Are you overweight? Hypertension? High blood sugar and cholesterol levels? Then you have metabolic syndrome. If you suffer from metabolic syndrome (syndrome x), your risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease is significantly increased. The good news is that you can usually reverse your metabolic syndrome on your own.

Metabolic syndrome: what is it?

You have metabolic syndrome if you have at least three of the following four symptoms ( 2 ) ( 3 ):

• Overweight with a high percentage of belly fat
• Lipid metabolism disorders: Elevated triglyceride levels (more than 150 mg/dl fasting) and elevated LDL cholesterol levels and at the same time very low HDL cholesterol levels (less than 40 mg/dl in men, less than 50 mg/dl in women)
• Glucose metabolism disorders: Elevated fasting blood glucose (more than 100 mg/dl) and incipient insulin resistance
• Elevated blood pressure (130/85 mmHg or higher)

In addition, the following problems are increasingly being counted as metabolic syndrome:

• Increased uric acid levels, which increase the risk of gout (a rheumatic disease) and uric acid stones in the kidneys, as well as permanently promoting cardiovascular disease, diabetes and kidney damage.
• Increased inflammatory markers and a condition prone to thrombosis ( 6 )
• Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
• Sleep apnea (heavy snoring and breathing interruptions during sleep)

All of these complaints occur together much more frequently than is expected by chance – in all age groups and in both sexes, which is why they are referred to as a syndrome in their collective appearance.

What does syndrome mean?

The term “syndrome” comes from the Greek. The prefix “syn-” means “together” and “drómos” means “way”. The various ailments are therefore intertwined and together they follow the same path, namely straight towards chronic illness, malaise and premature death.

Symptoms

The symptoms of metabolic syndrome depend on which of the problems mentioned above you have and to what extent.

• Of course, being overweight quickly catches the eye, may make you less mobile and cause joint pain.
• Elevated blood lipid levels, on the other hand, are not noticeable.
• Disturbances in blood sugar levels are also generally not felt – as long as there is no pronounced diabetes.
• Slightly elevated blood pressure also does not cause any symptoms; Only significantly elevated blood pressure is noticeable with dizziness, ringing in the ears, headache, restlessness, feelings of panic, insomnia, etc.

The consequences of metabolic syndrome

Metabolic syndrome was once referred to as a diabolical quartet. Devilish, because the group of four likes to lead to numerous other diseases, namely:

• Cardiovascular diseases (atherosclerosis, heart attack, stroke)
• Type 2 diabetes
• and also increases the risk of cancer and many other diseases – and of course contributes to an enormous burden on health systems.

Obesity alone is associated with an increased risk of almost all diseases. The risk of joint diseases increases, including autoimmune diseases ( 8 ) and infectious diseases ( 9 ).

The causes

Metabolic syndrome is also known as affluent syndrome, which is why it was already widespread in early advanced civilizations – of course, only in the upper classes, where a life of abundance and without physical exertion was possible.

The Much-Too Little-Principle

The causes of metabolic syndrome can therefore be briefly explained by the too-much-too-little principle: You do/eat too much harmful and eat/do too little beneficial:

• Too much fat, sugar, salt, fast food, convenience foods, soft drinks, alcohol, medication, stress
• Too little fruit, vegetables, wholesome food, water, exercise, sleep, relaxation, vital substances

In most cases, metabolic syndrome begins with obesity

Most of the time, it all starts with being overweight, which over time causes all other complaints. This is because abdominal fat in particular is a hormonally very active tissue. The hormones it produces lead to a constant appetite (and thus to a growing belly), to rising blood sugar, insulin and blood lipid levels, and also inhibit substances that would dissolve blood clots, which can cause thrombosis.

Possible pre-existing conditions

However, certain pre-existing conditions can also lead to obesity and other symptoms in the first place, e.g. hypothyroidism or pre-existing type 2 diabetes.

Medications that promote metabolic syndrome

Some medications can also lead to obesity and the other symptoms of metabolic syndrome, e.g. corticosteroids (cortisone), some antidepressants and neuroleptics, beta-blockers and diuretics (“water tablets” prescribed for edema, heart failure or high blood pressure). Even if you have to take medication, there are often many things you can do to reduce its side effects.

The Diagnosis

Your family doctor is the right person to contact for the diagnosis. Whether you have the symptoms of metabolic syndrome can be easily clarified using the usual blood values. In addition, your blood pressure will be measured and your weight or waist circumference will be checked.

In premenopausal women, the gynecologist clarifies whether PCOS, polycystic ovary syndrome, could be present. Here, too, the term “syndrome” is used in the name of the disease and indicates the presence of several symptoms at the same time, although there are some overlaps with the metabolic syndrome, namely obesity and insulin resistance.

In PCOS, there are also massive hormonal imbalances that can lead to cycle irregularities, infertility, acne, hair loss and increased body hair.

How is metabolic syndrome treated holistically?

If several symptoms are combined with the term syndrome, this also means that one and the same therapy could remedy the syndrome in its entirety. However, this does not apply to conventional medical therapy, but only to holistic and naturopathic therapy, which includes the following measures:

• Change your diet to a healthy, vegetable-rich and wholesome diet and eat according to your personal energy needs
• Make sure you exercise. Yoga is great for metabolic syndrome
• Stress management (e.g. tapping acupressure, muscle relaxation according to Jacobson, meditation, autogenic training, etc.)
• Good sleep hygiene
• If necessary, improve intestinal health (build-up of the intestinal flora) and remove harmful substances (purification/detoxification)
• Reduce excess weight – which usually happens automatically in the course of the previously mentioned points

Should each symptom be treated individually?

