Adrenal Fatigue: Tired All The Time?
“I’m in bed and I can’t get up.”
If this sounds like you, then read further.
- Are you experiencing stress related adrenal fatigue?
- Are you tired for no reason?
- Having trouble getting up in the morning?
- Need coffee, colas, energy drinks, sodas, salty or sweet snacks to keep going?
- Feeling run down and stressed?
If you answered “yes” to these questions, then you may be experiencing adrenal fatigue.
Adrenal fatigue occurs when adrenal gland function becomes less than optimal—usually as a result of stress. An estimated 80% of people experience adrenal fatigue and the physical symptoms of stress at some point in their lives, yet it is frequently overlooked and misunderstood by the medical community. It is not the same as Addison’s disease.
In 1998, Dr. James L. Wilson coined the term “adrenal fatigue” to identify a specific kind of chronic tiredness that many people experience. It can affect anyone who undergoes frequent, persistent or severe mental, emotional or physical stress.
Adrenal function can also be an important factor in health issues ranging from allergies to obesity. Since the major job of the adrenal glands is to respond to perceived threats (stress), when it is assaulted with inordinate amounts of stress over a long period of time, it begins to secrete stress hormones, causing suppression of the immune system and a slowing down of metabolism making you more vulnerable to allergic reactions and weight gain.
What is Adrenal Fatigue?
The adrenal glands are comprised of two parts–the cortex and medulla–that produce hormones (chemicals messengers that regulate body functions). The medulla, or inner part of the adrenal glands, produces the hormones norepinephrine and epinephrine, which regulate the “fight or flight” response in the body, the body’s reaction to stressful events. The cortex, the outer portion of the adrenal glands, produces several hormones that affect blood pressure, blood sugar levels, water balance, growth, as well as some sexual characteristics.
With each increment of reduction in adrenal function, every organ and system in your body is more profoundly affected as the functions of growth, metabolism, regulating blood pressure, blood sugar, kidney function and hormone production are compromised.
Changes occur in your carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism, fluid and electrolyte balance, heart and cardiovascular system and even sex drive. Many other alterations take place at the biochemical and cellular levels in response to and to compensate for the decrease in adrenal hormones that occurs with adrenal fatigue. Your body does its best to make up for under-functioning adrenal glands, but it does so at a price.
This syndrome has been known by many other names throughout the past century, such as non-Addison’s hypoadrenia, sub-clinical hypoadrenia, neurasthenia, adrenal neurasthenia, adrenal apathy and adrenal fatigue. Although it affects millions of people in the U.S. and around the world, conventional medicine does not yet recognize it as a distinct syndrome.
What Causes Adrenal Fatigue?
Adrenal fatigue is produced when your adrenal glands cannot adequately meet the demands of stress. The adrenal glands mobilize your body’s responses to every kind of stress (whether it’s physical, emotional, or psychological) through hormones that regulate energy production and storage, immune function, heart rate, muscle tone and other processes that enable you to cope with the stress.
Whether you have an emotional crisis such as the death of a loved one, a physical crisis such as major surgery, or any type of severe repeated or constant stress in your life, your adrenals have to respond to the stress and maintain homeostasis. If their response is inadequate, you are likely to experience some degree of adrenal fatigue.
During adrenal fatigue your adrenal glands function, but not well enough to maintain optimal homeostasis because their output of regulatory adrenal hormones has been diminished – usually by over-stimulation. Over-stimulation of your adrenals can be caused either by a very intense single stress, or by chronic or repeated stresses that have a cumulative effect.
Who Is Susceptible To Adrenal Fatigue?
Anyone can experience adrenal fatigue at some time in his or her life. An illness, a life crisis, or a continuing difficult situation can drain the adrenal resources of even the healthiest person. However, there are factors that can make you more susceptible to adrenal fatigue. These include:
- Certain lifestyles (poor diet, substance abuse, too little sleep and rest or too many pressures)
- Chronic illness or repeated infections such as bronchitis or pneumonia
- Prolonged situations that you feel trapped or helpless in (bad relationships, stressful jobs, poverty, imprisonment)
- Maternal adrenal fatigue during gestation
How Common Is Adrenal Fatigue?
Although there are no recent statistics available, Dr. John Tinterra, a medical doctor who specialized in low adrenal function, said in 1969 that he estimated that approximately 16% of the public could be classified as severe, but that if all indications of low cortisol were included, then the percentage would be more like 66%. This was before the extreme stress of 21st century living, 9/11, and the severe economic recession we are experiencing.
How Can I Tell If My Adrenals Are Fatigued?
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Additional adrenal fatigue symptoms include: mild exercise is a stress, poor digestion, fungal infections, hair loss, premature aging, hormone imbalances, excessive fear and panic attacks. If you have 3 or more of these symptoms, then you might have adrenal fatigue.
You may be experiencing adrenal fatigue if you regularly notice one or more of the following:
- You feel tired for no reason.
- You have trouble getting up in the morning, even when you go to bed at a reasonable hour.
- You are feeling rundown or overwhelmed.
