Adrenal Fatigue Part 2

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Adrenal Fatigue:

The 21st Century Stress Syndrome

 

Adrenal fatigue shows up in a variety of ways

 

The rarest and most extreme form is called Addison's disease, named for Sir

Thomas Addison, who first described it in 1855. It is life threatening if

untreated and can result in permanent damage to the adrenal glands.

Addison's disease affects four out of 100,000 people. About 70% of all cases

are the result of auto-immune disease, while the other 30% results from a

variety of causes, including severe stress.

 

The more common form of adrenal fatigue has been called by a number of names

including non-Addison's hypadrenia, sub-clinical hypodrenia, neurasthenia,

adrenal neurasthenia and adrenal apathy. " It is not a readily identifiable

entity like measles or a growth on the end of your finger, " says Dr. Wilson.

" People with adrenal fatigue often look and act relatively normal. They many

not have any obvious signs of physical illness, yet they are not well and

live with a general sense of unwellness or 'gray' feelings. " (Adrenal

Fatigue, pg. 8)

 

How do you know if you have adrenal fatigue?

 

Anyone, from birth to old age and from any race or culture, can suffer from

adrenal fatigue. People vary greatly in their ability to respond to and

withstand stress. But if you've suffered from a serious or repeated injury,

illness, infectious disease, allergies, inadequate nutrition, intense

social, emotional or physical pressures, or are exposed to a toxic

environment you probably have adrenal fatigue.

 

Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome includes a six-page,

self-test questionnaire, the most important tool in the book to determine if

you have adrenal fatigue, and if so, how severe.

 

On the following page, you will find a sample of questions from the

questionaire.

 

" The questionnaire alone is worth the price of the book. Anybody under

stress needs to read this awesome book. It will give you your life back. "

 

-Marie Wagner, book reviewer

 

You can make a full recovery from adrenal fatigue.

 

Don't worry! (Worry only contributes to more stress!) You can make a full

recovery from adrenal fatigue and you can start on the path today! All you

have to do is support your adrenal glands nutritionally and make some

changes in your lifestyle. Here's how:

 

How well you live, depends largely on how well your adrenal glands function

 

First of all, in order for the adrenals to work efficiently, you have to

support them nutritionally. And the good news about adrenal fatigue is that

you can do most of what is necessary to recover and regain your adrenal

health yourself. There are no magic pills for adrenal fatigue but there are

key lifestyle changes and nutritional supplements that will greatly

facilitate your recovery.

 

How can I keep my adrenal glands healthy?

 

The guidelines are very similar to the overall principles of good health,

and they're all laid out in detail in Dr. Wilson's book. A moderate

lifestyle with high-quality food, regular exercise and plenty of rest,

combined with a healthy mental attitude will go a long way towards keeping

your adrenal glands strong and resilient. However, because modern life is so

stressful, certain nutritional supplements are also important to both

maintaining healthy adrenal glands and helping depleted adrenal glands

recover.

 

Instead of taking lots of different individual supplements, it makes more

sense to simply take a nutritional supplement designed specifically for the

adrenals that combines all the necessary nutrients. Adrenal Defense and

Adrenal Boost contain the nutrients you need to allow your body to maintain

healthy adrenal glands and cope with stress more effectively:

 

Eating well, eating on time

 

When your adrenal glands are fatigued, cortisol levels drop lower than

normal. This makes it more difficult for your body to maintain normal blood

sugar levels. As a result, people with adrenal fatigue tend to also have low

blood sugar. If you have adrenal fatigue, when you eat is almost as

important as what you eat. Low blood sugar is in itself a stressful

situation that further drains your adrenals. Therefore, avoid letting your

blood sugar levels drop too low by eating natural, high-quality food at

frequent, regular intervals. This will make a difference to your adrenal

health as well as to your energy level. (See " Foods that feed your adrenals "

for more diet tips.)

 

The best thing is, if you follow the advice in Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st

Century Stress Syndrome, you'll begin to see the difference almost

immediately! Your overall health will improve and you'll have more energy to

accomplish your goals . without the help of stimulants or caffeine, (which

will only worsen the condition over the long run).

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

What causes adrenal fatigue?

 

There are multitudes of individual causes of adrenal fatigue but they

usually stem from one of four common sources that overwhelm the body.

1) Disease states such as severe or recurrent pneumonia, bronchitis or flu,

cancer, AIDS, auto-immune and other illnesses.

2) Physical stress such as surgery, poor nutrition, addiction, injury,

exhaustion, etc.

 

3) Emotional stress, usually arising from relationship, work or

psychological origins.

 

4) Continual and/or severe environmental stress from toxic chemicals and

pollutants in the air, water, clothing or food.

 

If adrenal fatigue is so common, why doesn't my doctor know anything about

it?

 

Most medical doctors are not aware of adrenal fatigue or the syndrome.

