If you're working with two or more practitioners as part of your team for managing adrenal fatigue, you're the MVP of your healthcare team. You should feel comfortable with the members of your team and be able to talk with them openly about any health concern that you have.
How to maintain communication in an adrenal fatigue management team
Many patients see their doctor and are reluctant to mention any supplements that they're taking or any other healthcare practitioners they're seeing. This truncated communication is a barrier to good, effective, comprehensive, and personalized care.
Because adrenal fatigue can be difficult to diagnose, it requires communication among all your providers. Some care providers will call a patient's herbalist, homeopathic practitioner, and naturopathic physician, all in the name of continuity of care.
Never, ever, hesitate to tell your doctor anything. Fear of repercussions should not be a barrier to care. If you're seeing more than one healthcare provider, you need to maintain communication with all of them and facilitate communication among them. Withholding vital medical information can compromise your care.
Here are a couple of ways you can help promote communication among your healthcare providers:
Keep copies of all your reports and lab tests from all your providers.
Don't hesitate to ask a provider to call another provider on your team during an office visit to discuss aspects of your care. If you're seeing several providers in one day, sometimes they may not have the information concerning a change in the treatment plan from another provider.
How to hold yourself accountable for adrenal fatigue management
Some patients abide by the old model, where they want to go the doctor to get fixed, like taking their car to a mechanic for a tune-up.
Guess what! The treatment for adrenal fatigue involves more than being fixed. It requires you to make changes to improve your nutrition, reduce stress, and improve sleep as well as add supplements and make work and lifestyle changes. These changes help de-stress your adrenal glands and return you to total body balance.
All these changes require accountability on your part. After you and your healthcare team agree on a plan, you need to do your best to stick with it. This includes maintaining communication and keeping follow-up appointments. It means sticking with a nutrition and exercise program as best as you can and alerting your healthcare provider(s) of any problems that arise.
You want to be proactive in your healthcare, not just reactive. Only by doing so can you be successful in overcoming adrenal fatigue.