http://www.drlwilson.com/articles/adrenal_burnout.htm
ADRENAL BURNOUT SYNDROME by Lawrence Wilson, MD
Toxic metals and chemicals often play a large role in adrenal burnout. Everyone is exposed to thousands of chemicals in the air, the water and the food. Other sources are dental materials and skin contact with chemicals. Over-the-counter and prescribed medications add to the body’s toxic load. Most people do not realize that antibiotics and many other drugs accumulate to some extent in the liver and other organs.
Toxins may also be generated within the body due to impaired digestion. When food is not properly digested, it either ferments or rots in the intestines, producing many harmful substances that are absorbed into the body.
A healthy body has the ability to eliminate many toxins on a daily basis. However, as adrenal weakness develops, the body’s ability to eliminate all toxins decreases. This produces a vicious cycle in which weaker adrenals impairs the elimination of all poisons, which then further weakens the adrenals.
...Myth # 17. One can recover from burnout in a matter of months. It takes at least two years and often longer. Layers of toxins, infections and other adaptations and compensations must be undone. Each adaptation uses up energy so that when one begins correction, there is little energy to work with. This slows progress and is one reason correction takes several years.
Eliminating toxins that have become integral parts of the organs and glands also takes time, like rebuilding a house. Also, most people must replenish twenty or thirty trace minerals. This takes time, even if one does all the correct procedures to restore one’s health.
If one truly recovers in a few months, a person was not in severe burnout. However, often, a small recovery can feel like a cure when it is not. As an analogy, those in burnout need an overhaul, not a tune up. One needs to commit to doing whatever it takes and devoting a few years to healing. This needs to become one’s primary occupation or job for a while, allowing all other interests and activities to become secondary to the commitment to healing.
..5. A detoxification protocol is helpful, though perhaps not always needed. This involves the use of a near infrared sauna and perhaps coffee enemas or colonic irrigation. This is included with all nutritional balancing programs
He ends his page with: As I began to understand the condition better, I made many changes in my diet, lifestyle and most critically, my thinking. I also forced myself to do coffee enemas, to walk every day, use a sauna, and to meditate daily, although I did not enjoy doing any these things, at first.