Adrenal Fatigue For Dummies
Overview
The easy way to take charge of your adrenal health
Despite their small size, the adrenal glands play an important role in the body, producing numerous hormones that impact our development and growth, affect our ability to deal with stress, and help to regulate kidney function. In Adrenal Fatigue For Dummies, you'll find clear self-evaluations and treatment guidelines that will empower you to take charge of your adrenal health through nutrition, vitamins, herbs, bioidentical adrenal hormone supplementation, and self-care practices.
Adrenal fatigue is in essence a "tired out" adrenal gland that is not able to support the body the way that it should. The effects can be far-reaching and affect the quality of one's daily life. It can affect the immune system, cause inflammation, decrease sex drive, and inhibit the ability to get up in the morning. But now there's hope!
- The 4-1-1 on the structure and function of the adrenal gland
- Linking inflammation and adrenal fatigue
- Connecting food allergy and adrenal issues
- How to test for adrenal fatigue
- Information on eating patterns for all-day energy and improved concentration
- Dealing with other medical conditions and adrenal fatigue
- Relaxation tips to reduce stress
Adrenal Fatigue For Dummies helps those suffering from this debilitating illness reclaim their lives by addressing the delicate balance among the adrenal glands—which can make the day-to-day difference between feeling awful and feeling good.
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About The Author
Dr. Richard Snyder, DO, is board certified in both internal medicine and nephrology, as well as a clinical professor at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.
Wendy Jo Peterson, MS, RD, is a registered dietitian with a master’s degree in nutritional sciences as well as a specialist in sports dietetics. She is the coauthor of Mediterranean Diet Cookbook For Dummies.
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adrenal fatigue for dummies
CHEAT SHEET
Treating adrenal fatigue includes improving nutrition, replacing key nutrients, supplementing with antioxidants, reducing stress, and beginning a controlled exercise program. Before you can treat the condition, though, you need to recognize the symptoms that suggest you have adrenal fatigue.Recognizing the symptoms of adrenal fatigueIt’s hard to recognize the symptoms of adrenal fatigue for what they are.
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Detoxing your way out of adrenal fatigue takes time and patience. Your body doesn’t have the reserves required to go full-throttle into detox mode, so add the following foods to your diet slowly.
Start with only one food and add in one more food per week. You need only 10 weeks — 2-1/2 months — to work all of them into your diet, heal your body, and boost your adrenal function!
Adrenal Fatigue
Two conditions associated with adrenal fatigue include restless legs syndrome and osteoporosis. These two conditions may indicate the presence of adrenal fatigue in your life.
Let’s dance: the relationship between Restless legs syndrome and adrenal fatigue
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a condition in which you experience numbness and tingling in your legs and feel like your legs want to move all the time.
At the most basic level, adrenal fatigue refers to chronically overworked and overstressed adrenal glands that can become completely exhausted over time. Picture yourself working double shifts for a month straight with little sleep and little opportunity to take a break and recover.
You're tired and worn out, right?
Adrenal Fatigue
Here are some of the big guns — herbs that can provide the adrenal glands with the boost they need when you're dealing with adrenal fatigue and especially with adrenal exhaustion. You can add these to your regimen when the symptoms of adrenal fatigue either don't abate or worsen. Many of these items also help to reduce the effects of stress.
When you go to the doctor, typically the first thing the medical technician does is obtain your vital signs, including your temperature, blood pressure, and pulse. Vital signs are a simple way to assess basic body functions. In most cases of adrenal fatigue, these signs are on the low side, but some may be high.
Adrenal Fatigue
Many people with adrenal fatigue suffer from a multitude of problems that affect how they feel, their stamina, their sex life, and their ability to fight off infections. You may feel sick, or you may feel tired. Problems can include the following:
Constant fatigue and weakness
Difficulty sleeping
Decreased libido
Susceptibility to infections
Recurrent allergies
Healthcare practitioners find that many of these symptoms occur together.
The development of adrenal fatigue has five distinct phases: adrenal surge, sustained adrenal secretion, the turning point stage, adrenal decline, and adrenal exhaustion. Each of these produces a different effect on the body.
Adrenal surge.
A stimulus causes a rise in the secretion of cortisol and other hormones such as aldosterone, epinephrine, and norepinephrine from the adrenal glands.
