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Are you one of the millions of Americans who:
These could be signs that you’re suffering from Adrenal Fatigue and either you don’t know it or you suspect it but can’t confirm it with your doctor.
The majority of adults suffer from this chronic condition at least once in their lives, and the challenge in tackling it is twofold:
But these symptoms are not a natural part of aging or leading a busy life. There is a reason behind these symptoms, there is a reason you’re not getting better even if you’re taking your supplements and exercising regularly, and there’s a reason why you can’t find the help you need.
At this time, Adrenal Fatigue has not yet been recognized by mainstream medicine, and most conventional physicians have not been taught anything about it in medical school.
This pattern has happened in the past with many chronic conditions. It sometimes takes decades for mainstream medicine to accept patients’ legitimate concerns with a yet-unrecognized condition.
A similar path happened with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome many years ago, for example, until health professionals began to take their patients’ experience more seriously and realized that such vast numbers of similar complaints must mean something.
But for the time being, most sufferers of Adrenal Fatigue or adrenal burnout will have trouble finding the validation and relief they need. Instead, they will be met with skepticism or, worse, be misdiagnosed. Most sufferers will go to their healthcare provider with different Adrenal Fatigue symptoms and get one or several tests done. The results are likely to rule out other conditions but fail to solve their primary problem.
Adrenal Fatigue is the non-Addison’s form of adrenal dysfunction, a condition where the body’s stress response cannot keep up with life’s chronic stressors. This condition leads to a syndrome or collection of symptoms that can seriously affect your quality of life.
Adrenal Fatigue is often called a sub-clinical syndrome, a condition that stays “below the surface” of clinical detection.
Unfortunately, conventional medicine does not recognize Adrenal Fatigue as a medical condition like Addison’s disease, also known as adrenal insufficiency. As such, do not be surprised if your doctor is unfamiliar with this condition.
Even though Adrenal Fatigue is not yet recognized by mainstream medicine, it doesn’t mean that it’s not real. From the decades of my own experience with sufferers, as well as the experiences of scores of other health professionals that deal with and recognize this condition, I believe it’s only a matter of time until it becomes accepted by the mainstream medical community.
Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS) is a chronic condition that manifests in many nonspecific symptoms that vary in severity and effect. It is referred to as a syndrome precisely because of the different symptoms that sufferers have in common, symptoms that frequently come together, even if, at first, they don’t seem to come from any one specific cause.
And that’s the crucial difference between seeing a health professional with experience in AFS and one that has no experience in it. The one with experience will understand that this condition’s diagnosis has to be a holistic one, considering your whole person, mind, body, and spirit. They are focused on understanding how the different symptoms tie together and the various stressors contribute to the condition’s development.
Your primary care physician will run standard blood tests, such as the ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) challenge test, which looks for extreme underproduction or overproduction of hormone levels — the top and bottom two percent of a bell curve. These tests won’t detect adrenal dysregulation that is less extreme than Addison’s Disease or Cushing’s Disease.
Addison’s Disease, also called adrenal insufficiency, is a severe endocrine condition where your adrenal glands don’t produce enough adrenal hormones, usually due to autoimmunity. Cushing’s Disease, on the other hand, is when your adrenals produce extreme and excessive amounts of adrenal hormones.
Although cortisol levels do go outside of normal ranges in AFS, usually increasing at first then dropping when the condition is more advanced, symptoms can begin to show up after a 15 percent deviation from the mean on the bell curve and this won’t be detected by the ACTH test.
Other lab tests, such as those that measure cortisol levels in the blood or saliva, can also be misleading. That’s because cortisol levels naturally fluctuate throughout the day, and they also greatly vary from person to person and situation to situation.
That’s why you need the eyes of an experienced clinician who will look at your history and the full picture of your current health to make an accurate diagnosis, and then, if needed, use lab tests as support.
Although AFS is caused by chronic stress, you can’t simply use relaxation techniques to recover from this often debilitating condition. And suppose your doctor sends you home with some antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications and tells you to manage your stress. In that case, you run the risk of eventually reaching adrenal exhaustion and maybe even becoming bedridden, with no help in sight.
