Janet Lewis: Hello and welcome to this week’s show. I’m Janet Lewis.
Dr. Lewis: And I’m Dr. Lewis.
Janet Lewis: We are Green Wisdom Health, home of your low-cost lab work here to educate you again about another very exciting or tiring topic. I’m not sure which one. It’s so dreary now outside, it is here in Texas, which doesn’t happen for us very often. But it has started early this year, which I’m sure everyone else now is having the same thing going on. You’re going into fall, and you’re tired, and you don’t know why.
Janet Lewis: The name of this show is Help, I’m so exhausted. Like I said, with the weather the way it is just makes it worse. We’ve lost our sunshine and reason to get up and go outside and go walk, or be out in the fresh air.
Janet Lewis: With that, Dr. Lewis is going to help us today understand more about our adrenals and the role that they play in our health and making us feel better, as well as many other educational items that might fly out of his head that will make you feel better, as well.
Janet Lewis: Dr. Lewis, do you want to tell us about why we feel this way during this time of the year, and why we’re so exhausted to start with, and we probably weren’t feeling that great when we got here. What’s going on that we’re just not chipper, and peppy, and happy?
Dr. Lewis: Well, thank you to Larry who called and said, “Tell Janet we should name this Down The Rabbit Hole, and should have a website called downtrabbithole.com,” which is true. I guess I’ll never get to where I can corral my thoughts and go in one direction at any given time. I think that’s not gonna change.
Dr. Lewis: The main thing about being healthy is create a mental and spiritual image of what healthy would be, and start talking about, thinking about, and giving thanks for the good things that’s happening. Rather than talking about the problem.
Dr. Lewis: Sometimes Janet and I get challenges, people that just won’t get out of their own way. We try to help them, but there comes a time where you have to kind of tell them, “You’re creating this. I got to ditch you and go to somebody that’s more productive and just taking it and running with it, and giving thanks for it.”
Dr. Lewis: We’re so grateful for the people that give us the five-star reviews and understand how much work we put into helping people get well. Janet and I have been very, very blessed. There’s so many people that kind of stick with it, of course, they’re the ones that get the biggest results.
Dr. Lewis: Then there’s those that feel better, and then they’ll quit for a while, and then they’ll come back. We’re very, very grateful. We just want to say thank you.
Janet Lewis: Yes-
Dr. Lewis: That makes a big difference to us.
Janet Lewis: That’s good, and you talk about five-star reviews. Please give us those on iTunes, because that helps us go up in ratings, and where other people can start finding our shows, as well, and helping them find help. If you got really something bad to say just call us directly, don’t put it on there.
Dr. Lewis: Yeah, and I’ll tell ya that’s your perception. We work really hard to help you get well. I wanted to talk about adrenals because that’s come up several times in the last couple of days. You know, you have to understand, to Larry and the rabbit hole statement … God, I love talking to this guy, he’s funny.
Dr. Lewis: If you just support the adrenals then you’re gonna be incomplete. Some people will get a little bit of information and not have enough understanding, and they actually do more harm than good. Here comes your first rabbit hole: this is why you can’t just take our information, I hope we give a lot of it, and good information, but you can’t take it and just run with it, because there is such a complicated way the body works. I try to simplify: take the toxins out, put the supplements, the good nutrition in, and have a healthy, happy, positive attitude, and that helps a lot.
Dr. Lewis: Just for example: most people have impaired digestion. Why are you talking about impaired digestion? We’re talking about adrenals. I’ll get to that, that’s another rabbit hole. Oh, you have acid reflux, so you take an acid reducer, or Tums, and then you get slow stomach acid, and then you get reduced B12, and then your B12 lowers your energy level, lowers your brain function, you get brain fog.
Dr. Lewis: Then impaired digestion can create leaky gut, more nutrient deficiencies, then it creates more acid reflux, and then it gets impaired absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion. That can lead to anemia, low iron, it can cause all kinds of problems, and that can cause anxiety. Oh, not just the brain fog but anxiety, and that can create more thyroid produced, but it’s stuck in limbo, it can’t convert. Then the adrenals have to take over, because the thyroid can’t really do it by itself. That creates hypothyroidism, which puts pressure on the adrenal glands.
