bikram hot yoga and adrenal fatigue???? HELP????

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#2274

I am just wondering, I have been doing yoga for almost 10 years, but it has been kripaluvhatha yoga (and not in a hot room). RECENTLY joined a BIKRAM studio and have been doing it for six months.

I do have issues with my adrenals, (meaning I can tend to overproduce cortisol) will BIKRAM yoga make them worse? I ask because I have this issue of a bloated belly and a spare tire look to my stomach. I had issues with my adrenals a few years ago and bloodwork showed that my body was overproducing cortisol, so I would wake up wired in the morning and be in flight mode all day and crash in the evening. I was able to get them somewhat under control, but i think I always will have borderline adrenal issues. I am taking an adrenal supplement……but it seems that symptoms I experienced years ago with bloated belley, spare tire, weight gain…etc. has come back…!!??

NOW let me clarify I am a very fit person, i am tall and slim and have or rather had abdominal definition…. and eat very clean, i am concerned about my adrenals though….initially when I joined BIKRAM back in October I lost weight (only a few pounds) because I did not have a lot of weight to loose….so I toned up more and got more muscle definition….and then in the last few months I notice my belly bloat, and this spare tire look to my waist line…..my weight has increased by 10 pounds…HELP??? what is going on with me? is it adrenals?

I take an adrenal supplement already. I also have low thyroid, but treated with medication.

I take bikram yoga about 4-5 times a week.

Please advise? thank you

[littlemsmel]

#9316

Wow this is exactly what I’m going through. I started doing Bikram yoga in June and was going almost everyday, I lost a lot of weight and toned up. Over the past few weeks I have been gaining weight , my thighs are huge!!!! I feel exhausted all the time too And I have the bloated belly look too….is this a sign of cortisol overload? I also have low thyroid that is treated but I didn’t take my medication for two weeks last month. I am back on my eltroxin and have been for a month. I also drink tons of water pee all the time but always feel thirsty. I have been so tired too… Can you tell me what you take for adrenal support??? Oh and my face is super shiny and I breaking out.

[Andrea.*F.]

#9318

Hi Blue and Melanie,

I am one of the graduates from Gabrielle’s teacher training, I hope it’s ok with you if I respond to your posts this time.

I had a discussion with Gabrielle and we would like both of you to answer these important questions:

– Are you taking electrolyte supplements? If yes, what are you taking?
If you aren’t, go to your local store and get yourselves pure sea salt or himalayan rock or celtic salt (NOT table salt!). Make sure you get a tea spoon of that into your system every day for a about a month (not to be taken all at once of course, put some into your water – a pinch into a litre, sprinkle some on your food). All these things you described above, could be signs of electrolyte deficiency.

While you do that, can you answer more questions please?
– What is the general condition at your studio? Do you know what the general temperature is?
– Blue: Can you please explain what exactly you mean by ‘clean diet’?

That will do for now 🙂

We are looking forward to hearing from you guys!

Namaste,

Andrea

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#9355

thank you so much for your response.
I am NOT taking an electrolyte supplement. I have interstitial cystitis, so I have to be very careful of what I eat. Not sure if you are familiar with IC but it is inflammation of the bladder (NOT a bladder infection), it is a disease that I live with everyday, and everything I eat is effected by it, so I have a very restricted diet)

So as far as sea salt goes, I do have sea salt on my salads, and foods. So I would assume i am taking enough…..am i?

I am not sure if I am taking pure SEA SALT, but it does have sea salt on the container so i am assuming it is pure sea salt. I will make a point of buying some today. WILL this alleviate my problem ?

the studio i attend is a hot bikram studio, and it appears clean. as far as general temperature it is arond 105 i believe, it can range in heat/dryness/humidity.. There are some days i go in and it seems very hot, other days with very hot heat is dry, other times it can be a bit wet. This does not happen all the time, but can.

a clean diet, NO sugar in my diet at all, I eat whole grains like steel cut oats, millet, quinoa, lots of nuts (almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds), lots of nut butters, almond butter, peanut butter, pumpkin butter, chia seeds, dates, raisins, pears, apples, grain fed chicken, (no red meat), fish. No condiments like ketchup, mustard in my diet…etc…(no soya sauce….nadda!!) I also have greek plain yogurt. That is a clean diet. No additives, and crap. I do not drink orange juice, nor caffiene drinks. I drink only water and some herbal teas. (that I am able to tolerate with my interstitial cystits)

I have actually STOPPEd going to hot yoga for a few days to see if I can help my adrenals. My heart has been racing during points of my day, especially first thing in the morning (5 am)….i know my cortisol levels must be high. I am trying to do calm meditation these past few days and trying to avoid anything that raises my cortisol levels. (trying not to get stressed…etc). But I can feel my adrenals are still struggling. I assume it is going to take a few months?????? to get them back to normal??

oh yes i have just recently started taking coconut water, no additives, pure coconut water, will this help? i have not gone to yoga since Friday morning, and only started the coconut water saturday. i have taken a few days of hot yoga, hoping this will help…i will not go to hot yoga today…but probably tomorrow….so this gives me three days off and i am hoping this will help my body taking this little break, should i take a longer break??