Adrenal Fatigue
For a tasty way to sip your nutrients, use your juicer to extract juice from one of the following combinations of ingredients. Stir the juice and store it in a glass jar. Each of these combinations should provide 18 ounces of juice, giving you three 6-ounce servings for your day. Juices are best when consumed within 24 hours of preparation.
One of the biggest causes of and contributors to adrenal fatigue is acidosis. What exactly is acidosis? Acidosis, the blood becomes too acidic, which can cause a number of serious problems over time.
Basics of pH and acidosis
The human body exists in a normal acid-base balance, and pH is the way to measure how acidic or alkaline your body is.
Adrenal insufficiency, also known as Addison's disease, is an autoimmune condition. Though the features overlap, it is different than adrenal fatigue. Autoimmune diseases like Addison's disease and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) occur when the body develops antibodies against itself.
The most common cause of Addison's disease is the production of antibodies that are directed against the adrenal glands.
Treating adrenal fatigue includes improving nutrition, replacing key nutrients, supplementing with antioxidants, reducing stress, and beginning a controlled exercise program. Before you can treat the condition, though, you need to recognize the symptoms that suggest you have adrenal fatigue.Recognizing the symptoms of adrenal fatigueIt’s hard to recognize the symptoms of adrenal fatigue for what they are.
Adrenal Fatigue
Some conditions that affect the bowel and bladder are strongly associated with adrenal fatigue. Let’s talk about two such medical states: irritable bowel syndrome and interstitial cystitis.
The relationship between the bowel and adrenal fatigue
You may have noticed that you're not digesting food well. Maybe no matter what you eat, you experience heartburn.
Adrenal Fatigue
In the advanced stages of adrenal fatigue, low blood pressure is common. You may need a prescription medication to increase your blood pressure. In cases of adrenal exhaustion, you may need to add supplementation of an adrenal steroid hormone to help keep your blood pressure in a normal range.
In some people, the blood pressure meds can raise blood pressure even at low doses; this occurs in patients who still have some degree of adrenal reserve.
Adrenal Fatigue
Low blood pressure is not uncommon in the advanced stages of adrenal fatigue. One way to address low blood sugar is to supplement with an adrenal steroid hormone. In cases of adrenal exhaustion, you may need to include medications as well as steroid hormones in order to help keep your blood pressure in a normal range.
Adrenal Fatigue
One risk factor for adrenal fatigue is acidosis, when the blood becomes too acidic. Two factors that can contribute to acidosis are kidney disease and lung disease.
Kidney disease
The kidneys and the adrenal glands play an important role in eliminating excess acid from the body. Diseased kidneys, especially in the latter stages of kidney disease, have difficulty eliminating the excess acid from the body, which leads to acidosis.
Adrenal Fatigue
Many factors go into maintaining pH balance in the body. Acidosis, when the blood is too acidic, increases your risk of developing adrenal fatigue. Some of these are dietary factors; others relate to problems with the organs themselves.
The Western diet
One contributor to acidosis is the Western or standard American diet.
Adrenal Fatigue
Intestinal dysbiosis is a general term that refers to an unhealthy small intestine due to an imbalance in gastrointestinal bacteria. This can cause adrenal fatigue. You see the loss of the integrity of the intestinal cells; the tight junctions are worn down, and gaps exist between the cells. The cells have lost the glue that keeps them working well.
Adrenal Fatigue
Diet plays an important role in managing adrenal fatigue. You need to know which foods to add to your diet and which foods to avoid. The foods listed here can acutely stress out an already fatigued adrenal gland. They may provide a short-term energy boost, but cause you to crash later in the day.
Foods high in sugar
Anything with high-fructose corn syrup
Caffeinated beverages
Energy drinks
Carbonated beverages, especially colas (even if they’re caffeine-free)
You also want to avoid any foods to which you have a sensitivity or allergy.
Before delving into adrenal fatigue, you should have a working knowledge of the structure and function of the adrenal glands. Understanding where they are and how they interact with other organs of the body is important in helping yourself, because the more you know, the better advocate you can be for your own health.
The adrenal glands are endocrine glands, which mean they secrete stuff inside your body that can affect the functioning and/or the activity level of other organs. You may remember from school that the endocrine system also includes the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, thyroid gland, and reproductive organs, namely the ovaries and testes.
Adrenal Fatigue
Adrenal fatigue can be diagnosed and treated only through a holistic approach. A holistic practitioner understands that body, mind, and spirit are interrelated and that all three need to be evaluated to achieve total wellness.
