Exercise Doesnt Help Me Lose Weight Or Even Look More Toned
Cortisol is a catabolic hormone. This means that when its released during stress it breaks down protein to use for energy. End result? Rapid and ongoing muscle wastage even though you are working out every day.
Cortisol is also released when you exercise and the higher the intensity or duration of your workout, the bigger the cortisol release.
Heres what that means:
Cortisol from your life + Cortisol from exercise = Excessively high cortisol.
Thats why you may not be looking leaner or more toned after exercised your high cortisol is actually breaking down your muscle to help give your body fuel because it thinks youre in a life or death situation 24/7.
Milwaukee Podiatrists Treating Common Obesity
Whether or not you plan to lose weight, our caring podiatrists can help treat and prevent foot & ankle pain caused by obesity.
Being overweight or obese is associated with an increased risk of pain and chronic problems with the feet and ankles, which can lead to further problems with the knees, hips and back. Weight gain also increases the chance youll develop health conditions contributing to foot pain such as gout, tendinitis and osteoarthritis.
No matter where on your body you carry extra weight, your feet and ankles end up bearing the load. Being overweight can also cause your posture and gait to change, which can affect your arches and tendons in the feet and ankles.
Overweight children are especially susceptible to foot pain because childrens feet are usually flatter, putting even more pressure on the sole. When children stop getting enough physical activity due to foot pain this sets them up for a negative cycle of foot discomfort and weight gain and seriously threatens their overall health.
Common Causes Of Swollen Ankles Feet And Legs
Swelling in the ankles, feet and legs is often caused by a build-up of fluid in these areas, called oedema.
Oedema is usually caused by:
- standing or sitting in the same position for too long
- eating too much salty food
- being overweight
- taking certain medicines such as some blood pressure medicines, contraceptive pills, antidepressants or steroids
Oedema can also be caused by:
- problems with your kidneys, liver or heart
- a blood clot
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Your Muscles Feel Weak
Both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism can cause muscles to feel achy, weak, or stiff, according to Rodriguez. But, because thyroid symptoms often develop slowly, many people dont notice the muscle aches or weakness right away, or brush it off as typical pain that comes from aging. Check in with your doctor if something feels off.
Symptoms Of Adrenal Fatigue
Traditional allopathic Western medicine doesnt recognize adrenal fatigue, even though the changes it can cause are now starting to be confirmed by science. Referring to it as exhaustion syndrome research from Umeå University in Sweden has found that people suffering adrenal fatigue have lower activity in their frontal lobes and also altered regulation of cortisol.
The study also found that people more prone to this condition are often over-achievers and perfectionists. This is not news to functional and integrative practitioners who see women suffering from this problem every day. They arrive feeling absolutely at the end of the line and suffering from these kinds of chronic complaints:
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How Do I Stop From Being Bloated When Traveling
8 Easy Tips to Avoid a Grumpy Gut While Traveling Dont overeat. Part of the fun of vacationing is eating at new restaurants and trying new foods. Eat plenty of fiber. Drink lots of water. Choose beverages wisely. Get groceries from local stores. Go to the bathroom. Wash your hands. Carry medications.
My Stomach Is Usually Sore And Bloated Particularly After Food
Blame it on: High adrenalin and cortisol
These two hormones can wreak havoc on your digestive system.
- Reduction in stomach acid: You know how you just cant eat when stressed out? This is partly due to a primal response of your body to shut down the digestion so you are light to escape and deal with danger. In modern times, this low stomach acid can translate to feeling overly full and bloated after a meal, indigestion, seeing food particles in your poop, bad breath and nutritional malabsorption. This is some information about acid relux, stomach acid and some solutions.
- Reduce blood flow to your gut: Your body doesnt need you to digest food or ovulate when youre stressed, so it quickly shuttles blood away from organs like your ovaries and gut, to organs like your heart. This means that your digestive system gets far less blood and oxygen to nourish it. This can lead to chronic inflammation, which compromises the protective functions of your gut wall. As a result, your stomach may become over-sensitive and develop food sensitivities or you may suffer discomfort every time you eat. Meanwhile, you are absorbing less nutrients, which only makes you more exhausted.
- Encourage gut bacteria to grow: Studies show that when adrenaline is added to gut bacteria in a Petrie dish in a lab, the growth of bacteria like E.Coli increases substantially. This makes sense as low stomach acid creates a perfect environment for the pathogenic bacteria to grow.
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Become A Pleasure Seeker
When you add oxytocin-releasing activities to your like, it helps rebalance the adrenal deficiency. What makes gives you lots of joy? Here are a few ideas:
- Watch a comedy series or film: Not only does laughter boost your immune system, it directly reduces levels of cortisol and epinephrine.