Adrenal fatigue was first diagnosed over 100 years ago and has been

successfully treated for decades. However, for various reasons that largely

have to do with the close association between medicine and the

pharmaceutical industry, the medical community has ignored the existence of

adrenal fatigue syndrome over the past 40 years.

 

Most doctors only recognize Addison's disease, which is the most extreme end

of low adrenal function. Because of our stressful lifestyles, adrenal

fatigue typically develops gradually. Usually the symptoms (what we sense

and feel in our body) usually precede the signs (visible changes, and

laboratory or clinical test findings). As the problems progress, these

symptoms and signs accumulate to form a syndrome, which is a collection of

signs and symptoms attributable to a known medical condition. Unfortunately,

medicine does not often recognize a condition until it has progressed to a

full-blown syndrome.

 

Are there laboratory tests that

detect adrenal fatigue?

 

Yes. The most accurate and valuable test for detecting adrenal fatigue is a

saliva adrenal hormone test. This is a simple and relatively inexpensive

test and has been unavailable until recently. There are other lab tests but

they need special interpretation by physicians trained to recognize and

treat adrenal fatigue.

 

Many doctors who are aware of adrenal fatigue syndrome use some form of

questionnaire to help make their diagnosis.

 

Can adrenal fatigue become chronic?

 

Yes, in some people the adrenal glands do not return to normal levels of

function without help, either because the stress was too great or too

prolonged, or because their general health is poor. However, when adrenal

fatigue becomes chronic it is almost always because of factors that can be

changed.

 

Can children suffer from adrenal fatigue?

 

Yes, especially children born to parents suffering from adrenal fatigue

themselves. These children are often more sickly, have less ability to

handle stressful situations, and take longer to recover from illnesses.

 

Is adrenal fatigue common

in someone with cancer that is going through chemotherapy?

 

Yes, the extreme fatigue of this and any other chronic illness is often the

result of decreased adrenal function. Chronic illness and toxic treatments

like chemotherapy are both large stressors for the body and the adrenals are

intimately involved in trying to balance these stresses.

 

Does adrenal fatigue affect

the thyroid gland?

 

Yes. Approximately 80% of the people suffering from adrenal fatigue also

suffer some form of decreased thyroid function. Often people who are shown

to be low thyroid and are unresponsive to thyroid therapy are suffering from

adrenal fatigue as well. For these people to get well, the adrenals must be

supported in addition to the thyroid.

 

Am I more prone to infections

if I have adrenal fatigue?

 

Yes. Adrenal fatigue often goes hand in hand with decreased immune function,

which makes someone more prone to illnesses. There is a definite association

between adrenal fatigue and respiratory infections, such as bronchitis and

pneumonia.

 

How often can I have a bout of

adrenal fatigue?

 

It varies with the person. Some people have only one episode of adrenal

fatigue during their lifetime, some have several, and others experience

chronic adrenal fatigue from which they never fully recover.

 

Can adrenal fatigue affect my sex life?

 

Yes. A common complaint from people suffering from adrenal fatigue is

decreased sex drive. This is because some of the sex hormones are

manufactured in the adrenal glands, as well as in the sex organs themselves.

Low adrenal function can lead to low performance or low desire. Both usually

return to normal as the adrenals recover.

 

Is adrenal fatigue related to fibromyalgia or clinical depression?

 

Yes, adrenal fatigue can be related to both. Most people who suffer from

fibromyalgia have a form of adrenal fatigue. Sometimes the adrenal fatigue

comes before the fibromyalgia. A mild depression is also a chief sign of

adrenal fatigue and although there are other conditions that cause clinical

depression, if clinical depression is present, a saliva test for adrenal

hormones will determine whether the adrenals are involved.

 

Is adrenal fatigue related to chronic fatigue syndrome?

 

Yes, adrenal fatigue is a common, but usually unrecognized, component of

chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The most likely connection between them is

that the infectious agent(s) that lead to the development of CFS also set up

conditions that foster adrenal fatigue. The direct effects of a smoldering

pathogen in the body as well as the systematic stress the infection creates

put the adrenals on overload. With new diagnostic procedures available for

detecting the specific infectious agent(s) responsible, there have been

encouraging results using a combination treatment that eliminates the

specific pathogen(s) while strengthening the adrenals.

 

Does diet have anything to do with

adrenal fatigue?

 

Yes, definitely. Diet has a lot to do with adrenal fatigue, both in its

cause and in its recovery. The phrase " garbage in, garbage out " aptly

describes the relationship between what we eat and adrenal fatigue. If we

eat garbage, our bodies eventually become trashed and one of the common

results is adrenal fatigue.

 

Does adrenal fatigue affect a woman's menstrual cycles?

 

Yes, adrenal fatigue can affect menstrual cycles. PMS, altered menstrual

flow and difficult menopause can definitely be related to adrenal fatigue.