Hi, I’m Dr. Chad Larson. There’s multiple aspects of the whole pandemic shutdown that I’m really concerned about for people’s health, on multiple levels. One of them is the effect that this whole experience has had on people’s adrenal hormones. We just talked about hormones in a recent episode, and we talked about a certain product. Then I got some questions about that product, as compared to another product. So I thought I’d go into that a little bit today because it’s a pretty important topic.
The health of our adrenal glands and, frankly, of our whole HPA axis is super vital during this fairly stressful time. There’s a lot of pressure and strain being put on the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis, the HPA axis.
-Dr. Chad Larson
The hypothalamus and the pituitary gland are both in the brain. The pituitary gland sends hormones to the adrenal gland, and those hormones cause the adrenal glands to make other downstream hormones, cortisol and DHEA, and these are really important hormones for stress management. And last time we discussed this, we talked about a product called SR-Adrenal, which I take and recommend for my patients to take when I have laboratory proof that their cortisol and other adrenal hormones like cortisol and DHEA are low. But there could be other cases where maybe we don’t have laboratory testing and we don’t really know that those hormones are low. Then, there’s another product that we can suggest.
Let’s go out here and check it out. Just come with me here and let’s talk about this other product. So, we’ve talked about SR-Adrenal. It’s a product we just talked about in a recent episode, about the effects that it has on adrenal cortisol, and how it kind of helps the whole HPA axis. But there’s another product that some people were asking me about called SR-Stamina. Sometimes we’ll put somebody on SR-Stamina and they’re wondering should they be on SR-Adrenal and what’s the difference.
There are some similarities between them. SR-Stamina and SR-Adrenal both feature really key botanicals called adaptogens, a general family name of botanicals that work in a unique way. They help to balance the adrenals, help to balance the whole HPA axis. They’re modulators, so if there’s kind of a hyper response in the HPA axis, they help bring it down to normal. If there’s a low response they help bring it up to normal. So it’s sort of an all purpose botanical. It’s great for mental stamina, physical stamina, great for your immune system. So adaptogens are just one of my favorite families of botanicals. I’ve been prescribing them for decades, frankly, because it’s a really key group of nutrients.
But the difference between these products is that SR-Adrenal is more for adrenal hormone deficiency, while SR-Stamina can be used as kind of an all-purpose answer when maybe we haven’t had laboratory testing for adrenal cortisol and DHEA, but the patient is fatigued, they’ve got low energy, you know, these common things that people deal with. Maybe they feel like their immune system is not quite up to speed. Then SR-Stamina is great, because there’s like eight or ten different adaptogens in there, and it really helps to bolster that whole system. So, SR-Adrenal is what I would lean toward, at least from a prescribing standpoint, more when I have laboratory proof that the cortisol and DHEA are low. SR-Stamina is a little bit more all-purpose if your energy is low. Take two capsules before breakfast or sometime in the morning, then two capsules around lunchtime, and it can really help to support the whole HPA axis. It helps to boost both physical and mental stamina.
So, those are the two products that I often use when it comes to HPA axis health and stress. And this is a time when we sometimes need a little extra support to help deal with the stressors that we’re exposed to. Hopefully that helps you to understand the difference between the two products. I’ll keep reading the studies and bringing you the information. Until then, keep it real.
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