Stack Fatigue: When the Protocol Was Doing Too Much

By Stephen, from Formulised.

The intention was healing.

The stack was engineered, refined, adjusted. Every capsule, powder, and input chosen with logic and care. Yet the more I added, the worse the body felt.

At first, it was subtle. A sense of restlessness after dosing. A jitter in the nervous system that didn’t match the ingredients. Then came the digestive strain. Sleep became lighter. Focus blurred. What was supposed to enhance function began to erode it.

I didn’t realise it at the time, but the protocol itself had become a stressor.

The system was overstimulated. Not because of one thing, but because of everything. The inputs were too much, too fast, too layered. A stack designed to support healing was now draining the very reserves it aimed to rebuild.

This was stack fatigue.

When the Solution Becomes the Stressor

There’s an illusion that more inputs equals more benefit. Especially in recovery. When fatigue lingers, it feels intuitive to stack energy modulators, adaptogens, mitochondrial support, B vitamins, and nootropics. The promise is progress.

But the body was already inflamed. The nervous system dysregulated. The mitochondria depleted. Adding too many compounds, even supportive ones, taxed systems that were already fragile.

Every supplement required processing. Each compound needed transport, methylation, metabolism. Even a beneficial input becomes a burden when the system lacks the reserves to handle it.

The stack wasn’t ineffective. It was inappropriate for the state the body was in.

How Stack Fatigue Shows Up

It doesn’t feel like a crash. It’s more subtle than that.

- Heightened sensitivity to previously tolerated compounds

- Increased restlessness or anxiety without a clear trigger

- Brain fog, despite mitochondrial support

- Poor sleep quality

- Digestive irregularities

- Reliance on the stack just to feel baseline

The very things meant to restore energy began to erode it. The signal was clear — the system needed less, not more.

The Physiology Behind the Overload

Every supplement interfaces with core systems. Even adaptogens require clearance via liver pathways. Methylated B vitamins increase demand on methylation capacity. Nootropics shift neurotransmitter balance. Mitochondrial cofactors interact with redox status and NAD/NADH ratios.

The body wasn’t resisting the stack. It was signalling that it could not keep up.

This included:

- Liver overload — Phase I and II detoxification were strained by constant biochemical input

- Adrenal dysregulation — Subtle stimulation from energy-promoting compounds triggered cortisol spikes

- Gut permeability — Increased reactivity and immune activation from cumulative supplements

- Excitotoxicity risk — Overdriving glutamate pathways via certain nootropics without offsetting GABA tone

Even "clean" protocols can provoke this, especially when applied to a system in low resilience.

Resetting the System

I stopped everything. A 10-day pause to let the system recalibrate. No capsules. No powders. No additional inputs outside of food, water, light, and rest.

Within 72 hours, the fog began to lift. Sleep deepened. The body exhaled.

This wasn’t a full fix. It was a reset. The beginning of reapproaching the stack from a state

Rebuilding with Precision

The return to support came slowly, intentionally. The six-step framework was never meant to be a pile-on. It was a map, not a checklist.

Step 1: Calm & Clear

Step 2: Rebuild the Gut

Step 3: Gentle Detox Support

Step 4: Replenish

Step 5: Regulate

Step 6: Stack for Resilience

Only then did layering nootropics or mitochondrial boosters make sense. The baseline had been rebuilt.

Why Protocols Must Be Adaptive

Stack fatigue revealed that protocols cannot be static. The system’s needs change as it recovers. What worked in phase 3 can backfire in phase 1. What energises later can overstimulate early on.

Healing isn’t about doing everything. It’s about doing the right things at the right time.

There is wisdom in subtraction. In space. In pausing to listen to the body rather than overriding it with logic.

Conclusion

The body is not a chemistry set. It’s a dynamic system with thresholds, sensitivities, and fluctuating capacity.

Stack fatigue wasn’t failure. It was feedback. An invitation to refine. A reminder that healing is not about the most inputs, but the most aligned ones.

Once the stack was simplified and rebuilt based on the body's real-time feedback, resilience followed.

Healing became lighter. Recovery resumed. And the body, finally, could breathe.

Written by Stephen, from Formulised.

References

Crinnion, W. J. (2010). The role of chemical exposure in chronic illness. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 16(2), 20–27.

Myhill, S., Booth, N. E., & McLaren-Howard, J. (2009). Chronic fatigue syndrome and mitochondrial dysfunction. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, 2(1), 1–16.

Naviaux, R. K. (2016). Metabolic features of the cell danger response. Mitochondrion, 30, 19–31.