Any healthcare provider you deal with should use a holistic approach. This approach involves trying to restore balance to the body.
Adrenal Fatigue
If tests indicate that you require hormone replacement as part of your treatment for adrenal fatigue, your healthcare practitioner will likely discuss prescribing bioidentical hormones. This treatment is called bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, or BHRT. Bioidentical hormones, which are derived from plant sources, are molecularly and chemically identical to the hormones your body makes.
Adrenal Fatigue
The health of your intestine is directly connected to the development of adrenal fatigue. Your intestine contains trillions of bacteria, which form an ecological community often referred to as an intestinal microbiome. These bacteria communicate with each other. They’re also important in regulating your immune system.
Adrenal Fatigue
Exercise provides many benefits, including stress reduction. If you've been diagnosed with adrenal fatigue, you need to begin your exercise program in a controlled fashion. Start with exercises that are low-intensity and of short duration. After you see how you feel, you can increase the amount of time you exercise and then begin to increase the intensity of your workouts.
Adrenal Fatigue
Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a medical condition related to the adrenal system that's really a constellation of symptoms strongly characterized by muscle pain, fatigue, and an inability to get a decent night's sleep. The symptoms of FMS are definitely life-altering and can be debilitating, but treatment is available.
Adrenal Fatigue
Many people aren’t aware that adrenal fatigue exists or that it’s a medical problem. This lack of information is an issue not only among family and friends but also for many people in the medical community. Be candid with your healthcare provider and your family about this condition:
If your healthcare provider refuses to have an open discussion with you about your symptoms, consider working with another provider.
Adrenal Fatigue
Hormone testing can show whether you need hormone replacement as part of your treatment for adrenal fatigue. Because of the complex nature of adrenal gland physiology, too low or too high of a dose of hormones can be counterproductive. Here are a few facets of hormone replacement that you need to be aware of:
Everyone's hormonal needs are different, so the treatment needs to be personalized.
Adrenal Fatigue
You may find that you need to undergo hormone replacement therapy for sex hormones as part of your treatment for adrenal fatigue. But be cautious. Do not take random doses of hormones yourself. Hormone replacement should be done under the guidance of a qualified health professional.
How to use testosterone for adrenal fatigue
If your testosterone levels are low, your healthcare practitioner will probably suggest testosterone replacement.
Adrenal Fatigue
Nutrient deficiencies can affect multiple organ systems and possibly lead to adrenal fatigue. You need important minerals (including magnesium, calcium, and potassium), trace minerals (including zinc, chromium, and selenium), and vitamins.
It is very important to get your intestinal tract on track before supplementing nutrients.
Adrenal Fatigue
Adrenal fatigue can be caused by nutrient deficiencies, which can affect multiple organ systems. Vitamins D, E, and K are important parts of keeping your adrenal system functioning properly. But be sure to get your intestinal tract on track before supplementing nutrients so that your body can absorb them properly.
Adrenal Fatigue
Blood work can be useful in telling you that inflammation, that may cause adrenal fatigue, is present. It can be useful in identifying potential causes of that inflammation. But more often than not, more-detailed testing is needed to investigate other causes of inflammation. A significant cause of inflammation is environmental toxins.
Adrenal Fatigue
Some foods you consume can trigger an inflammatory reaction and lead to adrenal fatigue; that's how your body reacts to the food. What these foods are, however, depends on your body. Different people have different trigger foods.
The difference between food sensitivities and food allergies
A food sensitivity is an inflammatory/immune reaction your body has to the lectins in a food.
Adrenal Fatigue
Many conditions can cause and contribute to adrenal fatigue, but inflammation and infection are among the leaders. You’ll read about ways to test for these conditions. By diagnosing and treating these conditions, you're helping your adrenal glands by decreasing adrenal stress.
The basics: The ESR and the C-reactive protein
ESR stands for erythrocyte sedimentation rate.
Commonly prescribed medications, such as inhaled steroids and statin medications, are likely important in the development of adrenal fatigue. Let’s explore how steroid medications and statin medications influence adrenal fatigue.
Steroid medications’ role in adrenal fatigue
Physicians prescribe steroid medication such as prednisone to treat many conditions, from asthma and emphysema to debilitating forms of arthritis and lupus.