Dr. Lewis: Then it creates toxins and triggers because you’re not digesting and eliminating, which creates inflammation, which creates autoimmune destruction of the thyroid and other autoimmune diseases, like lupus and rheumatoid [inaudible 00:05:42] and things like that.
Dr. Lewis: From that leaky gut, which creates food intolerance, which creates blood sugar spikes, especially the carbs and the sugars, which alter the gut flora, and especially if you’re doing the artificial stuff like Sucralose and Aspartame, and all that kind of stuff. Then you skip meals, then you get more blood sugar spikes, and then that creates more stress, which puts more pressure on the adrenal glands, that increases cortisol.
Dr. Lewis: Oh, if you have long-term increased cortisol, sooner or later it’s gonna get tired, because you don’t have enough nutrients to support that. I kind of use the analogy of, well, you’re going down I-20 in the rain … Since it’s raining I’ll talk about it … I-20, if it’s raining I don’t even get on it, it’s extremely dangerous between Longview and Dallas, or Shreveport and Dallas. But the increased cortisol, oh my god, you’re going 117 miles and hour.
Dr. Lewis: Then, oh, you run over somebody, you run off in the ditch, or your engine blows up, and that’s what you’re doing to your adrenals when you stay constantly stressed. That decreases steroids, then you get your immune system overloaded, which goes back into creating food intolerances, and more inflammation. You know, inflammation and gut is always part of the equation.
Dr. Lewis: Then, and finally, it goes into adrenal insufficiency, which feeds the thyroid. Yeah. How about that for a rabbit hole? It took me a while to write that, so I hope you all appreciate it. That’s why … Don’t get a little bit of information and do it yourself.
Dr. Lewis: You cannot really understand the big picture, and I can’t even fix myself. I hate to say it, because I think I’m brilliant. I’ve read hundreds of books, usually dozens and dozens per year, I read thousands of research articles over the years, and probably several hundred a year. Real research, not the internet stuff, and I can’t even fix myself.
Dr. Lewis: You know what that does? It stresses me out, and causes adrenal exhaustion. God, I hope you like that rabbit hole, because, actually I like that term, so that’s why I keep mentioning it. Thanks, Larry, you’re not the first one to say rabbit hole. That started with Dr. Amanda. She knows all about adrenal exhaustion and why she was working on her PhD. I have several people right now working on their PhD, and for God’s sake, we have a lot of work to do to keep you up and going.
Dr. Lewis: But you know what, the regular people that are not working on a PhD have all kinds of stress, also. That’s what I want to get to, talk about, and hopefully I haven’t wasted too much time there, Janet. You want to ask any kind of questions here, get me back off the rabbit hole?
Janet Lewis: Well.
Dr. Lewis: That was exhausting.
Janet Lewis: That was exhausting. I’m tired just trying to put it all into the right perspective here. How about some classic signs and symptoms of adrenal fatigue? Because a lot of people don’t even realize if that’s what’s wrong with them.
Dr. Lewis: It’s not just tired.
Janet Lewis: That’s right, and it’s really kind of interesting some of these things. Like Dr. Lewis mentioned, fatigue and weakness especially in the morning and afternoon. A suppressed immune system, actually.
Dr. Lewis: Yeah, how many people have that. It’s getting more common, so folks, pay attention.
Janet Lewis: Increased allergies.
Dr. Lewis: Yeah, and if you’re sneezing. I talked to a doctor yesterday, and he’s doing a lot of stuff. He’s … He said, “They didn’t even put me on a Z pack, they put me on some high-class, long-term prednisone.” I said, “Well, is it working?” He says, “No.” I said, “You’re dripping snot all over your patients, aren’t you?” And he says, “How did you know?” I said, “I can tell over the phone. We’ll clear that up very quickly.”
Janet Lewis: I thought this was interesting, muscle and bone loss, and muscular weakness have got to do with adrenal fatigue sometimes.
Dr. Lewis: Yeah, pretty much. Some of these lists of symptoms can be attached to adrenals, thyroid, low testosterone, hormonal imbalance, so it can be anything, but, yes, it’s not just low testosterone, guys. It can be your adrenals are exhausted. It’s not from putting up with your wife, because she’s not the stress person, you’re the one that creates it. It’s never a woman’s fault.
Janet Lewis: Exactly. You’re right. See why he’s been married to me so long?
Dr. Lewis: Yeah, I just bailed myself out of that rabbit hole.