- Use music to calm you: Try some classical or ambient music. Or just put on a CD of soundscapes from nature.
- Enjoy a relaxing aromatherapy bath: Add some candles and close your eyes. Enjoy!
- Schedule a massage that gives you lots of pleasure. If you have limited funds, think about doing a massage swap with a friend where you do it for each other.
- Orgasm on a regular basis: that gives us a HUGE oxytocin release.
- Embrace a child or a pet: regular touch is very healing.
- Do the twist: Take up dancing join a class or follow online tutorials at home. Research shows that taking up tango dancing can relieve stress more than meditation.
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I Feel Wired At Bedtime But Exhausted In The Mornings
Blame it on: High and low cortisol at the wrong times of day
When you suffer adrenal fatigue:
You struggle to drag yourself from bed
Your body is clever and registers that your cortisol levels have been chronically high, so it tries to put the brakes on cortisol by reducing its normal daily production. Then instead of the normal peak of cortisol you would get in the morning, you get a flat line.
The impacts can be seen in people who suffer Addisons disease, due to low cortisol and experience extreme fatigue, abdominal pain, depression, decreased appetite and salt cravings .
Interestingly, John F Kennedy suffered from Addisons disease but managed to keep it a secret throughout his presidency.
When on autopsy was conducted after his death his adrenal glands were in such a bad state, there was hardly any tissue left.
Interestingly, he also suffered colitis which may well have been involved in triggering his thyroid issues . Due to his ailments he took steroid drugs which over many years, affected his bones. The resulting chronic back pain led him to wear a back brace to support his degenerating spine.
Youre exhausted and drained, but cant sleep.
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Signs Your Feet Are Warning You About A Thyroid Problem
Snuggled in a fluffy white bathrobe in an upscale spa, I was waiting to have my feet pampered with a deluxe pedicure as the basin was filling with warm, fragrant water.
Your feet are extremely dry with thick, hardened skin on your heels that have deep cracks. I see feet like this in women with sickness, the woman remarked, a little too loudly, inspecting my feet at close range.
What type of sickness? I whispered, feeling very embarrassed as people in the crowded spa turned to gawk at my feet.
You should see your doctor about your feet.
This woman giving me a pedicure could see as plain as day the signs of a serious health condition right there in my feet, but it would take 10 more years to finally receive my formal diagnosis: severe hypothyroidism.
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Heart Liver Or Kidney Disease
If your ankles swell a lot in the evening, this may be due to retention of excess salt and water. This may be a sign of heart disease. Both the kidneys and liver help regulate the body by flushing out excess. Swelling is a sign of built up fluid, which may mean you have a disease in one of these organs. Swelling by itself is not usually a sign of heart, liver, or kidney disease. However, people with swelling that also experience a loss of appetite, weight gain, and fatigue should talk to a doctor. Shortness of breath or chest pain should always trigger a 911 call.
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What Causes Swollen Hands And Feet
Swollen hands and feet can have a variety of causes. The most common type of swelling is called idiopathic edema. Idiopathicedema is poorly understood, but it is not dangerous. Sometimes it is possible to pinpoint the cause, but often it is not.
Sometimes women suffer from idiopathic edema during certain portions of their menstrual cycle. The problem, however, is not limited to women and not necessarily to a particular time of the month. Swollen hands and feet is often combined with retained sodium. Diuretics rarely have any effect on idiopathic edema.
Swollen hands and feet from idiopathic edema can often be reduced by lying down for several hours and reducing the amount of salt in your diet. Some doctors treat idiopathic edema with ACE inhibitors or progesterone, but this does not consistently treat the condition. There is no health risk associated with this swelling, so rest and reduction of salt seem to be the best treatment.
In some cases, idiopathic edema is so severe that it causes discomfort. The swelling can stretch the skin, causing itching and pain. In this case, a doctor will first determine that the swelling is not part of a greater health concern. If not, he may recommend elastic stockings to help reduce the swelling and alleviate the discomfort.
You Bruise Easily And Are Experiencing Muscle Weakness
You gained weight out of nowhere and are also suffering from pained muscles? The culprit could be Cushing’s syndrome, a disorder that occurs when your body makes too much of the hormone cortisol over a long period of time.
“Irregular menses, easy bruising, muscle weakness, and fatigue can be due to Cushing’s syndrome,” says Judi Goldstone, MD, a physician in internal medicine and weight loss expert. “Caused by excess cortisol, Cushing’s is associated with weight gain in the abdomen, neck, face, and back.”
This illness is hard to diagnose, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Therefore, it’s best to head to the doctor sooner than later if you think Cushing’s syndrome might be behind your weight gain.