Thanks so much for responding and looking forward to hearing from you.

[branch_out]

#9356

I am sorry you are experiecing this. I am so frustrated, because I am such a fit person, and to all of a sudden gain weight and feel bloated and heavy is disgusting, along with having my adrenals out of wack.

The supplement I am taking was suggested to me by my naturopath. So I am not advising you to take this, but certainly look into it and ask questions about the product. It is made by AOR classic series adrenal supplement it helps support adrenal function (any natural food store will sell it) but again just inquire into their products that help support adrenals. Please stay in touch with me I would love to continue helping each other and sharing each other our progress. Can we do this??

thank you.

Wow this is exactly what I’m going through. I started doing Bikram yoga in June and was going almost everyday, I lost a lot of weight and toned up. Over the past few weeks I have been gaining weight , my thighs are huge!!!! I feel exhausted all the time too And I have the bloated belly look too….is this a sign of cortisol overload? I also have low thyroid that is treated but I didn’t take my medication for two weeks last month. I am back on my eltroxin and have been for a month. I also drink tons of water pee all the time but always feel thirsty. I have been so tired too… Can you tell me what you take for adrenal support??? Oh and my face is super shiny and I breaking out.

[Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)]

#9360

Hi Blue

I didn’t realise straight away that you had the same question in 2 different places! 😆

So for those following this thread, please go to: Hot Yoga (Bikram) And Adrenal Fatigue??

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

[Andrea.*F.]

#9372

Hello Blue,

Thanks for your detailed response!

In my opinion you need to drink more water and take more (celtic,sea,himalayan) salt to replenish your electrolytes! Even though you mentioned that you have ‘some’ in your diet I am getting the sense that your body needs more of it. Can you tell me what exactly you mean when you say: you don’t over drink? Practising in extreme heat is a really big challenge for the body and if it is not properly hydrated, it goes into an ‘alarm mode’. One of the body’s way of dealing with dehydration and lack of electrolytes is bloating.

I understand that you didn’t state everything (or I hope you didn’t) on that list when explaining what your diet consists of. Though it seems to me that you don’t eat a lot of raw fruits and vegetables but you do eat a lot of grains, nuts and oat which are a bit more difficult to dygest. Out all the food we eat, fruits and vegetables have the highest water content! Especially if you find it difficult to drink a lot of water, eating more raw fruits and veggies could greatly benefit you and help you to get more water into your system!

I think it’s great that you are so conscious of what you eat, however I noticed that when talking about a clean diet you stressed out that you eat no sugar. Are you trying to avoid fat too (apart from what you get from eating grains and nuts)? As far as I understand, fat, sugar ad carbs are essential parts of a healthy diet, for as long as you know ‘where to get them from’. It may very well be that if you follow such a strict diet, that has an effect on how you feel in your yoga class.

I love to drink coconut water!! 🙂 I am a coconut addict in fact. However, I must point out that as beneficial and healthy as it is, it does not replenish electrolytes you lose by sweating! Hey, if you enjoy coconut water, I think you should try coconut oil! Try taking it in little amounts (less than a tea spoon per day), every day. You can put it on your salad, in your smoothie or just take it as it is. I’d do that, as I said, I have an addiction… 🙂

I do think you should give your body a break from practising in the heat. My suggestion is to experiment with drinking more water, taking more salt (1 tea spoon a day for 4 weeks, as I mentioned in the prev. post) and eating more raw fruits and veggies too. See how you feel after a few days!

I honestly hope you will you’ll find the above useful and that it may be something that can help you!

Share your thoughts with me. I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Namaste,

Andrea

[branch_out]

#9441

Thanks so much for your response, sorry for not promptly replying, i only just noticed i had this post.

As far as my diet goes, i did not list all the foods i eat….i eat a ton of fruits and vegtables. My diet is a very clean eating diet filled with lots of variaties of good clean food.

