Hey there, Well I think I went into above. The process generally goes that you are in a state of stress which could be any combination of emotional and physical, just physical, just emotional, etc.. and your cortisol becomes elevated. During this stage you probably feel pretty good and are owning workouts, but might have fleeting anxiety bc of the high levels of cortisol. If the elevated cortisol goes on for long enough it essentially bottoms out and your body can no longer produce enough cortisol to keep up with the demands of regular life, let alone athletic training. Thats when you get digestive problems, no sex drive, anxiety, fatigue, inability to recover, etc. Your cortisol is essential to mediate the stress response, when it becomes “broken,” it drops and you can no longer handle stress. I highly suggest getting the 24 hr adrenal saliva test. Start there and report back.