Unless it grew in your backyard, who knows how much Vit. C is actually in that food source?

How do you know how much vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is in your vitamin C supplement? The synthetic vitamin C commonly sold on the market is EXTREMELY unstable. Back in high school chemistry we took vitamin C crystals and exposed samples to light, heat and moisture. In all cases the vitamin C was COMPLETELY destroyed by the time we tested for it 40 minutes later.  You have no idea what conditions the vitamin C you are taking was exposed to. Was it subjected to heat during tableting? Was it exposed to light during the manufacturing or bottling? Was it shipped in the heat or did it sit on the dock in the sun waiting to be loaded for shipment? How long has it sat in a warehouse or on the store shelf? So unless you have a lab or are using some other test to check for vitamin C content then you don't have a clue if there is any vitamin C activity at all left in your supplements.

In addition you are overlooking the facts that the vitamin C found in plants contain synergistic flavonoids and generally are associated with other antioxidants that protect the vitamin C that therefore make this C more stable. Synthetic vitamin C does not have these properties unless further altered. Natural sources also tend to be stronger than synthetic vitamin C. For example the vitamin C from amla was found to be 12 times stronger than synthetic vitamin C. This is actually true of many natural vitamins compared to their synthetic counterparts.

This is why I don't like synthetic vitamins very much. Most are poorly absorbed, poorly utilized, unstable, and often in amounts way higher than the body can utilize, which is why they get eliminated in the urine. There are very few substances the body requires in large amounts. Basically water and oxygen. Other than that the body requires most substances in small amounts. But mainstream medicine has so many people brainwashed, including many in the alternative field, that we need to have extremely high doses to be healthy or to have an effect. This simply is not true!!! That is like saying if a little epinephrine is good then a bigger dose must be better. In reality that bigger dose is likely to kill you. This is one of the reasons that adverse side effects are so much more common in mainstream medicine. They also believe in the "shotgun approach", which just leads to other imbalances in the body. The body needs zinc, and it is important for so many functions in the body. So should we megadose? No, this will cause copper deficiencies. We need calcium so maybe we should megadose on it instead? Of course this can lead to muscle cramping, high blood pressure, constipation, spasms,......... Maybe we should megadose on vitamin A since this is so important to the eyes and mucous membranes. Ah, but wait. High doses can lead to bone loss and liver damage. Vitamins, including vitamin C, are not harmless by any means especially in high doses. This is why I said earlier that the megadosing of vitamin C just puts more stress on an already taxed system. No wonder these people are still battling their adrenal dysfunction 5 to 7 years later.

>>> Adrenal fatigue is any combination of long-standing stress hormone (catecholamine) irregularity coming out of the glands...too high in the a.m., too low in the p.m., none in the a.m., none in the p.m., whatever...any combo you can think of, they're all out there.

The adrenals do a lot more than simply release an anti-stress hormone. This is why adrenal fatigue has so many adverse effects such as allergies/asthma, fatigue, hormone imbalances, water retention, etc. Many of these have nothing to do with an anti-stress hormone.

"By the way I also recommend adaptogens in conjunction with the amla and B pollen as well as avoiding stimulants, glandulars, steroids and minimizing stress. I have seen this work so many times for adrenal dysfunction."

>>> You've seen this work long-term, for someone who has been dealing with AF for a long time, like say, four or five years?

Yes, and I have seen people go off their asthma inhalers after a few weeks and stay off of them and fix other problems of adrenal dysfunction.

Adaptogens *seem* to be just a "quick fix" that cease working after a short period of time.

I don't know where you are getting your information, but neither of these are really true. Although some people will develop sensitivities to some adaptogens. But they can use other adaptogens along with the other recommendations to build up the adrenals so those sensitivities go away completely as long as they are not crashing their adrenals still with energy drinks, steroids, etc.

But to think that the adaptogens are going to do their job without addressing the cause of the dysfunction in the first place is ludicrous. This is like the alcoholic that thinks they are going to cure their cirrhosis with a liver transplant but they can still go on drinking. Again the cause needs to be addressed. If the supplements and adaptogens fail because people still think they can drink all the caffeine they want, smoke, etc. they cannot claim the treatment failed. It is they that failed.

You said above that the system is already taxed, so what two (or maybe more) decompensated systems are being adapted to each other?  Everyone on this site literally rails against band-aids, but adaptogens seem like the biggest band-aids out there.

Adaptogens are not band-aids by any means.  Adrenal dysfunction means the adrenals are not functioning properly. The adaptogens help to build up the adrenals and get them functioning properly again. They are not going out and addressing the side effects of the adrenal dysfunction directly, which would make them a band-aid.

Let me give you an example of a band-aid so you understand the difference. When a person has an autoimmune disorder the doctors love to prescribe Prednisone. Part of this is to eliminate the inflammation. The other reason is to suppress the immune system to the point that you cannot mount an immune response. With these effects they cover up the side effects of the autoimmunity, but they do NOTHING to treat the base cause of the autoimmunity which are pathogens and adrenal dysfunction. Therefore the high dose Prednisone, unlike adaptogens, is a band-aid.