Video is summarized in article below.
Dr. Lam: Hormonal disruption is very common in anybody with adrenal fatigue. The reason is simple. The adrenal glands control over 50 different hormones, from estrogen to progesterone to testosterone. So, therefore, if the adrenals are weak, it’s almost impossible to have a perfect hormone balance. So, what are some of the hormone imbalance symptoms?
Dr. Carrie: Well, women especially sometimes feel PMS, premenstrual symptoms, right before their cycle. Sometimes their periods are very heavy, or they start, and they stop. Sometimes they might have unexplained hair loss, and many women don’t like that.
Dr. Lam: In men?
Dr. Jeremy: In men, you can have low libido. You can find that your energy drive is also low from possibly low testosterone.
Dr. Lam: Yes, and exercise intolerance. Many people think it’s just from lack of energy, but it actually has a strong adrenal component.
Okay. Now, how does cortisol play into this?
Dr. Carrie: If your adrenals are weak, then you might not be putting out as much cortisol. So, cortisol production goes down. Or you might be putting out too much if you’re overstressed. That will affect your thyroid also.
Dr. Lam: In the thyroid, the ovarian system in a woman, and the adrenal systems are tied in into an axis, a triangle. So, when one is off, the other two are going to be off. That’s why a lot of people, despite being on a lot of thyroid replacement meds, they don’t feel good. In fact, one-third or more of the people on thyroid medication need some form of adjustment. And many eventually cannot make it through thyroid replacement therapy for that reason, because there may be an adrenal component underneath that may be missed. Without attending to the adrenal side, then the hormonal balance can be quite challenging.
Dr. Jeremy: That’s right. So, I think the first step is to first control your stress, and stop what you’re doing, and try to get to the bottom of what’s going on.
What’s the second step?
Dr. Lam: Well, it is very important. It’s to work on hormonal rebalancing. It can be done by using medications or even natural compounds, but usually, in our experience, if you allow the body to recover from adrenal fatigue, the body has self-balancing mechanisms that will kick in.
How does that work?
Dr. Carrie: When your adrenals are able to put out the right hormones, then the thyroid will not think that everything is slowed down, and it will be able to metabolically work better. And then those hormones will self-rebalance your reproductive hormones.
Dr. Lam: Yes. So, whether you have infertility issues, low libido, estrogen dominance, or PMS, a lot of these are just superficial smoke signals that the body is using to tell you there’s something wrong.
Now, once the body’s able to rebalance itself, then you’re giving the body a chance for all the loops, all the connections to reestablish proper foundations. Oftentimes, the symptoms may get better by themselves.
© Copyright 2021 Michael Lam, M.D. All Rights Reserved.
