Fatigue, Low Energy, Adrenal Doctor | Santa Fe

Is there any surprise that fatigue and lack of energy are common symptoms experienced by many of us? Not at all. We are under enormous amounts of stress on a regular basis – and stress is literally making us sick. When you are feeling tired all the time and don’t have the energy to move, isn’t it time to make a change? Unfortunately, many people don’t even have the energy to figure out the first steps to getting well.

At Live Well Functional Medicine in Santa Fe, NM, we understand that many of the issues related to stress and fatigue are based on lifestyle. But we also realize that many patients are just are too tired to focus on lifestyle optimization, including: a healthy diet, exercise, sleep and stress reduction. The causes of cortisol imbalance are emotional stress, dietary stress, pain and hidden inflammation. Stress and cortisol imbalance can result in weight gain, fatigue, depression, gastrointestinal problems, female hormone imbalance, and many other health issues.

At your first visit, we will have you fill out a comprehensive health history to identify areas of imbalance in your life. We will focus on the emotional, dietary, and inflammatory stressors that may be your triggers for the “Big 5”: inability to lose weight, fatigue, depression, GI issues and female hormone imbalance. We will explore which areas to focus on first, with blood tests for overall health status and hormone levels, as well as salivary adrenal cortisol levels.

Then Dr. Martinez will put together a comprehensive treatment and lifestyle plan to help reduce or eliminate stressors, restore hormonal balance, and provide nutritional supplementation to accelerate recovery from stress and restore balance to your body and mind.

If you would like to restore your energy and health, sleep better, lose weight, enhance sexual enjoyment, and improve your quality of life, schedule a consultation with Dr. Lynore Martinez at Live Well Functional Medicine in Santa Fe, NM today.

Fatigue, Low Energy,
Adrenal Problems
Santa Fe, NM

Is there any surprise that fatigue and lack of energy are common symptoms experienced by many of us? Not at all. We are under enormous amounts of stress on a regular basis – and stress is literally making us sick. When you are feeling tired all the time and don’t have the energy to move, isn’t it time to make a change? Unfortunately, many people don’t even have the energy to figure out the first steps to getting well.

At Live Well Functional Medicine in Santa Fe, NM, we understand that many of the issues related to stress and fatigue are based on lifestyle. But we also realize that many patients are just are too tired to focus on lifestyle optimization, including: a healthy diet, exercise, sleep and stress reduction. The causes of cortisol imbalance are emotional stress, dietary stress, pain and hidden inflammation. Stress and cortisol imbalance can result in weight gain, fatigue, depression, gastrointestinal problems, female hormone imbalance, and many other health issues.

At your first visit, we will have you fill out a comprehensive health history to identify areas of imbalance in your life. We will focus on the emotional, dietary, and inflammatory stressors that may be your triggers for the “Big 5”: inability to lose weight, fatigue, depression, GI issues and female hormone imbalance. We will explore which areas to focus on first, with blood tests for overall health status and hormone levels, as well as salivary adrenal cortisol levels.

Then Dr. Martinez will put together a comprehensive treatment and lifestyle plan to help reduce or eliminate stressors, restore hormonal balance, and provide nutritional supplementation to accelerate recovery from stress and restore balance to your body and mind.

If you would like to restore your energy and health, sleep better, lose weight, enhance sexual enjoyment, and improve your quality of life, schedule a consultation with Dr. Lynore Martinez at Live Well Functional Medicine in Santa Fe, NM today.

Causes of Cortical Imbalance

Emotional Stress

Emotional stress is something we can all relate too. It is the stress of an upcoming project due at work at the same time that your child is having health issues. It is the stress of a struggling marriage. Emotional stress is unavoidable – but there are steps that can be taken to reduce the negative impact that these stressors have on the mind and body.
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Dietary Stress

Dietary stress is all too common in our society. It can occur when you are eating too much sugar and/or not drinking enough water. Or if you, are too tired to fix dinner so you stop at a fast-food restaurant on the way home. Or perhaps you skipped breakfast and worked through lunch, so now you are ravenous when you walk in the door and eat a full bag of chips before dinner.
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Pain & Hidden Inflammation

Pain and hidden inflammation are even more challenging. If you are in chronic pain related to a back injury or you have an undiagnosed gastrointestinal pathogen like H. Pylori, this is a low grade, chronic stressor that elevates cortisol. We use the term hidden inflammation specifically because there is not an obvious source for symptoms and testing is required to diagnose the trigger for inflammation.

Fatigue & Low Energy Treatment | Santa Fe

Stress & Cortisol

The biggest challenge in treatment of symptoms is trying to identify the underlying cause. Your body is an amazing system of hormones and chemical reactions that affect multiple organ systems. We often refer to the HPA axis to explain stress and its effects on the brain. The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis is a feedback loop for hormones in your body (see the diagram below). The hypothalamus and pituitary glands are in your brain, but they are not only affecting the adrenal gland. They also affect your thyroid gland, ovaries in women and testes in men. All of these systems interact with a domino-like effect in which imbalance in one area can result in dysfunction in many other body systems. Thus, we need to start with root cause: CORTISOL.

Functions of Cortisol: Cortisol promotes fat burning and is a key factor in maintaining blood glucose regulation. Cortisol helps to maintain mood and memory. Cortisol regulates metabolism and helps with immune system function.

Normal cortisol secretion follows a diurnal pattern with elevated cortisol in the morning upon awakening, with a gradual fall in cortisol levels through the day. Cortisol is very stimulatory, thus elevated cortisol in the evening can result in insomnia and sleep pattern disruption.

Symptoms of excess cortisol are weight gain, food cravings, excessive fatigue, lack of concentration, depression, anxiety and irritability, insomnia, reduced immune system response, reduced libido and irregular menses due to hormone imbalance. Lack of cortisol results in fatigue, dizziness, muscle weakness and mood changes.

Treating Adrenal Disorders

At Live well Functional Medicine in Santa Fe, NM we utilize a systems-based approach to treatment of adrenal disorders. There are three stages of adrenal dysfunction. The first stage is a consistent elevation of cortisol throughout the day. The second stage is an imbalance in the normal rhythm of cortisol secretion. Stage three is a depletion of cortisol resulting in consistently low cortisol throughout the day. Each of these stages is treated with adrenal support supplements that are dosed based on your stage.

We utilize cortisol precursors such as DHEA and Pregnenolone drops, we support the production of cortisol through use of B-complex vitamins, adrenal adaptogens such as ashwaganda, blood glucose support in the form of alpha lipoic acid and antioxidant support with vitamin C. Each program is personalized for you level of readiness for change.

DHEA reverses immune suppression caused by excess cortisol and is a precursor to estrogen and testosterone to improve the hormone imbalance caused by excess cortisol and accelerates recovery from acute stress, aids in conversion of less active thyroid hormone T4 to more active T3. Pregnenolone is a precursor to many hormones, especially cortisol and has multiple health benefits including stress reduction and increased resistance to the effects of stress. It improves mood and energy and reduces symptoms of PMS and menopause. It improves immunity and repair of myelin sheaths along nerve endings.

Hormone imbalance can also lead to weight gain, mood changes, reduced libido, and insomnia. Please see our Hormone Replacement Page for more details.

Fatigue, Low Energy, Adrenal Doctor | Santa Fe