My “Trilateral” Approach to Healing Adrenal Fatigue and Chronic Illness

If you’ve been suffering from the debilitating effects of a chronic illness or Adrenal Fatigue for 6 months or more, you know by now that the symptoms aren’t just passing through. They’re stubborn and seem here to stay.

Your symptoms may include all or a combination of the following, and they most likely have been with you for months…or years. 

— Fatigue or exhaustion

— Depression

— Anxiety

— Decreased stress tolerance

— Transient body-wide pain

— Insomnia and frequent waking

— IBS or other digestive illnesses

— Brain fog and poor concentration

— Unexplained weight gain

And if those weren’t enough, the longer the symptoms go unchecked by your doctor, the more likely you’re also struggling with a weakened immune system, digestive issues, reproductive irregularities, thyroid symptoms and more. 

You Feel Awful. Why Isn’t Anyone Able to Help You?

By the time my patients reach me, they have seen so many doctors and specialists and had countless labs performed that they’re frustrated, over-medicated, and sometimes even resigned to feeling the way they do for the rest of their lives.

For the most part, my patients have looked high and low for a solution to their chronic fatigue, persistent insomnia, IBS, unexplained weight issues, unresolved anxiety and depression, recurrent Epstein Barr, or frequent viral infections. They’ve heard the same generic information from almost every site, source, and “authority” out there. 

The conventional medical industry has failed us, because it is not designed to address complex conditions like Adrenal Fatigue, which has no magic pill for healing. Healthcare professionals offer band-aids, by way of chemical prescriptions and treating symptomatically rather than healing the root cause of disease.

The Reason You’re Not Getting Better

Adrenal Fatigue. Stress Response System Dysfunction (SRD). HPA Axis Dysfunction (HAD). Burnout. Chronic Illness. Adrenal Syndrome.

There are dozens of names and terms used for what you’re experiencing. The only thing in greater abundance are the doctors, institutions, and websites telling you what you’re going through doesn’t exist.

Every day, I must reassure my patients by reminding them: “It’s not all in your head.”

This real but “invisible” condition can have a catastrophic impact on your quality of life, and having a professional dismiss your symptoms as purely psychological is narrow-minded and condescending.

Every day, I reassure my patients: “It’s not all in your head.”

I’m not here to tell you that there’s some “new” disorder taking over your life.

It is not a diagnosis or disease. It is a dysfunction of the stress response system that has a very similar “symptom picture” held by each person affected by it. This condition has been around for a long, long time. The problem is simply that no one out there treats it correctly and comprehensively.

No matter what name we give to this cluster of painful and life-changing and sometimes debilitating symptoms, complete and lasting treatment boils down to this:

There can be no healing of chronic illness without treatment specific to all three parts of the stress response system: the brain, hormones, and nerves. I do this using my Trilateral Approach to Healing. No one else treats all three parts of your stress response system simultaneously, and that’s why no one else can provide a solution for lasting healing.

These Three Parts of Your Stress Response System Hold the Key to Your Health

Healing chronic illness needs to take place within the entire stress response system itself, not just the sluggish adrenal glands.

It starts with repairing the damage that’s taken place at the brain level, in the limbic system first and foremost; however, it also must include repair of the damage to both the nerve and hormone sides of your stress response.

The Limbic System of the brain is the region in charge of keeping all our organs running. It keeps all the amazing mechanisms in our bodies working on autopilot, controlling regulatory functions, such as sleep-wake cycles, temperature regulation, and appetite and hunger signals. 

One of the most important jobs of the limbic system is making the subconscious decision for your body to be in fight-or-flight mode when necessary. Once that decision is made, it simultaneously triggers both the nerve and hormone sides of the stress response, resulting in the adrenal glands pumping out stress hormones. 

The hormone side of the stress response is referred to as the HPA Axis (Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis). This axis ends with the triggering of the adrenals to release cortisol. The hypothalamus and pituitary sit just under the limbic system in the brain, although they are part of your hormone system and not your central nervous system.

The nerve side of the stress response refers to the Autonomic Nervous System (or ANS). These are the nerves that control your organs. They also send signals to your adrenal glands to produce adrenaline. 

Each system affects the other. They work together intimately. Unless all three are targeted in a healing plan, any improvements you may see will be only temporary.

The Limbic System: “CEO” of Your Stress Response

The limbic system’s job is to assess your environment, constantly, both internally and externally. From there, it adjusts to the changes it finds. It first receives information—or stimuli—through the blood supply or sensory nerves and perception.

When the limbic system perceives a threat, it also tells the adrenals, via both the nerve and hormone side of our stress response system, to get busy by delivering stress hormones around our bodies. These stress hormones are adrenaline and cortisol, and they help our bodies mobilize, kicking in our fight-or-flight response. These stress hormones give you a boost to address the threat. T

Do this once in a while, and it will save your life. Do this too often, and it creates tremendous wear and tear on your body…all over your body.

Why We’re Overflowing With Stress

Our limbic system evolved thousands of years ago. The scenarios then were often immediately life-threatening: fear of starvation, becoming prey, and environmental changes that we could not control.