Adrenal Fatigue
Sleep apnea is one of the most under-recognized causes of poor sleep quality. It’s also linked to high blood pressure that’s difficult to get under control, kidney disease, and, believe it or not, adrenal stress. People with sleep apnea essentially aren’t getting the oxygen they need at night. They’re not only sleep-deprived but also oxygen-deprived.
Adrenal Fatigue
During sleep, your body repairs itself and regenerates. Lack of sleep over a period of time weakens your immune system and can affect thinking, mood, and judgment. Long-term sleep deprivation is a risk factor for high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, diabetes, and many chronic illnesses. Lack of sleep has even been shown to cause weight gain.
Adrenal Fatigue
Your body is a wonderful chemical factory, with endocrine glands making hormones that tell the body what to do. The adrenal glands are essential for other organs in the body to work well. And nothing in the body occurs in isolation.
When healthcare practitioners think about adrenal gland function in the setting of adrenal fatigue, they aren't just thinking about the adrenal glands.
Adrenal Fatigue
The stress caused by an unhealthy small intestine can lead to adrenal fatigue. Often, this is caused by an imbalance in gastrointestinal bacteria, which causes a loss of the integrity of the intestinal cells; the tight junctions are worn down, and gaps exist between the cells. The cells have lost the glue that keeps them working well.
Adrenal Fatigue
Many people — especially those experiencing adrenal fatigue and despite their best intentions and proper preparation (both physical and nutritional) — experience some soreness and muscle fatigue after their workouts. “Some” is a very gentle term; soreness may be severe. Here are two ways to work out those body kinks.
Adrenal Fatigue
The idea of resistance training to an exercise intended to alleviate adrenal fatigue is to build muscle strength rather than muscle endurance, which you get from aerobic exercise. Muscle resistance training can use free weights, exercise machines like those at a typical gym, or home machines.
Resistance training should be a component of your overall program for the following reasons:
Studies show that improving muscle strength with resistance training improves bone health.
Adrenal Fatigue
People with adrenal fatigue tolerate meditative exercise very well. Meditation-based exercises include yoga and t'ai chi (t'ai chi ch'uan). Yoga is possibly 5,000 years old, and t'ai chi is at least 900 years old. They've lasted because they do people good.
These exercises are relatively slow in pace but can still provide quite a workout.
An important aspect of treating adrenal fatigue is correcting acidosis and balancing total body pH. An alkaline-based diet, alkaline water, and a powder are all things you can use to keep your body alkaline. Be sure to speak with your healthcare practitioner before changing your diet or adding any supplements to your program.
If you're experiencing symptoms of brain fog at work, including memory problems, confusion, depression, and/or an inability to concentrate, you likely have adrenal fatigue. Your adrenal fatigue is likely at a moderate stage, but you still need to be further evaluated and take steps to prevent your symptoms from worsening.
Adrenal Fatigue
Exercise is beneficial for adrenal fatigue patients because it relieves stress, helps build endurance and strength, and can make you feel better all around. One of the most common complaints is that people don't have time to work out. They work all day and they're too tired to exercise at home. One option is to build exercise into and around your workday.
Adrenal Fatigue
Many patients with adrenal fatigue not only see more than one medical doctor but also see more than one holistic healthcare provider. These practitioners can include your medical doctor, your holistic practitioner, a nutritionist, and a practitioner dealing with the mind and the spirit.
One of the best ways to choose any healthcare practitioner is by word of mouth.
Adrenal Fatigue
While it's essential to move to alleviate adrenal fatigue, it's equally essential to fuel that movement, whether you're planning a workout or just going through your day. That goes double if you have adrenal fatigue. Here are some simple guidelines that put you in control of your food choices:
Focus on what you can eat.
Adrenal Fatigue
One important aspect of adrenal fatigue treatment is detoxification. The contaminants and heavy metals in the water supply and the chemicals and pesticides in foods are examples of toxins everyone is likely to consume on a daily basis. Most people aren't even aware of these toxins. Toxin buildup can increase stress and make you lethargic and exhausted.
Adrenal Fatigue
What you put (or don't put) in your body while at work can exacerbate any stressful situation and worsen your adrenal fatigue. The two biggest culprits at work are caffeinated beverages and sugar, but it's also important to eat all your meals and avoid alcohol.
Eat all your meals
Missing breakfast is a no-no, and of course, the best breakfast is one you make yourself at home, because it can provide you with protein, complex carbs, and fruit.
