Rhodiola?

[clubby29]

Hi all. Can rhodiola be taken without any problems. i.e drugs clash. I have high overnight cortisol which is not helping with my sleep and making my life harder than it needs to be. I'm not much of a pill man but this seems a natural solution, any views welcome .

Cheers

[greygoose]

Try it and see. That's all I can suggest. It doesn't suit everyone, but that doesn't mean it won't suit you.

webmd.com/vitamins-suppleme...

[Ruthi]

Rhodiola will wake you up in the mornings. Ashwagandha is better at helping you sleep.

Sadly a few supplements will not sort out your adrenals. You need to overhaul the life that has caused the problem. Undertreated thyroid can aggravate/cause adrenal problems to show, but without fixing the adrenals, your thyroid cannot heal.

Read Adrenal Fatigue by James Wilson, and the Adrenal Reset Diet by Alan Christianson.

Go to bed earlier, and at the same time every night. No telly or screens for an hour before bed

Ditch the sugar, junk food, alcohol and caffeine

Eat wholesome unprocessed food, loads of veg, lots of protein, healthy fats - animal and cold pressed oils, small amounts of complex carbs.

Eat regular meals, no skipping, no fasting

Supplement with magnesium and its co-factors

Learn to meditate and do it daily

Ditch toxic people and reduce sources of stress

[clubby29 in reply to Ruthi]

Hi, I thought rhodiola was supposed to restore normal sleep patterns? The life overhaul sounds good in theory but in the real world it's not possible unless I sell my business,house,wife,children,car and go and live on a dessert island. I eat fairly clean don't smoke and supplement where I have to my hypo meds aren't right but at NHS speed it doesn't work well. The waking at 5 and feeling crap till 3pm is more likely adrenal than anything else, but for the reasons above I need a work around.

Cheers

[Ruthi]

Rhodiola is an adaptogen, ie it helps the adrenals regulate themselves more normally. And Ashwaganha is too. But as a generalisation rhodiola wakes you up - so take in the morning, and take your ashwagandha in the evening. Magnesium also helps with sleep, and there is some stuff called Seriphos that lots of people swear by.

I assume that you've had a saliva test that tells you you have high cortisol at night, and low in the morning? This is fairly typical of early stages of 'Adrenal Fatigue' which would better be described and adrenal dysregulation, since the adrenals are usually unharmed, but the complex control system goes haywire.

Adaptogens alone almost certainly won't crack it. You also need to address bedtime, and what happens through the day. The Adrenal Reset Diet helps a lot, and he also talks about light therapy - either getting out in the sun (he sure doesn't live in the UK!) early in the day, or using a lightbox. I used to suffer SAD and use one in winter, now I use a Valkee in ear light therapy machine all year round.

Honestly, I also said all the stuff about how I couldn't possibly change my life in any way. And all that happened was I got sicker. You don't need to escape to a desert island to make changes, you just have to move your health up in your priorities and make sensible changes.

If you always do what you've always done........

[clubby29 in reply to Ruthi]

Thanks for info didn't mean to sound ungrateful , many balls to juggle so need to feel ok or at least able to think a bit clearly, juggling balls a bad idea because it makes me feel like crap. Just looking for an edge or crack in the spiral. My GP is useless, waiting to see endo 4weeks left of a 14 week wait that I just know will be a pointless meeting. If it is I'm off on a solo mission to fix this don't want to waste any more of life waiting for people who can't help. Will check out book. Thanks.

[Ruthi]

You don't need to be grateful! It's just quite frustrating when I see someone heading into the same hell I was in, because it's difficult, and seems like the current ball juggling is the most important thing.

Do your research and do as much as you can to prevent yourself getting worse.

[winjy]

I was advised that if you have fever, you should not take it.