we moved but realized that I couldn’t, even though it meant commuting 100 miles across two states — while pregnant! Everyone thought I was crazy, and maybe I was — but I was determined that this move was going to work come hell or high water. It probably took a greater toll on me than I realized, because while pregnant, I developed hypothyroidism and had to start taking Synthroid. But to my mind, that’s just what I had to do to keep things going.

After Jeremy was born, I started gaining more weight, and couldn’t seem to get it under control despite trying hard to exercise regularly — and I was also tired all the time. Eventually I got a job locally, and a friend told me about the Women to Women Clinic here in Maine. I found your web site, read about adrenal fatigue, and thought, yep, that’s me! I also read about insulin resistance and recognized the signs that I was also probably in danger of developing prediabetes. But I didn’t do much about it. I was “too busy” to worry about my health—ha!

Last fall, though, something happened to really shake things up. Jeremy, now 18 months old, developed Type 1 diabetes and had to be hospitalized for a week while they got his blood sugar under control and trained my husband and me how to take care of him. And to make matters much worse, our prize filly broke her leg and had to be put down the day before I took Jeremy to the doctor! I was devastated on both counts, but Jeremy’s condition left me no time to take it all in. It was a week from hell — and that was before we found out just how little of Jeremy’s medical expenses would be covered by our health insurance, and how expensive his insulin and other supplies would be, month after month. The financial worry of how to pay for it all just about sent me over the edge. Seemingly overnight, I gained another 15 pounds (most of it in my tummy), was basically unable to sleep at all, and became a nervous wreck. Needless to say, the progress I’d made in terms of managing my diet and exercise went totally out the window!

After we got Jeremy’s diabetes under control, I slowly started thinking about my own health again. With glucose meters now part of my daily routine, it wasn’t much of a stretch to see myself joining Jeremy as another diabetic in the family. I even started taking my fasting blood glucose levels just to reassure myself — but it wasn’t a pleasant picture. In the six months after Jeremy’s diagnosis, I went from the normal, non-diabetic level of 85 up into the high 90s and low 100s, which is definitely prediabetes territory.

Last spring, I found out about The Core Balance Diet and tried it for a month. It did bring my blood sugar down a little and I felt better overall — but I didn’t lose much weight, and the eating plan was awfully hard to stick with given how limited my time is, between working full-time and helping to care for two small boys (one diabetic), a couple of teenagers, and a farm full of animals. But the quizzes in the book were really helpful, and pointed to adrenal imbalance as far and away my biggest problem — the main reason I wasn’t losing weight (and it was contributing to my insulin resistance). When I saw that Women to Women had developed a Program specifically for adrenal imbalance, it seemed worth trying — I knew it would be less expensive than taking care of myself if I became diabetic, and at that point I would have tried anything to help me lose weight, stop craving sugar, and get my blood sugar levels back in line.

Within a couple of days of using the Adaptisol, I noticed a huge difference in my energy levels. Normally, if I don’t get at least 9 hours of sleep, I’m a zombie — and since Jeremy’s diagnosis, anything more than 6 has been a rare luxury. On this Program, I’m still pretty tired if I have less than 8 hours, but I’m functional, and I can think straight and be coherent, which is amazing.

And another thing, the monstrous sugar cravings I have always fought have gone down to manageable levels — they didn’t go away completely, but I could resist the urge to eat sweets, which wasn’t the case at all before. All my usual PMS symptoms completely vanished — I’ve never been taken by surprise by my period before, but now I actually have to pay attention. That’s far better than being crabby, crampy, and a complete sugar fiend for a week beforehand. Best of all, after I’d been taking the Adaptisol for about a week, I tested my blood sugar and found it was back within normal range! I was completely floored — I had hoped that my blood sugar would improve, but not that quickly!

Looking back, the signs of an adrenal problem were there all along — the fatigue, the weight gain, the bouts of acne, the sugar cravings, even my long-standing intolerance to cold (not such a good thing when you live in Maine!). These are all symptoms I’ve had lurking in the background for years, decades even, and I never recognized what they meant. My body really was sending me a message, but it just took me a while to listen! I’ve started taking qi gong classes now, and that helps me exercise without overdoing. I’m still fighting to get sugar out of my life, but overall my ability to stick to the dietary recommendations is getting better. I know it’s just a matter of time till the excess weight comes off. It’s funny, but the best thing about this Program has been that it has shown me that you can change your health yourself. So now I’m really convinced—your Program is helping me fend off diabetes and adrenal fatigue, and I’m going to stick with it till I’m healthy again!”

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Last Modified: 02/16/2010