Adrenal Fatigue
Exercise can deplete the energy in a muscle quickly, so pay attention to your body. With adrenal fatigue, muscle cells’ mitochondria may not function optimally, and with some forms of exercise, that may precipitate an energy crisis.
Aerobic exercises don't cause an acute energy crisis; however, they tend to cause a cellular energy deficit over time.
Adrenal Fatigue
For all athletic activity, you always want to do a few things for safety's sake. The list includes warming up, monitoring your vital signs during your workout, and cooling down. These three practices are even more important in the setting of adrenal fatigue. In the beginning, don't even think about working out without having a way to monitor your blood pressure.
Adrenal Fatigue
For holistic care, you can choose from so many holistic practitioners, including naturopathic physicians, physicians certified in anti-aging medicine, integrative physicians, and homeopathic physicians.
There's some degree of overlap among their roles; often the choice of holistic practitioner is based on patient preference, word-of-mouth referral, and/or prior patient or family experience with a certain type of holistic practitioner.
Adrenal Fatigue
Deficiencies of B vitamins can affect your overall health and even cause adrenal fatigue. Many of the B vitamins are essential for optimal health, but a specific B vitamin, vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid), is especially important for adrenal health. Here are some of the B vitamins you need to pay attention to when you're dealing with stress and adrenal fatigue.
Adrenal Fatigue
To avoid adrenal fatigue, healthcare practitioners generally recommended that you take in at least 600 to 800 milligrams of magnesium a day. Great dietary sources of magnesium include leafy green vegetables, seeds (sunflower and sesame, for example), and nuts (such as almonds and Brazil nuts).
If you're told that your magnesium levels are low after testing (a normal range is 1.
Adrenal Fatigue
The mineral magnesium is part of the energy mechanism that keeps cells running smoothly and prevent adrenal fatigue. Magnesium is a catalyst for more than 200 chemical reactions in the human body. The energy centers in your cells, including those in the adrenal glands, need magnesium for optimal operation.
Magnesium is mainly found in your bones, so magnesium depletion can have detrimental effects on bone health.
Adrenal Fatigue
If you have adrenal fatigue, you're likely deficient in one or more minerals essential for health. Chronic inflammation, diet, and intestinal dysbiosis are common reasons for mineral depletion in adrenal fatigue.
To overcome a mineral deficiency, the first step is to change your diet. If dietary changes aren't enough, then supplementing is reasonable.
Adrenal Fatigue
Three trace minerals (zinc, chromium, and selenium) sometimes need replacement if testing shows you have low levels. When supplementing with micronutrients (in this case, microminerals), correct dosing is very important. With micronutrients, too little of a nutrient can be just as bad as too much of one.
For example, low zinc levels can cause diarrhea, decrease your appetite, and impair your immune system.
Adrenal Fatigue
The three trace minerals here — zinc, chromium, and selenium — are vital to total body and adrenal health. They're called trace minerals because you need to consume only small amounts of them. Even though only small amounts are needed, many people are deficient in them due to their diet. Replacement of these minerals is important; however, taking too much of any trace mineral can also adversely affect your health.
Adrenal Fatigue
Depending on your stage of adrenal fatigue and your presenting symptoms, managing your condition may involve measuring your blood pressure at home. With these measurements, you and your healthcare provider can get better sense of how you’re doing day-to-day. Many low-cost blood pressure monitors are available for home use; you can ask your pharmacist or healthcare practitioner for guidance in choosing one.
Adrenal Fatigue
Your healthcare provider can order two blood tests to get a sense of how acidic your blood is to monitor for adrenal fatigue. The first test is a serum (blood) bicarbonate level. The level of bicarbonate (a base) is often measured in the routine blood work that your doctor orders. It's often part of a lab chemistry panel called a CHEM-7 or a basic metabolic panel.
Adrenal Fatigue
Blood sugar level is an important value that needs to be evaluated. Changes in blood sugar levels can be a symptom of adrenal fatigue. In early stages of adrenal fatigue, you may see hyperglycemia (high blood sugar). In advanced stages of adrenal fatigue, hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) is a common occurrence.
Technically speaking, the blood sugar level is the blood glucose level.
Adrenal Fatigue
If your doctor is evaluating your adrenal health, the doc will likely order and evaluate blood and urine tests to measure your cortisol levels. (Cortisol has anti-inflammatory properties, helps regulate blood glucose levels, and helps regulate blood pressure.)