That’s why understanding exactly how chronic stress affects your adrenal glands, and your body in general, is the key to understanding AFS. It will also help you approach the recovery process more holistically and intelligently. When I talk about chronic stress as the cause of AFS, I mean any stressor that your body is exposed to on a consistent basis. This includes stressors such as:
But how do these stressors lead to Adrenal Fatigue? It has to do with your body’s built-in stress-coping mechanism: The NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) Stress Response. Your NEM is composed of the following six circuits of organs and systems that work together to fight stress:
Although all six are engaged when your body is facing any of the above-listed stressors, the adrenal glands, which are part of the Hormone circuit, are usually the first responders and also the ones that bear that biggest share of the workload.
The adrenal glands produce cortisol, the main anti stress hormone of the body. When the body is stressed, cortisol is released. However, cortisol is only meant to be released as a short term solution. It is not meant to deal with chronic stress. When the body continually undergoes stress for an extended period of time. The adrenal glands can start to fatigue and the cortisol production can start to falter. This can lead to a variety of different symptoms.
Other than a general feeling of fatigue, lack of energy, and lethargy, which are the hallmarks of this condition, the following is a list of the different symptoms you can experience with AFS. These range in severity depending on how advanced your condition is:
To find out more about each symptom, take Dr. Lam’s 3-minute Adrenal Fatigue test here to determine if you have Adrenal Fatigue.
Most people will not have all of these symptoms, but if you find yourself with many of them, you likely have AFS. And even though these symptoms do not automatically mean you have the condition instead of something else, an experienced health professional will use them, along with your medical history and current situation, to make a diagnosis and come up with a plan of care.
Although how you manage Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS) will vary depending on the condition and needs of each individual, some fundamentals should be part of any AFS recovery protocol:
Unless you reduce or remove the stressors that have caused AFS in the first place, the stress will keep causing problems.
Suppose the stressors are physical in nature, such as suffering from recurrent infections or chronic conditions. In that case, this will require the help of a clinician experienced in such issues who can help you recover from them without damaging your health in the process.
Suppose the stressors are situational, such as marital or financial pressures. In that case, you will need to find ways to reduce the stress of those situations, such as utilizing the resources and support systems available in your community. If the stressors are psychological, such as suffering from depression or anger issues, it may be time to get therapy or join a group support program.
Sometimes removing stressors is impossible right now, in which case, the best thing you can do for your body is to work on developing techniques that improve your ability to cope with stress. Using relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing, meditation, journaling, visualization, and yoga, can also be added to the above to help you cope with and reduce your life stress.
The cornerstone of AFS recovery is the diet, and it’s not just about what you eat. It’s also about what you eliminate from your diet and the timing of your meals.
The first step in lessening the burden on your adrenal glands is to lessen inflammation in the gut, and that will happen naturally as you get rid of inflammatory foods and drinks, such as gluten, dairy, sugar, deep-fried foods, refined carbohydrates, alcohol, sodas, and any food or drink with chemical additives like artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners, and artificial colors.
Next, you’ll want your diet to be composed of:
It’s also important to eat throughout the day with AFS. Although intermittent fasting is very popular these days, with a condition like AFS, your energy and nutrition stores are depleted, so you need to make sure you replenish them consistently. You should also be eating something every three or four hours to maintain stable blood sugar levels.
Don’t skip breakfast. Try to have a healthy, protein-rich breakfast as soon after waking up as you can. Assuming you wake at about 9 a.m., eat breakfast no later than 10 a.m. If you eat a very early breakfast, like at 6 or 7 a.m., then you should have a snack around 10 a.m. Lunch is best between 11 and 11:30 a.m., then have another snack between 2 to 3 p.m. to keep your energy levels going during the afternoon slump. Dinner between 5 and 6 p.m. is ideal, and, like most other meals, should be low on the glycemic index. You can have a light snack of soaked nuts or seeds before bed to ensure your blood sugar levels don’t drop while you’re sleeping.
Recovering from any chronic condition requires a lot of rest and sleep, and this is doubly so if you’re recovering from AFS because of the lack of energy involved. Some tips to get good quality sleep are:
You should also allow yourself to rest during the day if you feel the need to.
Depending on how advanced your AFS is, it can be best to do either very mild exercises or none at all at first. If you’re bedridden, then it’s best to avoid exercise until you have more energy. If your Adrenal Fatigue is advanced but you’re not bedridden, very gentle adrenal breathing and adrenal yoga exercises may help you feel better. Once your adrenals are stronger, you can increase your physical activity’s length or intensity, perhaps taking walks in nature or doing more rigorous yoga forms.
