Blood Sugar, Adrenals & Thyroid

by Glen Depke

Your blood sugar, adrenals and thyroid are intimately connected and potentially create quite a bit of pain and suffering when they are not balanced. So the question is, what does it feel like when your blood sugar, adrenal and thyroid balance is off?

Well, do you recognize any of these?

Crave sweets
Fatigue after meals
Depend on coffee
General fatigue
Feel shaky or jittery
Constant hunger
Feel agitated or nervous
Need for sweets after meals
Upset easily
Waist girth larger then hip girth
Blurred vision
Frequent urination
Eat often to relieve fatigue
Difficulty losing weight
Poor memory or forgetfulness
Migraine headaches or pain
Become lightheaded missing meals
Sweet cravings not relieved by eating them
Become irritable when missing meals
Grouchy in the morning

If you recognize these with any consistency, you could be living with blood sugar, adrenal, thyroid imbalance. This could be due to hypo or hyperglycemic issues.

Looking at blood sugar very simply, our bodies have evolved to regulate this during times of famine when blood sugar drops and sweets were scarce. This is typically not an issue in these times and honestly, sweets are anything but scarce. An over indulgence in carbs such as white rice, fruit, soda or your favorite latte can and does often lead to a spike in blood sugar, which in turn leads to a release of insulin to normalize your glucose levels. When this mechanism occurs often, which is generally the case, the pancreas overproduces insulin, which in turn can drop blood sugar too low, with the end result of exciting the “fight or flee” response. This response will then lead to a production of cortisol, which in the end can create difficulties for digestion, immunity, overall hormone balance and of course, the thyroid. Understand that if you body is in a “fight or flee” thyroid balance is no longer important. Your body will almost always pick the “fight or flee” over general health and balance.

I trust that you can see where this creates some issues.

When this cycle continues over time, the body can lose its ability to keep blood sugar stable. When blood sugar is not stable this effects adrenal function which ends up being a core challenge for so many other health issues. The challenges that this causes with the gut, brain, immune system and chronic inflammation often sets individuals up for autoimmunity, which often effects thyroid function.

Here’s a catch 22 on this though.

Low thyroid function slows the response of insulin to elevated blood sugar, so the glucose is slow to enter the cells for energy production. This can actually lead to individuals testing with normal glucose levels, yet still challenged with symptoms of too low of blood sugar.

Specific to a hypoglycemic, you could feel any of the listed symptoms:

Crave sweets
Depend on coffee
Feel shaky or jittery
Feel agitated or nervous
Upset easily
Blurred vision
Eat often to relieve fatigue
Poor memory or forgetfulness
Become lightheaded missing meals
Become irritable when missing meals
Grouchy in the morning

To assist in normalizing these blood sugar instabilities, here are some simple tips:

Never skip breakfast
Eat a protein with your breakfast
Eat a protein with every meal
Keep your carb consumption to low glycemic choices
Don’t allow yourself to be “starving” prior to eating
If ever indulging in moderate to high glycemic foods always eat with added fat
Never eat sweets or sugary foods prior to bed
Avoid fruit juices and carrot juice
Avoid caffeine
Always combine fat, protein and carbs every time you eat