Janet Lewis: Depression is actually a sign of adrenal fatigue, so when people come into the fall like this, and they start getting depressed, it may actually be an adrenal problem.
Dr. Lewis: Oh, oh, oh. Can I jump in?
Janet Lewis: Oh, please.
Dr. Lewis: Because I’ve talked to several people lately. I just got off the phone with a lady, another person that’s working on a PhD, and she said, “I have brain fog.” Well, we talked about the poor digestion, and it creates autoimmune disease, and it creates leaky gut, and it creates food allergies.
Dr. Lewis: Anytime somebody says brain fog, and this lady does have adrenal exhaustion, because of trying to help raise a toddler, and get pregnant, and work on a PhD. I always put them on B1. It’s better to do the fat-soluble, benfotiamine, because not only does that help take care of the thiaminase enzyme that the extra candida works on, but it helps your body to make hydrochloric acid.
Dr. Lewis: Most people have too little, even those of you that have burping, belching, acid reflux, it’s almost always too little. B1 helps the hydrochloric acid production and helps with carb metabolism. A deficiency in B1, and keep in mind, it’s not usually that simple, but a deficiency can cause a GI disturbance, irritability.
Dr. Lewis: Yeah, if your husband’s irritable stir it in their coffee. Labored breathing, muscle atrophy, which Janet had just talked about, and even hand and foot pain, and numbness. And me, being a chiropractor, when people would come in, “Well, I’ve got numbness here, or here, or here,” I didn’t always assume it was a bad nerve. I also was aware that it could also be a nutrient deficiency.
Dr. Lewis: Thanks for letting me jump in there, because that’s perfect, Janet.
Janet Lewis: Well, good. Okay. Also, cravings for foods high in salt, sugar, or fat. So, see, when people come in here and go, “Well, do you have something to help me stop craving those things?” That’s why it’s so complex for us. We’re like, “Huh, where is that coming from? Is that because they’re full of yeast? Do they have an adrenal problem?” That’s why we don’t guess, because the lab work will tell us exactly what’s wrong.
Janet Lewis: I’ll talk more about that in a minute, but I want to address some of these other problems here that go with having adrenal fatigue. I think Dr. Lewis already mentioned autoimmune disorders. Skin problems, actually-
Dr. Lewis: Yeah, we have a question about that coming up, too. Thanks for your questions.
Janet Lewis: Why don’t you go ahead and address the skin … We’ll address the skin one since this has got to do with this anyway.
Dr. Lewis: Okay.
Janet Lewis: This is from Tiffany, and she was listening to our podcast on acne, wrinkles and rashes. Thank you, Tiffany.
Dr. Lewis: We have one person listening.
Janet Lewis: She’s just started taking some of our recommended supplements, and, “Is it normal for your skin to flare up a little at the beginning?”
Dr. Lewis: Read what Lauren, her answer to that was.
Janet Lewis: Lauren answered this question for us, which I love it when our patients get involved. If you’re wondering where we’re getting this from, this is on Dr. Lewis’ … Shooting straight to Dr. Lewis on Facebook, which you can ask to be a member of, and then you can be involved in some of these discussions, they’re pretty fun.
Janet Lewis: Lauren’s answer to this about the skin was, “I’ve had the keratosis on the back of my arms since I was little, and the only time I got it to completely go away was when I cut out gluten entirely. It could be related to a sensitivity, but I think it’s 100% a gut issue.”
Janet Lewis: So, we’ve educated Lauren really well. She’s been with us a few years.
Dr. Lewis: Lauren’s a young lady, and she’s brilliant, cute and sweet. Love talking to her. Of course, her mamma, [Sonia 00:14:36], is one of our favorites, too. They have the whole family getting healthy here, and investing in better health, and it shows.
Janet Lewis: The answer to Tiffany’s question about the skin flaring up at the beginning?
Dr. Lewis: I do think its possible gluten. I think Lauren’s right. You’ve heard me say I don’t think gluten’s the main issue. I think it’s gluten with the glyphosate, the Monsanto Roundup stuff. The other thing is, once you start taking a lot of supplements, I think you get challenged, because, “Oh my god, here comes a symptom,” and some people are so skeered, that’s an east Texas term … you’re so scared of something’s changed so you quit.