- You have difficulty bouncing back from stress or illness.
- You crave salty and sweet snacks.
- You feel more awake, alert and energetic after 6PM than you do all day.
Simply put, adrenal fatigue occurs when a person is unable to continue with their customary level of activity while exercising, at home or the office. As the name adrenal fatigue suggests, its paramount symptom is fatigue that is not relieved by sleep but it is not a readily identifiable entity like measles or a growth on the end of your finger. You may look and act relatively normal with adrenal fatigue and may not have any obvious signs of physical illness, yet you live with a general sense of unwellness, tiredness or “gray” feelings.
This is marked by a continual deterioration of everyday functioning. Depression and decreased performance are hallmarks of adrenal fatigue. In fact, many symptoms of “overtraining syndrome” are similar to that of adrenal fatigue.
Adrenal fatigue can wreak havoc with your life. In the more serious cases, the activity of the adrenal glands is so diminished that you may have difficulty getting out of bed for more than a few hours per day. People experiencing adrenal fatigue often have to use coffee, colas and other stimulants to get going in the morning and to prop themselves up during the day.
Can People Experiencing Adrenal Fatigue Feel Their Best Again?
Yes, with proper care, most people experiencing adrenal fatigue can expect to feel good again. Once adrenal fatigue is suspected, a number of effective treatments are available. The type and duration of treatment will vary from patient to patient, as each person’s clinical symptoms and situation will differ. For the most part, however, adrenal fatigue is typically treated using a combination of nutraceuticals (combination or specific nutrients), herbal medicines and replacement hormones.
Lifestyle adjustments may be initiated, again depending on the individual. In highly active athletes, sometimes a reduction in training for a period of time may be part of the treatment, but in sedentary people light exercise may be part of the prescription.
If you are suffering from adrenal fatigue, what can you do? Here are a few tips that can help.
Avoid Stimulants
As much as you may want them, stimulants are the equivalent of giving too much gas and “flooding the engine” in a car. It puts further stress on the adrenals to work harder and produce more energy and ends up further depleting the adrenal glands. Things to avoid include:
- Caffeine
- Ephedra
- Guarana
- Kola nut
- Prescription stimulants
Balance Your Blood Sugar With Your Diet
To minimize stress on the adrenal system and ensure maximum energy, you should consider a low-glycemic (low-sugar) diet, consisting of sufficient protein and fat, low-glycemic carbohydrates, eaten in smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day. Sugar and simple carbohydrates put stress on the adrenal glands due by rapidly shifting blood sugar levels. By switching to vegetables, fruits and proteins, and high fiber carbohydrates, blood sugar remains more stable, providing less strain on the adrenal glands.
Use Adaptogenic Herbs for Energy
From an herbal standpoint, I recommend Siberian ginseng, as opposed to regular ginseng. I also suggest using astragalus, which is good for immune support. Both are key tonics for the adrenal and endocrine systems.
Herbal Teas and Mate — NOT Coffee
I also recommend relaxing herbal tea tonics, including chamomile and melissa, which is also known as lemon balm. An easy way for to begin with relaxing tea is to get something like “Sleepytime Tea” by Celestial Seasonings.
I also recommends mate, pronounced “mah-tay,” an herbal tea native to South America. Mate is considered far more nutritious than black tea or coffee. Though it also has some caffeine, its effects are energizing, rather than making people jittery. On the scale of bad to good, coffee should be your last choice followed by black tea, then green tea, with mate being the best option.
Other Supplements
Basic Multivitamin/ B Complex
You will want to take a strong balanced formula that provides decent amounts of key factors for adrenal and metabolic health. One formula I personally recommend is Jacob Teitelbaum’s “Daily Energy Enfusion,” which replaces 20 different pills with one powder that you can mix into a drink, plus a B vitamin capsule.
Adrenal Glandulars
Desiccated adrenal gland can be helpful to some people in supporting the gland and replacing some missing adrenal hormones. Be sure to get a reputable brand from a reputable supplier to ensure quality, potency and safety.
Pregnenolone or DHEA
This is by no means a comprehensive list of supplements or solutions. Your best option is to work with a practitioner to diagnose your adrenal fatigue and to develop a customized treatment program that will help resolve this condition.
My company, Matrix Transformation, specializes in offering specific solutions for chronic symptoms. The main objectives of Matrix Transformation are to provide the information, education and tools necessary to identify and eliminate the cause of chronic symptoms. Our goal is to turn symptoms into solutions.
We specialize in solving unsolvable problems relating to the issues involving stress, fatigue, lack of energy, indigestion, hormonal imbalances, insomnia, weight loss and depression, as well as improving overall health in relation to diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, acid reflux, ADD, ADHD and overall performance. We also address matters relating to diet, exercise, supplements, stress management, and chronic pain.
Should you have any questions please feel free to contact us at www.matrixtransformation.com.
Caffeine is a boost with a big price! It may be used as a “pick me up” but it induces stress. Which foods rich in antioxidants and nutrients have greater benefit to you?
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