While modern Western medicine doesn’t recognize Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome (AFS) as a genuine medical condition, many people suffer from the subclinical symptoms of this condition. However, conventional medicine does recognize adrenal insufficiency symptoms as indicators of Addison’s disease. As a result, some people with advanced AFS and subclinical symptoms can be told they have adrenal insufficiency, preventing them from getting the appropriate care.
This is why, if you may have either of these conditions, it's important to understand the differences between adrenal insufficiency symptoms and those of AFS.
Adrenal insufficiency comes about when your adrenal glands don’t produce sufficient quantities of cortisol and other hormones. These hormones carry out essential bodily functions. In adrenal insufficiency, the outer cortex of the adrenals does not produce enough cortisol.
While conventional medicine believes AFS does not exist, the same result occurs in advanced AFS when the adrenals are so fatigued due to chronic stress and its demands on them that they no longer produce sufficient cortisol. The outer adrenal cortex does not produce enough cortisol.
True adrenal insufficiency occurs rarely. However, the incidence of AFS appears to have increased over the years due to the prevalence of chronic stress.
Three types of adrenal insufficiency have been identified.
Adrenal insufficiency symptoms can vary from person to person. You can also experience mild symptoms when under stress, or with AFS.
In addition, these symptoms can begin mild and increase in intensity. Once again, this is very similar to AFS. These symptoms include:
Addison's disease can also cause:
In addition, more severe symptoms can appear if you do not receive treatment. These more severe symptoms include:
Some people don’t realize their symptoms indicate the presence of a serious condition until they experience an adrenal crisis.
An adrenal crisis consists of a sudden worsening of adrenal insufficiency symptoms that becomes a medical emergency. Without quick treatment, an adrenal crisis can lead to death.
In a similar vein, in stage 3 AFS, even mild stress can trigger adrenal crashes because of the debilitating effects of AFS. While not reaching the level of a medical emergency, these adrenal crashes can leave a person bedridden. In stage 4 AFS, also called "adrenal failure," an adrenal crash can reach the level of an adrenal crisis as experienced in Addison’s disease.
Both adrenal insufficiency symptoms that reach the level of an adrenal crisis and the adrenal crashes in stage 4 AFS share very similar symptoms. These include:
The most likely cause of primary adrenal insufficiency is autoimmunity. This happens when your immune system begins attacking your adrenal glands because it recognizes them as foreign to your body. One cause of autoimmunity is an immune system overwhelmed by increasing pathogens in your body due to a "leaky gut". Leaks in the gut release pathogens into the body along with food particles, leading the immune system to identify your own tissue - in this case your adrenals - as potential threats.
Another related cause of adrenal problems is AFS. Because your body responds to stress with more than just your adrenal glands, chronic stress can also lead to wear in these systems. This can also be a precursor to autoimmunity.
Your adrenal glands and the hormones they produce make up the body’s first line of defense against the effects of stress. When your adrenals become overwhelmed by the demands of chronic stress for cortisol, AFS symptoms begin. Initially, AFS symptoms appear vague and subclinical. But they tend to increase as you progress through the stages of AFS. When you reach the later stages of AFS, your symptoms may become quite severe. After that, they can become debilitating to the point that you cannot function.
Another mechanism that your body uses to maintain homeostasis in the face of stress is the NeuroEndoMetabolic (NEM) stress response. This system consists of six interrelated circuits made up of three organs or systems each. The interrelated aspect of the NEM means what affects one circuit will also affect others. Significant symptoms can develop when these circuits become dysregulated. A dysregulated GI system can lead leaky gut, an overactive immune system, and eventually autoimmunity.
In addition to an autoimmune response, other causes exist for primary adrenal insufficiency. For example:
Likewise, other causes exist for secondary adrenal insufficiency. These include:
Tertiary adrenal insufficiency causes adrenal insufficiency symptoms when you stop taking corticosteroid medications after a sustained period of time. Taking prescription doses of corticosteroids leads to increased levels of cortisol in your blood. As a result over time, your hypothalamus makes less CRH (corticotropin-releasing hormone). This leads to less ACTH, which then causes the adrenals to stop producing cortisol. As a result, your adrenals may take considerable time to begin producing cortisol again.
Conventional remediation for adrenal insufficiency symptoms includes the use of corticosteroid medications. These medications work to replace the hormones your adrenals no longer produce. Taking these medications may become necessary for the rest of your life. Certainly, the goal of taking these medications involves maintaining proper levels of the hormones daily. In addition to the glucocorticoids you take to replace cortisol, you may need to take mineralocorticoids to replace aldosterone and help maintain proper levels of potassium and sodium. During stressful events, you may need additional medications.