Dr. Lewis: It’s like, that’s when you need to stick with it, because when you get an increase of nutrients you also get increased detoxification. Many times these toxins are beginning to come out, and go into the bloodstream, or being excreted through the bowel, through the liver, the bowel, and into the small intestine.
Dr. Lewis: If your body is not really getting rid of it fast enough then it starts to come out through the skin. Just kind of bare with us there. Is it a toxin of gluten, glyphosate, or just increased detoxification your body has not caught up with. We’ve got a lot of products for that.
Janet Lewis: Very good. Okay. That fit in very nicely. Also, signs of classic adrenal fatigue or increased PMS or menopausal symptoms.
Dr. Lewis: Men, shut up. Don’t even go there.
Janet Lewis: At least the men get out of that one. I mean-
Dr. Lewis: No, we don’t.
Janet Lewis: Us poor women, we’re just bombarded with so much.
Dr. Lewis: Oh, bull.
Janet Lewis: Then the next one-
Dr. Lewis: Us men have to suffer … Okay, men, shut up. I got the shut up look.
Janet Lewis: The next one, low sex drive. Again, women, have got to go through that.
Dr. Lewis: I hear that a lot, and it’s not just women, it’s men, too. That’s the hormonal imbalance. You kind of have to invest a lot.
Janet Lewis: I love how they tell you though that they don’t have that. They’ll walk up to me and go, “Oh, no, I don’t have a problem with that whatsoever. I’m perfectly fine.”
Dr. Lewis: Plus, Janet’s really, really gorgeous, and they’re saying, “Oh, no, I’m good, I’m good.”
Janet Lewis: Then they’ll walk over to Dr. Lewis and they’re singing a different tune.
Dr. Lewis: Yeah. Well, nobody wants to admit it in front of somebody that good looking.
Janet Lewis: Oh, women admit it all the time.
Dr. Lewis: Well, they tell me, and when I turn red they kind of back off.
Janet Lewis: More signs of adrenal fatigue. Isn’t this one interesting: “Lightheadedness when getting up from sitting or lying down.”
Dr. Lewis: Yeah, well, there’s a lot of … more technical stuff I won’t get into, but the adrenals have to do with putting out all kinds of different things: mineral, corticoids, and it has to do with blood pressure. If your adrenals are tired, simply put, when you get up quickly from laying down or sitting, and the adrenals are … their task is to raise your blood pressure temporarily.
Dr. Lewis: Well, if they’re tired and can’t do that, then the blood pressure will drop in your head temporarily, because they can’t keep up, and it will make you dizzy or lightheaded, or see stars sometimes. You can get that from taking different medications, also. Be careful with that.
Janet Lewis: Also, a decreased ability to handle stress. If you think you’re starting out really great in the morning, and 30 minutes after you’re at work it’s gone, and you’re not doing so great, it could be that you have an adrenal problem.
Dr. Lewis: It sounds like a good Jeff Foxworthy joke.
Janet Lewis: Poor memory.
Dr. Lewis: What did you say?
Janet Lewis: Basically you’re just checked out. Interestingly enough, people with adrenal fatigue often get a burst of energy around 6:00 at night, and then they’re really-
Dr. Lewis: That’s not from the alcohol when you get home? It’s from your adrenals?
Janet Lewis: Nope. Followed by sleepiness at 9:00 or 10:00, which is often resisted. Then you get a second wind at 11:00, which is then common that you do not fall asleep until 1:00 AM. Furthermore, those with adrenal fatigue often have abnormal blood sugar levels and mental disturbances, such as increased fears, and anxiety, and they rely on coffee, soda, and other forms of caffeine to keep them going.
Dr. Lewis: I love my Contigo, because it hides what’s in it.
Janet Lewis: This is so revealing. Unfortunately, because … Like Dr. Lewis said, all of these things can be so many different things, and that’s why we never guess, because we would be no better than you walking into your local health food store, because-
Dr. Lewis: Except our supplements are better quality, but-
Janet Lewis: Correct, but, I mean-
Dr. Lewis: You’d still be guessing.
Janet Lewis: There’s still so many people that are coming in here and go, “Well, can you just pick like a couple of things of where to start?” and they give us a list of this kind of stuff.
Dr. Lewis: Let me go down the rabbit hole and pick something for you.
Janet Lewis: Yeah.
