Herbal Adrenal Supports
Healing From Candida & Adrenal Fatigue
Whenever we are in the process of healing, the body is under a great amount of stress.
During any kind of stress response, be it physical (an allergic reaction, infection, or injury), an emotional trigger or trauma (a breakup or losing your job), or a chronic negative thought pattern (“I need to make more money to pay the bills!”), the adrenal glands get worked.
It’s quite common that during the chaos of a candida infection your adrenals have burnt out. Many people don’t realize that they are living with a condition called adrenal fatigue because they’ve been masking their depleted energy levels with caffeine or taken on their exhaustion as “normal” levels of energy.
What is Adrenal Fatigue?
Adrenal fatigue occurs when we push ourselves past our limits with our busy schedules, lack of self-care, misguided stress management, and poor diets filled with processed foods. Our adrenals become chronically overstimulated, producing cortisol from all the ongoing stress, physical, emotional, and mental, and now they’re failing to function properly. This hinders their ability to produce important hormones such as glucocorticoids, which balance blood sugar, and sex hormones like estrogen and testosterone.
Living with adrenal fatigue partnered with a Candida infection is a living hell, speaking from experience.
Since hormones play essential roles in every biochemical reaction in the body, not only does adrenal fatigue cause chronic exhaustion that is not remedied with any amount of sleep, but now; as a result, you may be battling with depression, autoimmune conditions, brain fog, insulin resistance, hair loss, low libido, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and the list goes on and on.
And it doesn’t stop there…
The adrenals and thyroid work synergistically together; everything in the body does. When adrenal function drops, the thyroid suffers as well, either going into states of hyperthyroid or hypothyroid.
The adrenals are also closely tied to liver function; if you have weak adrenals, you have a sluggish liver. A malfunctioning liver will interfere with your ability to safely detox; you’ll be circulating toxins throughout your body, over and over again.
Sluggish adrenals also contribute to poor digestion by hindering the proper secretion of stomach acid. Now anything you eat will be only 1.2 digested, moving through your digestive tract putrid and exasperating your leaky gut, which was caused by the Candida infection. Not only that, you’ll start to develop nutrient and mineral deficiencies because you aren’t properly breaking down your food.
So naturally, as we work to heal and detox the body from candida, we must make a habit of radical self-care and support all of our body’s systems, and our endocrine glands included, to ensure we are making healthy levels of hormones and our detox pathways are supported.
How To Support Healthy Adrenal Function During Your Cleanse
First, adopt a diet low in sugar while taking the Candida Cleanser. I recommend something like the GAPS Diet, which serves as an elimination diet to not only heal inflammation in the gut but also to help you identify your food intolerances.
Identify your food allergies and intolerances! Continuing to eat foods that your body has rendered as an enemy will continue to ignite a fight or flight stress response, further asphyxiating your adrenals
Avoid caffeine, processed meats, and hydrogenated oils. Eat plenty of greens, healthy fats like ghee, coconut oil, wild salmon, organic proteins, and plenty of bone broth. Refer to our Food Shopping Guide for ideas.
Eat plenty of probiotics and supplement with Betaine HCL. I recommend doing the Baking Soda test to check your stomach acid levels. The test is described in my earlier post: 10 Ways To Heal Stomach Acid
Some of the symptoms of adrenal fatigue are actually caused by your body’s need for salt. A sea salt, Himalayan, or Celtic salt is best, as these are the kinds containing valuable nutrients.
Vitamin C is used up rapidly during a stress response, so when recovering from adrenal fatigue and detoxing from Candida, vitamin C is a good nutrient to incorporate. Not only does it help support adrenal function, it also boosts immunity, is a good chelator, and helps to assist some toxic metals out of the body.
Use adaptogens. An adaptogen is a unique class of healing herb that helps the body and organs adapt to stress, helping to balance, energize, and restore the body. These herbs can calm an overactive nervous system and help relax the body after a stress response.
“Before choosing your daily adaptogen, I take the product before bed. If you cannot sleep after taking it, it may be a stimulant in disguise and not a pure enough adaptogen to be taken everyday.” John Douillard
For example, Tulsi, or Holy Basil, helps protect the body from the degenerative effects of stress, and it also repairs the body from its damage. It is not a stimulant, so you can take it before bed.
Whereas Ginseng is a common powerful adaptogen, it can be overstimulating, and for some, it can actually exasperate burnt-out adrenals.
Ashwagandha is a well-known herb that can nourish both the adrenals and thyroid to help you become more resilient to stress while strengthening your immune system. It is said that ashwagandha has herbal intelligence because it can increase or decrease stress hormones like cortisol, depending on the needs of the body.
A few other adaptogenic herbs are Rhodiola, cordyceps mushroom, licorice root (great to use instead of a sweetener), maca, and astragalus. Feel into which one works best for you; everyone is different.
Nettle is a trophorestorative, considered ”food for the organ.” Nettle nourishes, strengthens, and tones the adrenals and their function.
My Recipe for Adaptogen High Vit-C Tea
When I was recovering from the trio of adrenal fatigue, leaky gut, and candida, I was drinking 2 liters of this healing tea every day. I bought separate herbs in bulk and boiled them in a large pot using handfuls of Nettle, Tulsi, Licorice, and Rose Petals. All these herbs have their own unique healing properties that I found worked synergistically in my body.
Nettle for the adrenals and liver. Nettle provides an impressive array of minerals and vitamins.
Tulsi is a nourishing adaptogen.
Licorice is an adaptogen and sweetener. It helps assist in healing the leaky gut as it contains mucilage properties that soothe inflammation in the digestive system.
Rose petals high in vitamin C and Quercetin
Find a combination of herbs that you enjoy, that way drinking the tea daily will be enjoyable and tasty. Check my blog for additional information.