Posted by Rathmussen (Montreal, Canada) on 03/20/2008
★★★★★
I recently read that people who suffer from chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia benefit remarkably from cortisol treatments (75 per cent showed significant improvement, and 62 per cent reported substantial improvement). This is because they have adrenal dysfunction, meaning their adrenal glands, which produce sex hormones and cortisol, don't work effectively. I suspect this is due to viral damage. Cortisol is that stress hormone... you get a shot of it in fight or flight situations for a quick burst of energy, decreased pain sensitivity, etc. Proper levels are important for proper glucose metabolism, regulation of blood pressure, insulin release for blood sugar maintanence, immune function and inflammatory response. Maybe this is why when you exercise it makes it worse because your cortisol levels should increase with aerobic exercise to help deal with the wear and tear. The bulk of cortisol release happens when we sleep, which would also explain why you might not wake up feeling refreshed. If you read up on cortisol, you'll see that if you don't have enough, you just don't have access to energy to burn.
I would definitely try the cortisol therapy, but perhaps there is a more natural way to stimulate the adrenal glands. Research has found that the nutrient Phosphatidylserine (PS) helps balance both high and low levels of cortisol. Usually our brains manufacture sufficient levels of PS, but if there is a deficiency of folic acid and vitamin B12, or of essential fatty acids, the brain may not be able to make sufficient PS levels. So get lots of fish, ridiculous amounts of dark green vegetables, and even rice and soy (or lecithin, I imagine). You can find PS supplements...they used to make them from cow's brains, but now they make a soy lecithin-derived one. (Phew!) At the very least, this nutrient would help with brain fog.
(My interest in chronic fatigue stems from having the Epstein Barr virus. I couldn't shake the fatigue for years and years. I did find getting fish oil and a teaspoon of chlorella everyday finally produced some results, which I would recommend to absolutely everyone!)