Dr. Lewis: We’ll pull it out of the rabbit hole.
Janet Lewis: I mean, it’s really-
Dr. Lewis: I love that.
Janet Lewis: I would hate to guide you in the wrong direction. That’s why we do the lab, because it will tell us exactly. Because I can tell you, “Hey, you got an adrenal problem,” but does that mean your adrenal, your cortisol is high? Or is it low? You don’t know, you don’t know without running lab. That’s why we run cortisol on our lab, because we have specific supplements for either direction.
Dr. Lewis: It can be just slightly below or above optimal, and still create a problem. People say, “But, I’m not stressed.” I said, “Well, you just went through a major surgery, or somebody in your family did, or you’ve gone through a divorce.” Or, “Oh, you just got married. Yes, getting married’s stressful, even though it’s a wonderful thing, honey.” Having a baby is stressful even though it’s a big blessing, you’ve got to understand that these changes stress your adrenal glands.
Dr. Lewis: When it stays chronically, stressed or fatigued, it promotes weight gain. You know, that’s a big thing. Women say, “Can you help me lose weight?” Yeah, 50% of you that do my program lose weigh like crazy. The other 50% it’s hard, it’s slow, you got to really make some big changes, and you have to be comfortable with those changes. That’s the hard part, because change is generally uncomfortable.
Dr. Lewis: Excess stress creates the imbalance, and if you’re not energized that will alter your gut integrity, and that was that list that I went on, and on, and on about. I hope you got something out of there. Run this back and play it slowly. But the gut integrity has a lot to do with the leaky gut. That creates the inflammation that I talked about, and that’s a big major factor in weight gain, obesity, and fat retention.
Dr. Lewis: That alone will alter the microbiome, or the good bacteria there, and create just kind of a rampage, vicious cycle, so to speak. For people that have trouble losing weight, when you get stressed your body shuts down digestion for the most part, because it shunts everything it can to the muscles for the fight or flight … You’ve heard of that, I’m sure.
Dr. Lewis: One of the biggest stresses that our ancestors a long time ago faced was lack of food. It was feast or famine, and so when there was a feast we started developing over a period of tens of thousands of years, the genetic response was, “Oh, if I can spare the calories, put it into fat, then this person is gonna make it through the famine.”
Dr. Lewis: So, the fat-sparing genes were altered over time, and that’s why you can eat very, very little and not lose weight. You have to be able to stick with it, and hit all of these different avenues to help your body adapt, and feel like it’s safe to let go of the fat cells. That’s scary.
Janet Lewis: Well, you know, the other thing about adrenals is, like Dr. Lewis said, so many things can cause you to go into a state of being stressed. But the adrenals do try to handle it up to a certain point, and that’s when the cortisol goes high, because it’s trying to handle it.
Janet Lewis: After a point in time when it doesn’t get any help, you keep staying under stress, the adrenals say, “Hey, I quit.” So then they drop really low with the cortisol. That takes a longer time to get those back to where they should be, because it took them a long time to get there.
Janet Lewis: When you’re listening to the show, and you’re going, “Hey, I think this is me, and I think I want to try this.” You really need to know where your cortisol levels are.
Dr. Lewis: You don’t need to try it, you need to jump in and do it. There’s a difference between trying and doing.
Janet Lewis: You need to know. We always recommend that you do the comprehensive lab panel that we have, because it has 12 different lab panels, and one of them is cortisol. Many of the things that Dr. Lewis is reading off here can be other things, as well.
Janet Lewis: That’s why we run 12 different lab panels, not the common one to three lab panels that we see people bring us that they think are complete. They are not complete, they’re not even close to being complete. We like a thorough picture of where your health is going.
Janet Lewis: You’re thinking, “Hey, I don’t live here. We’re in Longview, Texas.” You’re right, you don’t live here, but you don’t have to. We can do this throughout the United States, and it works very simply. You go to greenwisdomhealth.com, you fill out a health survey. It will actually recommend you the right lab panels. So, if you don’t want to talk to us, I can’t imagine why, but you might not want to talk to us, and you might want to just go right on and order the lab. You could actually do it right there. Everything’s set up online where it lets you see what the lab location is that’s close to you.