Supplements can help fill in any nutritional gaps in your diet or give you a therapeutic boost when needed. In AFS recovery, different types of vitamins, minerals, nutrients, herbs, glandulars, hormones, and steroids can be given as supplements, depending on your condition and needs.
Some of the most commonly used supplements in AFS recovery include vitamin C, vitamin B5, glutathione, vitamin E, vitamin D, adrenal glandulars, and adaptogenic herbs such as ashwagandha and rhodiola. Other nutrients you can consider are collagen types I and III, DHEA, and CoQ.
Vitamins and minerals are the least risky supplements, but they can still lead to paradoxical reactions if your body is very fragile or if the combination taken is not right for you. That’s why even something like vitamin C should be taken under supervision.
Hormones and prohormones such as pregnenolone, estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone can also be considered, though they can pose a risk of masking the problem rather than actually allowing your body to balance its hormone production naturally, and so should only be used if the benefits outweigh the risks.
Less commonly used are steroids, such as hydrocortisone, which can give you a big push at first but can then leave you dependent. Your recovery would then stand on the crutches of these kinds of supplements and may not stand on its own if you stop taking them. In some cases, it may be a good idea, but only if under the guidance of an experienced professional who has a long-term plan in mind for you.
Many AFS sufferers complain about a general feeling of weakness, a reduced ability to function well or to enjoy their lives, and the sensation that they just can’t reach true wellbeing no matter what they do. The symptoms can be many, some may be severe, and because they can be so varied, many sufferers are confused and feel hopelessly unable to control their own bodies.
This is why getting the right kind of support from someone who has had professional and even personal experience with the condition can make the difference between prolonged suffering and really thriving again. It will take time, but a natural and holistic approach can empower you to take your health back into your own hands and better equip you to handle the lows as you look forward to overall improvement.
It is important to note, Adrenal Fatigue is not adrenal insufficiency. But, it’s good to understand some of the causes of primary and secondary adrenal insufficiency so you can distinguish between this and AFS.
Primary adrenal insufficiency occurs when the adrenal cortex is damaged, and that usually happens due to an autoimmune attack. Also, primary adrenal insufficiency can be caused by cancer of the adrenal glands, severe infection in the adrenal glands, tuberculosis, or bleeding into the adrenal glands.
Secondary adrenal insufficiency occurs when the pituitary gland doesn’t produce enough ACTH to stimulate the adrenals into producing enough adrenal hormones. This usually happens when something affects the pituitary gland itself, such as a tumor, surgery, or inflammation, rather than the adrenal glands. Taking corticosteroids to help with another condition can also lead to secondary adrenal insufficiency.
This, as noted above, is distinct from what happens when chronic stress causes the body to produce too much or too little adrenal hormones due to overwork as in Adrenal Fatigue.
The stressors that can lead to Adrenal Fatigue include:
Anyone can suffer from Adrenal Fatigue at some point. It is often triggered by an acute illness or stressful situation, like a life crisis, surgery, stressful demand of a job, or relationship problems. Adrenal fatigue can affect anybody, from teenagers to grandmothers. Most commonly, it affects those 30 and above. Women are more prone to get Adrenal Fatigue than men. This condition can be made worse by an unhealthy lifestyle, such as poor diet, substance abuse, inadequate sleep, or chronic illness, just to name a few.
You may be suffering from Adrenal Fatigue if you regularly experience one or more of the following symptoms:
To find out more about each symptom, take Dr. Lam’s 3-minute Adrenal Fatigue test here to determine if you have Adrenal Fatigue.
To find out more about each symptom, take Dr. Lam’s 3-minute Adrenal Fatigue test here to determine if you have Adrenal Fatigue.
In Adrenal Fatigue, the body can often exhibit multiple paradoxical reactions that one does not normally expect. These are more frequent when the condition is advanced. These include:
One can have any combination of the above. The exact reason for each of these symptoms is not fully known. Collectively, they point to an adrenal that has lost its ability to maintain the fine control necessary of a stable internal homeostasis environment. Self-directed recovery programs usually fail in such cases because normal healing tools do not apply. It is best to consult a professional for help if you have many paradoxical reactions.
To find out more about each symptom, take Dr. Lam’s 3-minute Adrenal Fatigue test here to determine if you have Adrenal Fatigue.
