There are many surprising telltale signs you need to detox. I first discovered them, and the incredible health benefits of detoxing, while healing from adrenal fatigue.

Even though my adrenal healing protocol was improving my energy, I knew there were some missing pieces to my fatigue puzzle.

My energy still felt ‘flat’, and I had niggling symptoms like brain fog, PMS and stubborn belly fat I’d been trying to solve for so long.

Then I started reading about detoxification and the signs you need to detox.

When I found that my symptoms were linked to what’s called a ‘toxic load’ or ‘toxic burden’ in the body, those missing pieces started to fall in to place.

(This is why I’ve devoted a series of articles on why detoxing is so important, what the main toxins are to be aware of, signs you need to detox, how you can safely detox, plus the myths and mistakes commonly made when detoxing. Read the previous articles here and here)

I realised that the stress I’d been under for so long (stress inhibits your body’s ability to detoxify), coupled with an unhealthy lifestyle of eating lots of sugar, refined carbohydrates and fried foods, drinking to excess, smoking and being exposed to many environmental toxicants had led to a high burden placed on my liver – the body’s primary detoxification organ.

What happens then is that your liver can’t neutralize and remove the toxicants fast enough, so they accumulate in your body, where they can cause inflammation and have far-reaching effects on the body.

I also discovered that the link between feeling constantly tired and toxic burden runs deep

Having a toxic load can make your fatigue worse, as these chemicals can damage mitochondria – the batteries in our cells responsible for 90% of our physical energy.

If your mitochondria aren’t working properly, you’ll experience chronic fatigue.

And if your mitochondria aren’t working properly in your liver, detoxification will be compromised, creating this feedforward cycle of fatigue and an increased toxic burden.

A toxic burden can also cause the stress hormone cortisol to be continually released, placing a further burden on those who have adrenal fatigue – and can even cause adrenal fatigue!

A toxic burden can also cause the stress hormone cortisol to be continually released, placing a further burden on those who have adrenal fatigue – and can even cause adrenal fatigue!CLICK TO TWEET

And that a toxic load is a major cause of weight gain…

If you’ve been gaining weight when you haven’t increased your food intake, or you’re struggling to lose weight, this could be a sign you need to detox.

This is because our body stores the toxic chemicals that can’t be eliminated as far away from our vital organs as possible – in our fat cells.

In fact, chemicals in some plastics are classed as ‘obesogens’ as they’re known to cause you to put on weight in this way!

With more than 60% of Australian adults being overweight or obese, given our exposure to toxicants in our food, air, water, and environment, along with the epidemic of chronic stress, we have to consider toxic burden as part of the picture.

Hence weight gain isn’t just a metabolic issue. It’s a toxicity one.

If you’re trying to lose weight, it’s best to do a detox program first, which will make your weight loss efforts much more effective.

Also as your body loses fat, you’ll want to make sure those toxins are removed from the body rather than being recirculated and reabsorbed (particularly in your brain, where many of these toxins are damaging) as this can damage tissues and organs.

So, what are the signs you need to detox?

There are many symptoms of a toxic load, with these being the main ones:

Chronic fatigue/feeling constantly tired
Weight gain – especially being 9kg or more overweight
Feeling stressed
Depression or low mood
Headaches
Cognitive problems: brain fog, poor memory
Neurological issues: balance problems, tremors
Skin problems like psoriasis, acne, and eczema
An increase in or trigger of asthma or hayfever
High blood pressure
Food allergies – especially an increase in foods you’re sensitive to
Lacking vibrancy and health for your age
PMS, infertility, fibrocystic breast disease, uterine fibroids
Sore, achy, weak muscles and/or joint pain
Numbness, tingling and nerve pain in the face or head (neuralgia)
Chemical sensitivities (especially finding you can’t tolerate certain smells or drugs so well anymore)
Anaemia
Bad breath, bloating, fatty stools, constipation, diarrhoea, smelly stools
Intolerance to fatty foods
Tender swollen liver
Gallbladder problems (including gallstones)
Getting several colds or flus each year

If you consume alcohol regularly, have a history of using steroid drugs including taking natural or synthetic oestrogens or oral contraceptive pills, have had high exposure to cleaning solvents, pesticides, antibiotics, diuretics, NSAIDs (e.g. ibuprofen), thyroid hormone or a history of viral hepatitis, you’ll also have an increased need to detox and minimise your toxic burden.

This is because these factors either place a large burden on your liver’s ability to detoxify or reduce your liver’s detox ability, therefore increasing your toxic load.

When it comes to diseases, having a toxic burden can worsen the expression of the symptoms of the following conditions, so lowering your toxic load may help alleviate symptoms:

Allergy and asthma
Diabetes
Obesity
Chemical sensitivity (any adverse physical, mental, or emotional reaction to the presence of a chemical smell)
Fibromyalgia
Fertility problems and birth defects
Parkinsonism
Bone marrow cancers – lymphomas, leukemia, multiple myeloma
Auto-immune diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Hasimotos thyroiditis, etc.

How I lowered my toxic burden

I became so interested in detoxification that I undertook specialist training, which involved going through a detox program to experience the benefits and understand the ins and outs of detoxing.

Part of the process involved tracking my symptoms by doing a toxic burden questionnaire before and after the program.

When I completed the questionnaire before the program, my toxic load score was 82.

A benchmark of good health is a score of under 30, so my score showed that I needed to reduce my toxic load which really wasn’t a surprise given how I’d been living!

After going through the program, my score dropped to 26 – a 56 point reduction!

So many niggling little health issues or symptoms I had disappeared.

Not only did I get more energy. I dropped 3kg in weight, my skin was clearer, and I was able to think quicker and more clearly.

My mood also increased and my PMS symptoms reduced too.

Discover your toxic load score here

If you’re curious to know your body’s toxic load, I’ve created a questionnaire for you that covers all the signs you need to detox.

Simply download here, complete the questionnaire then add up your symptom score to find out if you need to detox.

Do you need to detox? Find out your toxic load score and what it means now.

Once you’ve completed the questionnaire, if you’re game, come back here and share your score in the comments (it’s only fair since I shared my score with you!).

In the next article in this series, I’ll be sharing how you can detox safely and reduce your score dramatically, so watch this space

To your health!

Melissa

How To Know When It’s Time To Detox