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Rachel Hill Thyroid Patient Advocate
Rachel Hill is the highly ranked and multi-award winning thyroid patient advocate, writer, speaker and author behind The Invisible Hypothyroidism. Her thyroid advocacy work includes writing articles, authoring books, producing her Thyroid Family email newsletters and speaking on podcasts, as well as being a founding board member for the American College of Thyroidology. She is well-recognised as a crucial contributor to the thyroid community and has a large social media presence. Her books include Be Your Own Thyroid Advocate and You, Me and Hypothyroidism.
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Phase 1 On High Alert
When youre meeting a huge deadline for work or youve been up all night with a very sick child, you enter this first adrenal phase for a short period of time. Elevated stress hormones initially power you up with energy and then drop you down, leaving you feeling more worn out than usual. But your body is still able to make all the hormones it needs to respond to stress effectively and to energize you to get through the day.
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Exercise Smarter But Not Harder
- Walk briskly: Studies show that walking has many, many health benefits.
And the scenic stimulation of blue sky and nature, means that you come back from your walk usually feel uplifted, not depleted.
- Move at a moderate pace: I recommend exercise like weight training, use of kettle bells and dancing.
- Do more gentle forms of exercise: It may seem counter-intuitive to slow your exercise pace to get more benefit but it really is important. Think about animals they dont go on marathon runs or head to the gym every day.
- Calm your brain with yoga: Yoga is like a moving meditation that connects your mind, breathe and body and induces a relaxation response which helps lower your cortisol levels. At the same time it boosts your alpha brain activity, which promotes greater calm.
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Fluid Retention: What It Can Mean For Your Heart
Fluid buildup indicates worsening heart failure. Learn how to spot it and treat it early.
The buildup of excess fluid in your body can take a variety of forms from belly bloating and swollen ankles to nausea, persistent coughing and fatigue. You may be tempted initially to dismiss this hodgepodge of problems as having little to do with your heart. However, they all signal water retention, which can mean trouble for people with a history of heart failure.
“Fluid buildup can quickly escalate into a life-threatening situation,” says Dr. Eldrin Lewis, a heart failure specialist at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Heart failure may start with injury from a heart attack or develop as a result of damaged valves, infection or disease of the heart muscle cells. Many times, it is the product of years of toil against high blood pressure and clogged arteries. Regardless of what triggers the decline, heart failure culminates in a progressive weakening of your heart’s power to pump.
Consequently, blood circulates through your heart and body more slowly your cells thirst for fresh oxygen and nutrients. To compensate for its weakened state, the heart undergoes a series of structural transformations. Other physical processes also come into play. When the kidneys detect the diminished blood flow, they activate hormones that prompt the body to retain fluid and sodium in an effort to boost the volume of blood in circulation.
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What To Look For
The good news is that you can tell if you’re beginning to retain fluid merely by getting on the scale. “Weight change is the earliest sign of a problem with fluid balance. Most people will retain 8 to 15 pounds of excess fluid before they see leg and belly swelling. However, symptoms such as coughing and shortness of breath, loose stools, nausea and feeling full when without eating much may develop at the 5-to-7 pound mark” says Dr. Lewis. He instructs his patients to take action as soon as they notice their weight going up. “Don’t wait until you don’t feel well, you may have gained 5 or more pounds by then and could be well on your way to a serious problem.”
Testing For Adrenal Fatigue It Can Be Tricky
If you go to a traditional doctor to see if your cortisol is skyrocketing or flat-lining, they will order a blood test. Unfortunately, this can give a very inaccurate or incomplete picture. It might show that your cortisol levels are fine in the morning, but wont show that your cortisol levels may be barely there by 3pm when you are having an energy crash. Also, blood tests only show the total value of cortisol and not the free value which is what your body utilizes.
Urine or saliva testing is a far more accurate way to check cortisol levels. Good tests will check your levels around four times over the course of the day.
Im also a fan of the DUTCH test.
Instead of collecting many samples, you need only one sample which involves placing urine on filter paper and letting it dry.
You can also check your adrenal function at home.
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What Is The Prognosis For Swollen Feet And Swollen Ankles
The majority of people with swollen feet and ankles have a good to excellent outcome because the swelling is usually reversible and has no lasting complications. However, a significant number of patients who have underlying causes that are chronic and refractory to treatment have a wider range of prognosis depending on how well the patient responds to both lifestyle changes and medications.
Adrenal Fatigue Treatment: How To Break The Cycle
Of all the hormonal balance problems that Ive worked with, adrenal fatigue takes the longest to heal and is the toughest to reverse. Thats why it is important to embrace solutions as soon as you can.
When combined, the following strategies can balance hormones naturally and increase your energy and calm, to break the cycle of adrenal fatigue:
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