Just because a blood or urine test comes back normal doesn't mean that adrenal fatigue isn't present.
Adrenal Fatigue
Healthcare practitioners test for adrenal fatigue by focusing on hormones produced by the adrenal glands and other parts of the body. Different practitioners have different approaches to evaluating the condition. You need to be aware of the various modes of testing — including blood, urine, and salivary testing — and the advantages of each.
Adrenal Fatigue
You'll never decrease the stress on the adrenal glands if you don't bring your intestine back into balance. Here are three important techniques for normalizing/improving intestinal health:
Probiotics
It's virtually impossible to go into a store or watch television without seeing an advertisement about probiotics.
Adrenal Fatigue
If you have adrenal fatigue, it is even more important than it would otherwise be to take care of your body’s nutrition before you exercise. Here are some important things to consider when planning for a workout:
How to time meals and workouts
Ideally, you should plan your workout between breakfast and lunch or between lunch and dinner.
Adrenal Fatigue
All your cells, including the cells of your adrenal glands, need energy to do their job. Vitamins are an important part of the equation, but they aren't the whole answer. You should consider other supplements as well.
For your cells to perform optimally, your mitochondria (the power centers of the cell) need to be powered up.
Adrenal Fatigue
If you're stressed by your job, enjoying time off from work may be just what the doctor ordered for your adrenal fatigue. Reasons for job dissatisfaction are many, and they can include spending an inordinate amount of time at work, feeling alienated, dealing with hypercritical and unfriendly coworkers and bosses, and feeling a lack of ownership and motivation for the job you're paid to do.
Adrenal Fatigue
An important aspect of the treating adrenal fatigue is combating inflammation. To do so, everyone should take a strong antioxidant daily. If you eat a healthy diet, do you really need to take an antioxidant? Probably.
The food you're consuming may not be as nutritious as you think. The soil where many vegetables grow is nutrient-depleted.
Taking a timeout during the workday is something you can and should consider to relieve stress and ease your adrenal fatigue. Many of the items that can help you relax at work take little or no time at all. You just need to actively plan and be committed to taking the time.
Time management is vital not only for making you more efficient and productive at work but also for building in breaks and “me” time.
Adrenal Fatigue
To sleep longer and better to help reduce adrenal fatigue, first be aware of things you can control that may affect your sleep. To improve the quality and quantity of your sleep, try the following tips:
Meditate and exercise daily. They're great ways to reduce stress and can increase your chances of getting a good night's sleep.
Adrenal Fatigue
The best source of vitamins is food. Fruits and vegetables provide excellent antioxidant support in addition to supplying vitamins and other nutrients. However, if you have adrenal fatigue, then you need to consider vitamin supplementation.
Most people with adrenal fatigue are likely depleted of important vitamins and minerals.
Besides cortisol, the other adrenal hormones to test for are DHEA, aldosterone, estrogen, pregnenolone, and progesterone. They can be measured in the blood, but some people prefer salivary tests because they show how the hormone levels change throughout the day.
For these tests, most healthcare practitioners order a salivary hormonal profile; in addition to cortisol, they're ordering levels of DHEA-S (dehydro-epiandrosterone sulfate), estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone.
Adrenal Fatigue
One way to address adrenal fatigue is to reduce the stress in your daily life. Here are some general ways to try to reduce stress in your daily life. These tips don't take a lot of time!
Get to the root of the problem. Why are you so stressed out? Is it work? Is it family? Talk to someone — a trusted friend, a family member, and/or a therapist.
Adrenal Fatigue
If you're working with two or more practitioners as part of your team for managing adrenal fatigue, you're the MVP of your healthcare team. You should feel comfortable with the members of your team and be able to talk with them openly about any health concern that you have.
How to maintain communication in an adrenal fatigue management team
Many patients see their doctor and are reluctant to mention any supplements that they're taking or any other healthcare practitioners they're seeing.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), more commonly known as just lupus, is an autoimmune disease that can cause adrenal fatigue. It is commonly found in women in their late 30s to early 50s. This condition can affect multiple organs, including the heart, kidneys, joints, and lungs.
The cause of SLE isn't known; however, because it's an autoimmune disease, it involves the formation of auto-antibodies — antibodies that attack the person.
