STRESS!! Could Vitamin B5 be the Solution?

Contributing Writer for Wake Up World

Is there a link between stress and vitamin deficiency? Could vitamin B5 be the answer?

Because pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) appears everywhere in our cells as coenzyme A (CoA), a deficiency is “considered” to be rare. However, if CoA levels become low in the body, symptoms such as irritability and fatigue begin to occur.

Now, what can cause CoA levels to drop in the body? STRESS!!

Stress can be a physical and/or mental. Having one usually invites the other. For example:

† Mental stressors can cause physical stressors such as: Depression (mental stressor) causing joint pain (physical stressor).

† Physical stressors can cause mental stressors such as: Heart disease (physical stressor) causing anxiety (mental stressor).

So, how does the body response to stress?

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Most of us have heard of the phrase “fight or flight”. This refers to the body’s response to some outside influence that threatens our existence. It’s one of the most primal reflexes we have. No doubt it helped us react to dangerous animals that were in pursuit of us for their dinner. It also prevents us from “giving up” in a scenario such as drowning, falling off a cliff, or perhaps getting out of the way of a fast moving bus.

Today, having to worry about being chased by a wild animal isn’t nearly as likely as it once was, and thank-goodness for that! And, having to worry about our survival on a daily basis is also not nearly as likely as it once was. Again, thank-goodness!

So really, we should be a far more relaxed and a stress-free society. Right? Well, I know that you know that this just isn’t the case.

Most stress is of our own creation

We have other stressors these days, mostly of our own creation! Not only do we worry about everything, we worry about things that have already happened, might happen, and things that will or won’t even happen tomorrow! We worry about own problems, our family’s and our friends’ problems. We love to worry so much, we even worry about people we don’t know!

Worry is also a “fight or flight” reaction, but this type of stress occurs due to our own thoughts. And when you become overwhelmed, it is known as anxiety.

Stress is the culprit of so many health problems because it weakens the body’s immune system. Despite the boundless amount of research that supports this, our society has all but given up on the idea that we can do anything about.

In other words, we refuse to make real changes in our life.

Addressing the actual problem

Many of us flock to gyms for “stress-relief”. But how is the following scenario helpful in reducing stress?

Ever been to a gym and thought you’d take some exercise class. Perhaps one that involves the use of ‘steps’ and weights. Of course, most of us can only make the classes during lunch or after work so these classes during those times can become extremely crowed, often requiring you to “sign in”.

Now remember, we go to these classes to “de-stress”. So, why then the mad dash to get equipment, plow over everyone around us in order to secure a spot (and many of us have “our” spot that we have to have!)… and it doesn’t stop there! We even dash out just as fast, often disturbing everyone around us, usually leaving before the “cool down and stretch”, the most relaxing part. I have even been to yoga classes where this occurs!

Seeing a problem here?

So back to my statement — that most of us refuse to make real changes in our life.

What we will do, however, is take antidepressants, anti-anxiety meds, sleeping meds, high blood pressure meds, cholesterol meds, and let’s not forget our anti-acids, anti-constipation or anti-diarrhea meds, anti-heart burn, and of course, anti-pain meds. And all of these actually cause more stress on the body!

Ultimately when you run out of “med” options, what will do you do then?

Maybe before you get on this “stress train”, you can attempt to address the root cause of the stress in the first place. Too often, once people have lived with chronic stress and finally try to make the changes that could result in less stress (thus reducing their risk of health conditions) they find that it is extremely difficult.

What are they missing?

What is forgotten most often is that a nutritionally depleted body is also a weakened body that is already on a downhill spiral towards illness. So what can you do? You can give your body what it needs so it can rebuild itself back to optimal health.

Perhaps you have seen the TV commercials about how stress can cause an increase of cortisol resulting in that extra fat around the waist line. TV infomercials promise that there are both drugs and supplements that claim to help reduce the cortisol. For the most part, this is a good idea, except, once again, it is only addressing the surface rather than actual problem. What should be addressed are the levels of CoA in the body.

One way to help you get to the root cause is by replenishing the CoA and this is can be achieved by pantothenic acid supplementation. No doubt when you have been living in a state of stress for a long period of time, you are deficient in multiple nutrients, but here we are going to focus pantothenic acid.

So what is CoA anyway?

In summary, the pantothenic acid is an integral part of acyl-carrier protein (ACP) and coenzyme A (CoA).

A recent study, ‘Pantothenic acid in health and disease’, found that altered homeostasis of CoA has been long observed in many disease states including: cancer, starvation, diabetes, alcoholism, Reye syndrome (RS), medium-chain acyl CoA dehydrogenase deficiency, and Vitamin B12 deficiency. What is the common denominator with all these conditions? Fatigue!

The adrenals are basically responsible for releasing hormones in response to stress. They use CoA along with cholesterol and Vitamin C to manufacture cortisol and other important hormones such as epinephrine. When cortisol production is lowered, the body’s ability to respond to stress is considerably compromised. Thus, if cortisol levels are chronically elevated, the body reserve of pantothenate (active form of pantothenic acid) need to be replenished in order to sustain proper adrenal function.

Now that we know how the body’s responds to stress, the next question to ask is — what happens when our body can no longer adapt to the stressors it is being exposed to?

The idea of the relationship between cortisol and stress is not a new concept. As already mentioned, most everyone has heard the commercials that make the connection of the increase of cortisol due to stress and the increase of fat around the waist.

How can pantothenic acid help? It’s simple. It helps the adrenals, where cortisol is made.

Logic would suggest instead of prescribing drugs for stress, a worthy endeavor for science would be to take another look at pantothenic acid. Unless of course it would produce less profits. And since this is the usual case, it wouldn’t be long before pantothenic acid would be banned and renamed by the United States FDA as a drug.

Healthcare Freedom Revolution

In the age of big-pharma, Dr. Michelle Kmiec’s take on health and healthcare is refreshing – to say the least. And her book ‘Healthcare Freedom Revolution: Exposing the Lies, Deceit and Greed of the Medical Profession’ is a unique publication that busts long-standing health myths in a straight forward way, and reveals how you can regain control of your health… regardless of what “they” may have told you.

In telling her story, Dr. Kmiec doesn’t pull any punches. And why should she? Ten years ago she was desperately sick with autoimmune and neurological symptoms, and the medical profession offered her nothing but prescription drugs and outrageous “healthcare” bills. Not willing to accept this future, Dr. Kmiec decided that if she was going to be healthy again, she would have to find the answers herself. That’s when her amazing journey began.

Ultimately, despite all her struggles and fears, Dr. Kmiec regained her health completely – a result of natural means and sheer perseverance. And in the process, her research led her to discover just how corrupt the medical profession has become — in industry she describes as a ‘Big Pharma monopoly’.

Dr. Kmiec has now made it her mission in life to share her story, and hopes to help people find real answers to their healthcare needs – as well as offering something very special to those in ill health… hope. For more information, please visit healthcarefreedomrevolution.com and check out Dr. Kmiec’s previous articles on Wake Up World.

Previous articles by Dr. Kmiec:

About the author:

Dr. Michelle Kmiec is a licensed chiropractor who also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Biology. She is life-long athlete who after curing herself 100% naturally from autoimmune neurological symptoms and anxiety, became an avid nutrition health researcher/promoter, author of Healthcare Freedom Revolution: Exposing the Lies, Deceit and Greed of the Medical Profession, and Founder of the website Online Holistic Health.

You can follow Online Holistic Health on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

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