Well….i guess I should also point out I have interstitical cystitis, so I try to drink and replenish, but not overdrink, as this will set my interstitial cystitis into a flare.

I think what may have happened, is i was so pleased with the fact that bikram yoga was actually dehydrating me and making my interstitial cystitis feel good…because i did not have to go to the washroom all the time….but at the same time, i beleive i was creating an electrylite imbalance in my body.

the last class i went to was Monday, and I have decided to take a few weeks off, just to get my body in order. I do love the hot yoga…..and actually crave it. BUT i have to lay off it i believe to get my body back in balance. i do believe i must have set my adrenals in a bit of stress mode due to the electrilyte imbalance. So I think taking a break from the hot room is in order.

So once I return, are you stating I should be taking sea salt -and is this all i need to keep my electrilytes in balance? along with drinking more water?? I have to be careful with supplements due to my interstitial cystitis (and creating a flare). So any advice you provide to help me return to the hot room, and not have this happen again, is much apprecated.

thank you 🙂
namaste

Hello Blue,

Thanks for your detailed response!

In my opinion you need to drink more water and take more (celtic,sea,himalayan) salt to replenish your electrolytes! Even though you mentioned that you have ‘some’ in your diet I am getting the sense that your body needs more of it. Can you tell me what exactly you mean when you say: you don’t over drink? Practising in extreme heat is a really big challenge for the body and if it is not properly hydrated, it goes into an ‘alarm mode’. One of the body’s way of dealing with dehydration and lack of electrolytes is bloating.

I understand that you didn’t state everything (or I hope you didn’t) on that list when explaining what your diet consists of. Though it seems to me that you don’t eat a lot of raw fruits and vegetables but you do eat a lot of grains, nuts and oat which are a bit more difficult to dygest. Out all the food we eat, fruits and vegetables have the highest water content! Especially if you find it difficult to drink a lot of water, eating more raw fruits and veggies could greatly benefit you and help you to get more water into your system!

I think it’s great that you are so conscious of what you eat, however I noticed that when talking about a clean diet you stressed out that you eat no sugar. Are you trying to avoid fat too (apart from what you get from eating grains and nuts)? As far as I understand, fat, sugar ad carbs are essential parts of a healthy diet, for as long as you know ‘where to get them from’. It may very well be that if you follow such a strict diet, that has an effect on how you feel in your yoga class.

I love to drink coconut water!! 🙂 I am a coconut addict in fact. However, I must point out that as beneficial and healthy as it is, it does not replenish electrolytes you lose by sweating! Hey, if you enjoy coconut water, I think you should try coconut oil! Try taking it in little amounts (less than a tea spoon per day), every day. You can put it on your salad, in your smoothie or just take it as it is. I’d do that, as I said, I have an addiction… 🙂

I do think you should give your body a break from practising in the heat. My suggestion is to experiment with drinking more water, taking more salt (1 tea spoon a day for 4 weeks, as I mentioned in the prev. post) and eating more raw fruits and veggies too. See how you feel after a few days!

I honestly hope you will you’ll find the above useful and that it may be something that can help you!

Share your thoughts with me. I am looking forward to hearing from you!

Namaste,

Andrea

[Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)]

#9454

Hi Blue

Finding the right balance may take a little work! But if you think about it, your body needs electrolytes just like a battery needs them. You need to fire up your nerves your muscles and make your body function well, including your adrenals. It’s part of every system in your body.

Yoga is supposed to create balance. If you could do yoga every day (not in a hot room) or if you can run your life normally and not have the problems you’re having in the hot room then it’s a function of your activity.

So the issues to address could even be not just water and electrolytes but also your practice approach! Sometimes practices exhibit an essence of ‘trying hard’ which tenses up the whole body. There is a way to work hard, work with the challenge, without struggle and in a way that surrenders to that work.

If you have any sense at all that you’re exhausted in class and feel that you’ve got undue tension in your body during the poses, then I invite you to work out (with my help if you need it) which poses they could be.

Sometimes it is literally working through your technical issues that can reduce the impact on your Sympathetic Nervous System! That SNS involvement would most certainly be having an impact on your breathing and therefore an impact on the amount of tension in your body.

Give it some thought and attention. If you need to go back to the studio with that on your radar, then take the time to do that. Come back and we’ll get there.

And yes, take some sea salt. If you haven’t got a baseline reading of your blood then that’s worth doing to know where you stand

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

[Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)]

#9596

Hi Blue

Was just thinking about you. Have you got a progress report for us?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

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