Lyme disease is an infection that can cause adrenal fatigue; it is a tick-borne illness that causes chronic pain and disability in some people. It's transmitted by the deer tick, and the organism responsible for the condition is the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. If you live, work, or travel near woods or a forest area, then you're at higher risk of developing Lyme disease.
Adrenal Fatigue
Some people who have adrenal fatigue present with minimal physical complaints. For them, the initial hint that adrenal fatigue is present is confusion, especially brain fog. Don't ignore the mental and emotional effects of adrenal fatigue.
Brain fog as a adrenal fatigue indicator
Brain fog is a symptom that can occur early in the course of adrenal fatigue.
Adrenal Fatigue
One of the biggest problems that someone with adrenal fatigue has is getting a good night's sleep. Here are some supplements you can take to help you rest:
Melatonin: Your body normally secretes the hormone melatonin at night as part of your sleep-wake cycle. If you have adrenal fatigue, your body likely produces less melatonin than it should at night.
Adrenal Fatigue
It’s hard to recognize the symptoms of adrenal fatigue for what they are. Many of them develop gradually, and people tend to ignore them until things get really bad. If you have more than one of the following symptoms, you may have adrenal fatigue; see your healthcare practitioner for testing.
A lower than no
Adrenal Fatigue
Work is one of the leading sources of stress in people’s daily lives, and stress is a key trigger of adrenal fatigue. The initial question is why your job is causing so much stress. Do you dislike your job? Is your boss driving you nuts? Do you like the job but hate the commute? After identifying why your work stress level is high, you can address the sources of stress and ease your adrenal fatigue.
Adrenal Fatigue
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a debilitating inflammatory arthritis that can cause adrenal fatigue and typically occurs in middle-aged individuals, but it can occur in people as young as their 20s and 30s. This deforming type of arthritis needs to be actively treated because, when full blown, it causes erosion of the joints.
Patients and healthcare providers alike often confuse other syndromes with adrenal fatigue. Although their features may overlap with adrenal fatigue (involving the production of cortisol and aldosterone), the conditions are in fact quite different.
Basics of Cushing's syndrome
Cushing's syndrome is a syndrome in which the body produces an excess amount of cortisol, just as in the early stages of adrenal fatigue.
Adrenal Fatigue
One big contributor to the development of adrenal fatigue is the nutrient-poor, processed Western diet. Your adrenal glands need certain vitamins and minerals on a daily basis for optimal health. Consider adding these supplements to your daily regimen, but be sure to consult your healthcare practitioner before you start any of them; you can work together to determine the right dosage.
Adrenal Fatigue
The adrenal glands are organs that work many wonders. In addition to regulating blood pressure, these glands work in conjunction with the kidneys to regulate blood chemistry. The adrenal glands are also vital in maintaining acid-base (pH) balance in the body.
Highs and lows: blood pressure and the adrenal glands
Blood pressure is the pressure your blood exerts on the walls of your arteries.
Adrenal Fatigue
To deal with a constant barrage of stress, your adrenal glands are producing mega amounts of hormones, especially cortisol. Your adrenal glands eventually become fatigued; they simply can't keep up with the demand that the continued stress has placed on them.
People also make unhealthy choices as they go throughout their day, increasing their stress.
Adrenal Fatigue
Adrenal fatigue and issues with sodium and salt are very closely intertwined. Edema (swelling) and craving salt are two common salt-related symptoms of adrenal fatigue.
Edemas and adrenal fatigue
If you wake up in the morning and notice swelling, especially in your legs, the swelling may be due to adrenal fatigue.
Adrenal Fatigue
Stress is a significant contributor to adrenal fatigue. What exactly is stress? It's difficult to quantify, but you know when you're under stress. One commonly used definition of stress is how you physically and/or emotionally respond to stimuli. Stressors can be external (your environment) or internal (your thoughts or emotions).
Adrenal Fatigue
Inflammation is not only strongly associated with the development of adrenal fatigue. It is also a major cause of many chronic illnesses, including heart disease and cancer. What exactly is inflammation?
Basics of a normal inflammatory response
Your body's ability to generate an inflammatory response to an acute illness or injury is beneficial to your health.
Adrenal Fatigue
The thyroid gland, which is located right below your voice box, is an important part of the adrenal system that produces the hormones thyroxine (also called T4) and triiodothyronine (T3). These hormones regulate body temperature; they're also intricately responsible for how well your cells do their jobs, including their chemical reactions and interactions with other cells.
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