Of course, you could do the respective holistic therapy concept for each symptom. However, you’ll notice that each of these say almost the same thing. Because holistic healing means that every measure helps the body in its entirety to get back into its healthy balance (no matter what it lacks).

So if you implement the holistic concept for high blood pressure, then your cholesterol, blood sugar and triglyceride levels will also improve at the same time. If you implement the concept of naturally lowering your cholesterol levels, then your blood sugar and blood pressure levels will level off at the same time, etc.

• How to lose weight.
• Foods to lower your blood pressure.
• How to help your cholesterol naturally.
• How to lower your blood sugar and what you can do if you have type 2 diabetes.
• How to get better sleep.

Of course, you should be helped and accompanied by your doctor in all these steps and measures. A doctor of nutritional medicine can help you change your diet and certainly help you choose the necessary dietary supplements.

A specialist in physical medicine/sports medicine will take over the creation of a training plan that is suitable for you, which you may initially learn to implement with the support of a physiotherapist.

When it comes to stress management, contact your GP or your health insurance company. Appropriate prevention courses are often offered, which you can take advantage of to learn stress management strategies and measures for relaxation.

How does conventional medicine treat metabolic syndrome?

Conventional medicine/evidence-based medicine, on the other hand, prescribes a separate medication for each of the problems mentioned – a pill for high blood pressure, a second pill for rising blood sugar, and a third for high cholesterol.

If, for example, you take a beta-blocker (against high blood pressure), this can usually lower blood pressure, but may increase the blood sugar level and also promote obesity. Thus, the remedy helps against one part of the syndrome, while it may aggravate another part or even several ( 7 ).

But that’s not a problem, because you also get a remedy for the high blood sugar level, e.g. metformin, the “miracle cure” of conventional medicine, which is even given to obese people purely preventively, because it is even supposed to help them lose weight ( 10 ).

Interactions when taking multiple medications

However, the problem now is that the combination of beta-blockers and metformin can lead to unnoticed hypoglycemia in diabetics, because beta-blockers increase the blood sugar-lowering effect of metformin. Unnoticed hypoglycemia, however, can be dangerous, lead to unconsciousness and death in acute cases, but can also cause dementia, stroke, blood pressure crises, cardiac arrhythmias or even sudden cardiac arrest in the long term.

Side effects of each individual medication

Metformin also alters the intestinal flora, which patients notice very quickly when they take the drug. This is because it often leads to vomiting, abdominal pain, flatulence and diarrhea – not in everyone, but in more than one in ten patients.

However, the change in the intestinal flora is partly positive, they say. After all, anyone who has a high blood sugar level (or even type 2 diabetes) generally already has a disturbed intestinal flora anyway. Metformin now increases those bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids for the intestine, which is very good, as these fatty acids are considered to be very healing for the intestinal mucosa and also promote healthy immune cells.

At the same time, however, metformin ensures the proliferation of undesirable E. coli bacteria – the reason for the aforementioned digestive problems. For this reason, it has been considered for years whether metformin should be supplemented with a probiotic that can displace the unwanted E. coli bacteria. However, no verdict has yet been reached in this regard ( 4 ).

Side effect of diabetes medication: vitamin B12 deficiency

Metformin can also lead to vitamin B12 deficiency in the long term, so this vitamin should be taken with metformin therapy. Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause the following symptoms, some of which you may recognize:

• Headaches and fatigue
• Tingling in the hands and feet
• Poor memory to the point of confusion (you think dementia is approaching)
• Anemia
• Difficulty concentrating
• Increased susceptibility to infections
• Irritability, restlessness, anxiety, depression
• Inflammation of the mucous membranes in the mouth/sore tongue

It is therefore not surprising that an evaluation of 48 studies with a total of 1.6 million diabetics showed that 30 percent of diabetics stop taking metformin due to side effects or do not take it as prescribed. Here we explain which vitamins diabetics should pay particular attention to (apart from vitamin B12).

Dietary Supplements That Help Avoid Side Effects

So you are already taking 2 medications (blood pressure and blood sugar reducers) and – if your doctor is on his toes – two preparations to keep the side effects of these drugs at bay (vitamin B12 and a probiotic). But that’s not all: your cholesterol levels also need to be lowered, which is why you are given a statin (cholesterol-lowering drug).

Statins, however, are not only known not to work at all in many patients, but also to increase blood sugar levels and thus the risk of diabetes. Just like beta-blockers, these drugs may be able to exacerbate metabolic syndrome. Other diseases can also be promoted by statins, such as Parkinson’s disease.

If you can’t avoid statins, talk to your doctor about coenzyme Q10. This dietary supplement significantly reduces the risk of another side effect of statins – muscle complaints (myopathies).

Better try holistic treatments of metabolic syndrome

So you can see that conventional medical therapy is not so effective and does not contribute to the healing of the metabolic syndrome, but at best tries to delay the onset of serious secondary diseases such as stroke and heart attack.

However, there are always more tolerable medications, e.g. in the area of antihypertensives, ACE inhibitors could be used instead of beta-blockers, which do not affect blood sugar levels. However, these drugs have other side effects, so that one always comes to the same conclusion:

It is better to proceed – together with your doctor – as described above under “How is metabolic syndrome treated holistically?”.
Of course, if you are already taking medication, do not stop taking it immediately. Over the course of your lifestyle changes, you can often tape them off slowly (in consultation with your doctor). However, depending on how long you have been taking these medications, expect several months or years before the medication can finally be discontinued completely.