Feeling tired? You may have weak adrenal glands…
Adrenal Fatigue and What You Can Do About It
by Mary Baker
Did you used to get respiratory infections every once in a while and now you get prolonged symptoms every winter? Are you having trouble getting up in the morning? Did a recent stressful event leave you feeling tired with a less accurate memory? What's keeping you dragging may be related to weak or overstressed adrenal glands or what is now being called "adrenal fatigue." Adrenal fatigue is a common and growing problem in modern culture that goes largely untreated and is mostly unrecognized by medical doctors.
The endrocrine system, of which the adrenals are a part, is an incredibly complex fluid system that basically keeps the body running. When the adrenals are overtaxed and retreat, every cell in the body responds. "What happens is that the adrenals, which are designed to be used in the fight or flight response, get overstimulated and over-exposed in modern normal life. We are addicted and happy when we're overstimulated. So instead of spending part of the day recuperating, we put the adrenals in overdrive, and in the case of adrenal fatigue, we crash,"says Toni Smith, a bodymind centering practitioner with a private practice in the Capital Region and Hudson. "It used to be that the biggest danger in daily life was black bears. Hectic lifestyles keep our adrenals constantly stimulated. "In Europe it is common to get a medical prescription to go to the spa or to a retreat where you take hot baths and sit in the sun for five days. In the U.S., we just keep going," Smith adds.
Adrenal fatigue, or hypoadrenia, is a deficiency in the functioning of the adrenal glands that results in fatigue and a number of other signs and symptoms that is usually caused by some form of stress. The body's two adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys, near the spine, and are responsible for producing hormones such as epinephrine that regulate the stress response of the body and other bodily activities. Signs or symptoms of adrenal fatigue can include but are not limited to:
o Difficulty getting up in the morning o Continuing fatigue not relieved by sleep o Craving for salt or salty foods o Lack of energy o Increased effort to do daily tasks o Decreased sex drive o Decreased ability to handle stress o Increased time to recover from illness, injury or trauma o Thoughts less focused o Memory less accurate o Decreased tolerance to stress or irritating situations
Normally functioning adrenal glands secrete minute, yet precise and balanced, amounts of steroid hormones. But because they are designed to be sensitive to changes in your inner physical and emotional environment, this balance can be interfered with. So too much physical, emotional, environmental stress can deplete your adrenals, causing a decrease in the output of adrenal hormones, particularly cortisol.
Lowered adrenal activity resulting in adrenal fatigue can range in severity from the extreme low end of hypoadrenia, known as Addison's disease (which is life threatening if untreated), to more mild forms of which the key symptom is fatigue.
The tricky part is that although fatigue is a universal symptom of low adrenal function, because it is a common complaint that occurs with many other conditions, medical doctors rarely pursue an adrenal-related diagnosis. So if you go to your doctor and start talking about weak adrenals as a possible cause of your fatigue, your doctor will likely give you a blood test to determine whether you have Addison's disease or are experiencing severe adrenal failure. If this test checks out OK he or she will often not investigate the matter further.
"Conventional medical education has taught health care providers to diagnose and treat the extremes of adrenal dysfunction, but it does not address the gray areas of hypoadrenia. The result is frustration for both the patient and the health care practitioner. Everyone will benefit from a broader understanding of the subtleties of the endocrine system, especially as it pertains to the common but misunderstood area of adrenal fatigue," says Ann Carey Tobin MD, an integrative medicine consultant in the Capital Region.
In Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome, published in 2003, James L. Wilson reported that millions of people in industrialized countries, inside and outside the United States, experience debilitating adrenal fatigue. As the condition worsens, he says, it lays the foundation for other seemingly unrelated conditions such as frequent respiratory infections, allergies, rhinitis, asthma, frequent colds and a number of other health problems such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, hypoglycemia, adult onset diabetes, auto-immune disorders and alcoholism. For instance, Wilson says, chronic and recurrent bronchitis, pneumonia and other chronic lung and bronchial diseases typically have an adrenal fatigue component.
There is a relatively new lab test that accurately measures several hormones and is useful for measuring cortisol hormones called saliva hormone testing. Saliva hormone testing measures the amount of cortisol in your saliva instead of your blood or urine. There is only one lab in New York State that is allowed to do cortisol saliva testing: Aeron Life Cyles (800-531-7900). The good news, says Wilson, is that you can recover from weak adrenals and that you, yourself, can do most of what is necessary to recover and regain your adrenal health. First and foremost are lifestyle considerations. Due to generally stressful lifestyles, adrenal fatigue usually develops gradually. As this happens, the symptoms generally precede the signs (clinical symptoms) of illness. As the problems progress, symptoms and signs accumulate to form a "syndrome" or a collection of symptoms and signs. Healing, too, occurs gradually. "How you spend your energy, how you conserve your energy, and how you create energy are extremely important," says Wilson. "Your recovery is also contingent on what you eat and drink, as well as on the thoughts you feed your mind and the belief you base your life on."
Toni Smith says the key to healing adrenal fatigue is finding recuperative time in each day. For those wishing to prevent adrenal exhaustion, finding recuperative time twice a week can help. James Wilson offers the following rules and guidelines for people recovering from adrenal fatigue. Keep in mind that some of these recommendations follow a generally Western approach to healing, and Eastern approaches such as practicing yoga and meditation are also helpful.
Things To Do
o Be in bed by 10 pm
o Sleep until 9 am whenever possible
o Look for things that make you laugh
o Eliminate things in your life that drain your energy
o Do something pleasurable every day
o Take dietary supplements regularly
o Move your body and breathe deeply
o Use your mind as a powerful healing tool
o Eat the foods your body needs: refrain from junk foods, caffeine and sugar
o Learn which foods make you feel bad
o Salt your food, salt your water
o Eat an abundance of whole foods and lots of colored vegetables
o Make lifestyle changes to regain your health
o Take 1,000 mg of vitamin C complex, with 200 mg of magnesium and pantothenic acid, at about 2 pm daily along with a small snack to help avoid 3- to-4 pm lows.
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