0802 ARK patient guide

36 Pages·2008·3.35 MB·English

A truly satisfying life is a life lived in balance.
Your choices— the food you eat,
how you think, your relationships
and how often you exercise— all play
an important role in attaining optimal health.
At Ortho Molecular Products, we believe you
have already taken the first steps toward
a life in balance. While the ARK program
is only a small part of your overall success,
we believe these valuable tools—
the information and supplements
provided by your doctor—
will help you discover a more healthy life…
a renewed and revitalized life in balance.
Contents
Introduction 4
What is the ARK? 5
Life Event Stress Inventory 6
The Causes of Stress 8
Your Personal Stress Inventory and Responses 9
Your Health 10
Your Sleep 11
Your Exercise 12
Your Diet 14
Your Work 16
Your Relationships 18
Your R&R 20
Your Finances 21
Testing Your Stress Level— The Role of Cortisol 22
The ARK— Products and Usage 24
Glycemic Foundation 26
Tranquil Moment 27
AdreneVive 28
Adren-All 28
Adaptenall 29
Phosphatidylserine 29
DHEA 30
Pregnenolone 30
Licorice Root Extract 31
Natural ZZZs 31
Appendix A: The Science Behind the Stress Response 32
Supplement Schedule 35
3
Life is stressful. We all know this, yet it is how we perceive and
respond to stressors that affect our health. The consequences of
stress are different for each individual.
Are you easily overwhelmed by everyday tasks that once were a breeze?
Do you get angry over things that never used to bother you?
Are you having weight gain around the middle?
Is your sleep not as regular or as restful as it once was?
Is it difficult for you to concentrate on important tasks?
Do you crave foods that you know are unhealthy for you?
Are you catching more colds than before?
Is your libido what it once was?
Are you easily irritated by family members and co-workers?
Doyou feel like you have no energy by the middle of the afternoon?
Are you using coffee or chocolate to make it through the day?
Are you drinking more alcohol to relieve stress?
Do aches and pains linger longer than they once did?
If you identify with several of these statements, your body’s
system for adapting to stress is not responding optimally. If you
identify with more than 3 or 4 of these statements, your body is
sending signals that life’s stresses are overwhelming its ability to
keep up. Your doctor has recommended the Adrenal Recovery Kit
because it contains some of the basic tools to help your body
begin the process of responding to stress appropriately so you
can regain the reigns of your life—enjoying a restored, renewed
and revitalized life in balance!
4
The Adrenal Recovery Kit
Welcome to the Patient Guidebook for the Adrenal Recovery
Kit (ARK). This booklet and the products associated with the ARK
are not “magic bullet” solutions. They are tools to help support
your body as you learn the impact of specific stressors and
recommendations for lifestyle decisions that can reduce the
negative impact of those stressors.
anydisease. Each person is different— each situation, unique and complex.
prevent The ARK program is designed to be flexible and can be adjusted
cureor for your specific needs and the recommendations of your health-
diagnose,treat, chaerlep pcrroevaitde ear.nT ehnev ibraosnicm teonotl so fi na dthriesn palr orgercaomve wrye raendd esstirgensesd to
notintendedto mreastnoargees mvietnalti ttyh aatn adl loopwtsim yaolu h teoa lftihn.d the perfect balance that
productis This booklet will also help you understand stress from a clinical
This perspective and how your body responds, or fails to respond.
ministration. sWtriethss othres m“Loifset Eavffeenctt Sytoreus.s OInnvceen tyooruy” hyaovue widielln dtiifsiecodv tehre w shtriecshsors
Ad
Drug in your life and addressed your perception of those influences,
and
Food you and your doctor can define your level of adrenal fatigue
bythe and use this guide to begin taking the steps to restoring your
beenevaluated hyoeaul twh ialln md oevnee rtgoyw. aBrdy macahnieavgiinngg tshtree sbsa laanndc ehdo wan dit ims opreercfueilvfielldin,g
not life you seek.
have
ments
state
†These
5
Take the Test
Use the Life Event Stress Inventory (Figure 1) to calculate your
current stress level. You will be surprised how quickly our lives
fill with stress-contributing events!
Add up all the points you have to
find your score.
A score of 150 pts or less means a
low amount of life change and a
low susceptibility to stress-induced
health breakdown.
Scores between 150 to 300 implies
about a 50% chance of a major
health breakdown in the next 2
years.
300 points or more raises the odds
to about 80%.
What Causes Stress?
If you are reading this booklet you likely could give a good
description of circumstances or persons that leave you at the
end of your rope. Perhaps you have been feeling burned out
and exhausted for years. Maybe you can’t understand why it is
hard to scrape up enough energy for the simple tasks of life.
Whether you are in a demanding job with constant pressure, a
challenging graduate program in a competitive academic
environment, or living frugally as a retiree trying to make ends
meet, your circumstances can often overcome your ability to
cope, straining your stress response mechanisms to the limit.
