Women’s stories

“I had an adrenal problem... you helped save my life.”

Caitlyn was in the advanced stages of adrenal fatigue, but her doctors told her it was all in her head, and that what she needed was an antidepressant. After finding our website and reading our articles on adrenal fatigue, she insisted on different testing, which revealed Addison’s disease. Motivated to care for herself, she joined the Personal Program and three weeks later her tests were normal. She’s been on the upswing ever since and wrote to share her triumph:

“I want to thank Women to Women for helping to save my life. I know it sounds incredible, but without your help, finding some alternative doctors, and my own dogged research, I do believe I would be dead today.

“I’d had mild insomnia for a good deal of my adult life. Then I had a couple of years in a row where I could sleep only an hour or two a night. I was always exhausted, started drinking more coffee, and began to feel seriously ill. I ached all over, started having migraines, and was frequently nauseous. People at work were commenting on how tanned I looked ... in October (even in the summer I avoid the sun). When I looked in the mirror, I saw they were right.

“I was 46 years old, and had been on the Pill for 20 years to control ovarian cysts. Everything was out of whack. I cried all the time. My ob/gyn told me I just needed an antidepressant. She discounted the migraines, the bronzed skin, my inability to eat, my insomnia, and of course, the fatigue. I felt so insulted, but I knew that simply feeling that way would not serve me.

“At about this point I decided to go off the Pill. I had people I barely knew caring for my children, and I was trying to get medical leave from work because I could not eat and could barely get out of bed. I had an MRI to rule out a tumor. I started my period about a week after having just finished it, when I should have been ovulating. It was a heavy, painful period with bloating that made me look pregnant.

“It was only when I began to do my own research that I began my path to recovery. My bronzed skin was the first clue that I had an adrenal problem. I saw an endocrinologist, who tested me for Addison’s disease, claiming you either had it or you didn’t. She insisted there was no such thing as ‘adrenal fatigue.’ To this day, she cannot explain how the first test showed me in full-blown Addison’s and three weeks later, I wasn’t.

“The reason? I had discovered for myself what adrenal fatigue was and began to do everything I could to reverse it. All the pieces of the puzzle started coming together. I took control of my own health, and with the help of Women to Women and a local integrated medicine facility, I slowly began to recover.

“As a widowed, full-time working mom with two small children and no family support to rely on, I finally realized that stress was killing me. My cortisol levels were not coming down at night, hence the insomnia. That imbalance was causing other hormone imbalances. All that created a toxic environment in my gut that my exhausted lymph system just couldn’t handle anymore. Mind you, modern medicine was perplexed by the whole picture. So how did I turn things around?

“I got on the Personal Program to renourish my body. That gave me the energy I needed to begin my recovery. I listened well and practiced what all the Nurse–Educators told me, especially how to eat (carbohydrates made me ill, and bananas made me really sick). They recommended specific nutritional and lifestyle guidlelines. Excellent.

“I learned that I would soon become deathly ill if I did not restore my sleep cycle. I saw a sleep specialist. I went to bed early and whenever I could, I slept in until 9:00 AM. Adrenal healing occurs best between 7:00–9:00 AM, for some reason (another great book — Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Syndrome).

 “I also began a very healing style of yoga called Dhan Yoga, which had all sorts of calming and strengthening benefits. Today I’m a new person, without a tan. I haven’t felt this good in years. I have the energy to get through my days and even work out a bit. The minute I slip up in my diet or forget to take my Essential Nutrients, I begin to feel those old symptoms again. I have renewed hope for my future and want to share my story with every woman I know.

“People tend to trust their doctors too much. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, but get out there and listen to other perspectives. If you think you may have adrenal fatigue, don’t just passively expect the traditional medical community to offer you a cure. You know yourself best. By the way, I have relatives in the UK who can’t believe adrenal fatigue is not recognized in American medicine!

“Thanks again, Women to Women.”

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Last Modified: 02/16/2010