Janet Lewis: You print out the lab order, you take it into your local lab draw station, whatever state that is, and the results come back here to us. When you select the comprehensive lab panel it includes going over the details of that with Dr. Lewis. You also get a supplement recommendation, to where to start so that you’re not alone, that you have a roadmap of how to get there, you get a functional medicine report. We just don’t believe in leaving you in the dark. We would like you to start having a map to get your health back, to get hope back, to get life back.
Dr. Lewis: There was a lady I talked to in California the other day, and I said, “Well, how did you find us?” She said, “On somebody else’s podcast,” and she said, “My husband and I listened to yours, and you’re just like a real person.” I said, “I don’t know what unreal is, but I just kind of call it the way I see it.” She says, “Well, I just don’t want to take a bunch of supplements and not know what to do. And that’s why I came to you, because it sounds like you can target that.” I said, “Yes, ma’am, absolutely.”
Dr. Lewis: She says, “Well, I don’t really have any problems. I just want to help do it to perhaps prevent problems. It’s, like, “Well, you are a wise and beautiful woman.” Now, her husband, I’m gonna get to talk to him pretty shortly.
Dr. Lewis: Some of the things, and this is gonna be brief … One of the things to get rid of some of the bad yeast, fungus, viruses is … We’re having incredible results with, it’s called Candicid Forte. That’ll clean up and kill off, suppress the bad bacteria, yeast and all that.
Dr. Lewis: If your adrenals are low, which most people have gone into adrenal exhaustion before they get here, we use a product called Adren-All, and that is absolutely incredible. It has the little bit of vitamin A, C, E, some other things. But it has a glandular in it, which I’m very, very … I got some really incredible results with the glandulars. And it has eleuthero root, rhodiola, schizandra, licorice root extract, and all of those are known both historically, clinically, and through research to work to help support the adrenal glands.
Dr. Lewis: There’s other things that are very important. The B complex is very important, the pantothenic acid, which is B5. Adrenal glands basically can’t function adequately without pantothenic acid. Believe it or not, you can’t get enough of that out of your diet. It’s impossible.
Dr. Lewis: Then the raw adrenal glandular, which I talked about, which that can be cortex, different parts of the adrenal glands. COQ10, the multivitamins. Some people actually need copper. That doesn’t come up much, but almost everybody needs zinc and selenium, and that’s very, very important.
Janet Lewis: We do want to make sure we address the other question that we had from Eddie. We love Eddie.
Dr. Lewis: Yeah.
Janet Lewis: He’s always got great insight and great questions. His question is about parasites, which no one wants to talk about. We believe that our dogs can only get them, but believe it or not, if you have a dog or a cat, you probably have them, too.
Janet Lewis: But he wants to know if there are such things as good parasites in our intestines. I don’t know that we really classified good bug as a parasite, because-
Dr. Lewis: No, because parasite would be a taker and not a giver. Many bacteria, yeast, also there are good yeast, there are so many different microorganisms. If it’s parasitic that means it’s taking and not giving back. I think no, a good one, no.
Dr. Lewis: Is it possible we have them? I’ve had several different types of doctors, naturopathic, chiropractic, dentist, and MDs, that said they don’t exist. It’s like, well, “Why do you worm your dogs, cats, horses, and cows?” “Well, they don’t exist here.” It’s like, “You’re so full of it. Read your research.”
Dr. Lewis: There’s all kinds of research that says we have them. We just think we don’t have them because when you go to Mexico you get Montezuma’s Revenge, and it’s, like, well, maybe when the Mexicans come up here they get it from America, too. We got a bad bug when we were in China.
Dr. Lewis: Yeah, that’s why the Candicid Forte is a really good thing.
Janet Lewis: Actually, yeast is a parasite.
Dr. Lewis: Candida is. That’s why one of our favorite probiotics includes saccharomyces boulardii, which is a probiotic yeast, a good yeast, so there’s good and bad, just like there’s good and bad women.
Dr. Lewis: Okay, no, they’re all good. I’m sorry.
Janet Lewis: This show always digresses to this.
Dr. Lewis: Well, hey, you know, give me a cold beer.
Janet Lewis: Speaking of which, we are at the end of our time. I sure hope you guys have learned something about your adrenals this week, and how to take care of them, and how to feel great during the fall.
Dr. Lewis: Lap, and play, and have fun, and choose to think happy thoughts, and look over at all the things you should be grateful for. We’re very, very grateful for you.