Researchers have learned that most things that move us away
from the normal expectations of life trigger a stress response.
6
Figure 1
disease.
any
prevent
or
cure
diagnose,treat,
notintendedto
productis
This
ministration.
Ad
Drug
and
Food
bythe
evaluated
been
not
have
ments
state (Adapted from Thomas Holmes and Richard Rahe. Homes-Rahe Social
†These Readjustment Rating Scale, Journal of Psychosomatic Research. Vol II, 1967.)
7
Whether these events are real
(actual emergency or trauma) or
perceived (anxiety about a potential
event), the stress response is
surprisingly similar. When you
constantly trigger your stress
response mechanisms with events
which are not resolved, your
response mechanisms begin to
become disjointed, improperly regulated,
Top 3 Chronic Stressors
and exhausted; sometimes they fail
•Blood Sugar Imbalance
altogether. Three of the most common
chronic stressors are imbalance in blood •Chronic Inflammation
sugar, chronic inflammation anywhere •Mental and Emotional Stress
in the body and mental and emotional
stress. Ironically, each of these events is a potent stimulator of
cortisol- the adrenal hormone produced to help us recover from
stress (see appendix to learn more).
Scientists who study stress say that the events that cause the
most mental and emotional stress usually have four similarities.
First, we are stressed by things which are new to us. First-time
experiences cause you to anticipate how you will feel during
that event (pleasure or pain), triggering a stress response.
Combine with this, unpredictability, the second feature of common
stressors and you heighten the stress response. First-time driving
lessons on a busy metropolitan freeway are a good example—
for both driver and instructor!
The third component is a sense of threat to your physical well-
being or psyche. While not always thought of as stress, the nervous
anticipation of someone else’s opinion of you is a threat to your
psyche, and therefore a source of stress. Lastly, common stressors
typically cause you to feel you have experienced loss of control
over your situation. A perfect, yet subtle example of this is the
person in middle management. They feel the responsibility of
performing new tasks (novelty) which typically have
8
unpredictable outcomes and threaten their job approval while
feeling like they don’t have control over the outcome.
This is a perfect recipe for stress. Not surprisingly, middle
managers are often considered to have the highest stress in most
corporations, leading to high turn-over, burnout and poor job
satisfaction.
As your read through
the next section of
stressor categories,
ask yourself how
each adds to your
overall stress load.
Think about what
components (novelty,
unpredictability,
disease. threat, loss of control)
any make particular
orprevent events or relationships the most stressful. Four Stress Components
cure
diagnose,treat, peItr cies pitmiopno ortfa nant teov erenmt iesm rebaelrly t hwaht ayto curreates ••UNnovpereltdyictability
productisnotintendedto meythvooieunsn ktmt osiitkfgs yhtehdltf ei.bv Aisent frgatee,ns rosc —aothlcle ,k ortw faptihele narpt s amobrntuoy’irs,le dpa stdu hsvbatelrnienc sttuhs reien: ••SLoesnss eo fo Cf oTnhtrreoalt
ministration.This speaking!
Ad
Drug
Foodand Your Personal Stress Inventory and Responses
bythe
evaluated shFooulllodw rienagd aeraec hco omnme oann,d e cvoenrys-iddeayr tshtreemss osersp awraet eallyl . faWceit.h Ytohue
notbeen understanding that some things are out of your control, what
have controllable events or relationships are contributing to your
ments stress?
state
†These
9
Are you worried that your
health will deteriorate?
Your Health
Do you catch colds easier
All stress triggers can lead to adrenal than you once did?
exhaustion, especially acute or chronic Do you get light-headed or
illnesses. Chronic inflammatory conditions dizzy when standing quickly?
such as inflammatory bowel diseases Do symptoms of PMS or
(Crohn’s, IBS), arthritis (rheumatoid or Menopause overwhelm you?
osteoarthritis), diabetes and many others will Are recurrent infections
put constant demands on cortisol production more frequent (yeast,
and eventually exhaust the stress response herpes, sinus etc.)?
system (refer to Figure 4 in Appendix A). Do you have frequent
Foods you eat (or don’t eat) can contribute diarrhea or constipation?
to an inflammatory environment in your Do your joints ache more
body. frequently?
Worrying about your health, or conditions
that you might have will also create anxiety. It is important to
find a clinician that can help you diagnose and treat the root
cause of your health issues. The more you know about your
health concerns, the more you will reduce the unpredictability
of your symptoms and the associated stress.
Take Control
of your Health
. See a doctor for help finding the root cause of your illness or pain.
.Consider using natural supplements to control pain and
inflammation rather than OTC or prescription anti-
inflammatory drugs (Ask your doctor about Inflamma-bLOX)
. Recognize it will take time to get back to normal again, don’t
get anxious, don’t lose hope!
10