Remediation for similar symptoms of AFS consists of more natural approaches. For example, changes in lifestyle and diet tend to bring about the best results. A natural recovery approach for similar symptoms of AFS takes time and patience. However, this approach helps you avoid the possible complications of corticosteroids.
The use of steroids brings with it the potential for complications that can become serious. For example:
Conventional remediation efforts can also lead to adrenal crashes or crises. These complications can become very severe.
Multiple causes can bring on the symptoms of adrenal insufficiency, but the culprit behind AFS involves stress that becomes chronic. The source of stress doesn’t matter; your body responds the same regardless of the source.
Adrenal insufficiency symptoms can indicate the presence of a serious physical condition. They tend to build over time much as symptoms of AFS do, but can become significant more quickly.
On the other hand, AFS symptoms begin as vague presentations, subclinical in nature and not detectable by most current laboratory tests. Over time, they gain in severity until in the later stages they can become debilitating.
Remediation efforts also differ significantly. Medications are typically required in the conventional approach to adrenal insufficiency. These also come with potential complications.
For AFS, a more natural approach including dietary and lifestyle changes is often recommended.
Another major difference between the conventional approach to looking at adrenal insufficiency symptoms versus a holistic approach to looking at AFS which has nearly the same symptoms involves how healthcare professionals view the conditions.
Conventionally trained medical professionals tend to look only at certain organs or systems and the symptoms caused by malfunction of these organs or systems. When they work to alleviate the condition, they focus on symptom improvement. Moreover, these attempts can lead to significant side effects that must be addressed also. In addition, these attempts often bring undesirable results in other organs or systems of the body, sometimes missed by conventional medical practitioners.
On the other hand, the holistic approach to AFS or any other condition takes into consideration not only the symptoms but also the underlying condition causing the symptoms as well as the effects on other organs or systems.
This approach lies behind the concept of the NEM stress response. The NEM shows how these organs and systems are connected, making possible symptoms more traceable. In the case of adrenal insufficiency symptoms or AFS symptoms, the Hormone circuit of the NEM is the primary circuit involved.
Made up of the adrenals, thyroid, and reproductive system, the hormone circuit becomes activated first when stress hits your body. The interrelated nature of the three organs results in all three being affected when one of them becomes dysregulated.
In the case of adrenal insufficiency symptoms and similar AFS symptoms, the adrenals will become dysregulated first. This leads to insufficient amounts of cortisol and other hormones in the bloodstream. As a result, dysfunction in the thyroid and reproductive system occurs. Likewise, when the thyroid becomes dysregulated, it works to increase fatigue. Similarly, if the reproductive system becomes dysregulated, leading to estrogen dominance, any hypothyroid symptoms increase.
In the hormonal circuit, the organ that becomes clinically dominant often suffers the most damage and may function the weakest.
For example, if the adrenals become clinically dominant, the person will typically present with irritability and anxiety. In addition, they present with great fatigue but show an extraordinary focus on their emotional state that comes with easily triggered anger and rage.
On the other hand, those with a clinically dominant thyroid present with low energy, dry skin, and an inability to lose weight. Their chief complaint, fatigue, becomes so great they no longer care about menstrual problems or depression.
People with clinical dominance of the reproductive system present with memory loss and brain fog. These come in addition to menstrual problems in women, and estrogen dominance in both men and women.
Differentiating between the symptoms of adrenal insufficiency and similar symptoms seen with AFS can help you avoid a medical emergency. The two conditions present with very similar symptoms, but they lead to very different remediation efforts. However, both conditions can bring on adrenal crashes or crises that require medical attention quickly to avoid possible life-threatening consequences.
Whatever course of action you decide to take, however, please do so with the guidance of your healthcare professional.
If you would like to know more about or need assistance with adrenal insufficiency symptoms, the team at Dr. Lam Coaching can help. We offer a free** no-obligation phone consultation at +1 (626) 571-1234 where we will privately discuss your symptoms and various options. You can also send us a question through our Ask The Doctor system by clicking here.
Adrenal insufficiency symptoms often mirror those of AFS, but tend to be more severe. Fatigue, weakness, loss of appetite, muscle aches, dizziness, and diarrhea are common. More severe symptoms include low blood pressure and kidney failure. AFS symptoms and the symptoms of adrenal insufficiency can begin slowly, but progress quickly in severity.