But today, our lives are full of so many “little” stressors—not to mention all the life-altering events—that our limbic system is working triple-time. For example, changing careers, although a positive move, is considered a stressor to our limbic system.

Even our limbic system itself, by its own doing, is swimming in stress hormones because of life events, and it becomes chronically overstimulated and even trigger-happy. If it’s constantly in fight-or-flight mode, your body never has a chance to come down, reset, and heal. 

The Body-Wide Damage of Chronic Stress

What if there are so many stressors in your life—anywhere from sitting in traffic to the death of a loved one to a worldwide pandemic—that this response is no longer acute? 

If your limbic system perceives any stress as a threat, no matter how small, it tells your adrenals to pump out adrenaline and cortisol constantly. But cortisol and adrenal can be incredibly damaging when they are triggered over and over. 

When the limbic system is overstimulated, the adrenal stress hormones begin to do damage to the limbic system itself. The more time passes, the more this increases the body-wide drain and dysfunction. How long were we designed to run from a predator? How long can our bodies hold out? Not long. 

But these constant daily—sometimes hourly—stressors are always occurring. We get “stuck” in a chronic stress response and become increasingly sensitive to our environment. 

We start to over-interpret our world as stressful and dangerous. Things that wouldn’t have stressed us in the past now trigger our stress hormones, which feels like panic or anxiety. We can’t seem to get our bodies out of fight-or-flight mode…even at the grocery store.  

This causes a vicious cycle of a chronic stress response, even when there are no stressors present. 

The longer this occurs unchecked, the more each of the body’s global operations can be thrown into chaos. Chronic overstimulation of the limbic system—and as a result, the rest of the stress response—has detrimental effects on the body. 

This process leads to a condition some refer to as “Adrenal Fatigue.” Not a great name, but it’s all we’ve got right now. If someone has Adrenal Fatigue, these dysfunctions are already occurring: 

— Low energy levels

— Body-wide aches and pains

— Unwanted weight gain

— Irregular sleep patterns

— Suppressed immune function

— Intensified mood swings and irritability

— GI dysfunction

— Beginning thyroid disorders

Calming and Healing the Limbic System

To heal completely—and for good—we must focus on the function of all three parts of the stress response system, and we must do it at the same time.  

As I wrote above, the stress response system involves interaction between the brain (the limbic system), nerves (the autonomic nervous system), and hormones (the HPA-axis). You wouldn’t try to heal one part and leave the others unwell, would you? You may have already tried this.

As we work together on your treatment, your limbic system begins to calm and repair. It will no longer constantly trigger your adrenals. As a result, you’ll begin to feel a lift in energy levels. 

You’ll experience less pain, less inflammation, and improved digestion. You won’t catch every infection that comes around. You won’t feel downright exhausted every waking moment. 

Best of all, while your body heals, all the hopelessness and frustration you’ve been feeling for months—or years—dissipate.

My Trilateral Treatment Program

Treatment is different for everyone, because everyone’s body is unique genetically and biochemically and is experiencing slightly different symptoms. 

When we work one-on-one, my exact recommendations are always tailored to you. We must target the stress response system from a variety of angles.

Mine is a holistic, multi-faceted, comprehensive approach to healing. You must be helped as a whole person and not as a cluster of symptoms to be “picked-off” by specialists, one by one. We need to get to the root cause. Without doing so, there will be no lasting result.

You may sometimes feel alone when you have this condition, but you don’t have to heal alone. My patients work with me from the comfort of home and have the support of my entire care team.  

— Lab tests are shipped to your door

— Your one-on-one appointments with me are by video

— Your treatment plans are individualized

— We fine-tune biweekly with video check-ins

— My coaching team is available through chat and email

— A Certified Holistic Nutritionist is on staff

— My Adrenable™ app helps you track goals and progress

Anyone with Chronic Illness is Fully Capable of Healing

Once you are under my care, my only goal is to get you better so you can enjoy your life again. Whether it’s within three months or twelve months, we are beside you every step of your healing journey.

In 2002, I graduated from Bastyr University School of Naturopathic Medicine and was determined to devote my life to helping those with the same condition that sidelined me for years.

I know how hard healing can be. I suffered from my own battle with Adrenal Fatigue. I genuinely do have an intimate understanding of what you endure, both emotionally and physically. I understand that perhaps your spouse or partner is tired of hearing you talk about how bad you feel, or maybe your friends and employer think you’re “faking it,” lazy, or that it’s “all in your head.” I went through that too.

I am a licensed Naturopathic Doctor with a compassionate, knowledgeable care team. Treating Adrenal Fatigue and chronic illness is what we do, all day, every day. 

Thousands of patient interactions and 20 years of practicing medicine have helped me develop the only approach that fully heals chronic illness for good. No one else treats Adrenal Fatigue this way.

I invite you now to speak with someone on my care team. She will answer all your questions and explain a little bit more about my treatment program. Together, you will determine if my approach is a good fit for you and decide upon the next best step to get your life back.

I know you might still be skeptical, you’ve earned it. Please keep in mind: We only qualify people that we believe we can help, and this 30-minute call is free.