Adrenal Fatigue
Let me tell you a story. Imagine that you’re exhausted, you can’t function without at least one but usually more cups of coffee, you reach for a sweet or carby treat at about 3pm, in fact you crave carbohydrates and the more processed the better. You feel like your brain isn’t working, your memory is shocking, your fuse is short, and your sex drive is non-existent. You spend all day exhausted, feeling like you can’t get out of your own way BUT at about 10pm your get a second wind, race around getting stuff done and then sleep doesn’t come easily. You have noticed that it is really hard to lose weight especially those new rolls around your tummy. Does any of this sound familiar?
The picture I have just painted is one of a person suffering from adrenal fatigue and it’s also a picture of me. Last year I was busy juggling work, study, Elise, the house and so on and thought that it was just normal to be tired. All mums are busy and we are all tired right? WRONG!
At the end of 2014 I was feeling pretty bad, even walking the 500 meters to my car after school drop off would cause my legs to feel like lead, I was beyond tired, anxious, snappy and pretty awful to be around. Sleep was illusive and very broken with my mind unable to switch off. I didn’t talk about it because I was scared to admit that I didn’t (and still don’t) have it all together. I’m trying to carve out a career in the health industry and my own body was letting me down. But guess what I let it down first. So nearly a year after tests confirmed that my adrenal glands were basically toast and that it was going to be a long hard road back to awesome I am sharing my story with you
I choose to write about my experience now because I am seeing more and more people in clinic and in my life with the same symptoms and feelings of overwhelm and want to let you know there is a light at the end of the tunnel. A very long and winding tunnel but a light all the same.
What the heck are your adrenals anyway? (this is the science stuff, skip ahead if you just want to know the signs and symptoms)
These tiny triangular glands, found on top or your kidneys are made up of 2 parts. An outer part, the adrenal cortex and an inner region known as the adrenal medulla.
The Adrenal Cortex – produces hormones that are vital to survival including:
- Cotisol, which regulates metabolism, blood sugar levels and how the body converts fats, proteins, and carbohydrates to energy. Cortisol helps regulate blood pressure and cardiovascular function. Almost every cell in your body contains receptors for cortisol so its effects are wide spread.
- Corticosterone:This hormone works with cortisol to regulate immune response and suppress inflammatory reactions.
- Aldosterone, which helps control blood pressure by maintaining optimal salt/ water balance.
The Adreanal Medulla secretes
- Epinephrine: commonly called a This hormone rapidly responds to stress, increasing your heart rate and rushing blood to the muscles and brain so you can get away from the stressor quickly. It also shuts down things like the digestive process as it’s not vital for surviving if you are being chased.
- Norepinephrine:Also known as noradrenaline, works with epinephrine in responding to stress. It can cause vasoconstriction (the narrowing of blood vessels) which results in high blood pressure. It also signals the body to convert glycogen in the liver toglucose so the body has energy but this can lead to spikes in blood sugar, followed by crashing..
- Your body is truly amazing but it doesn’t know if the feeling of stress is because you are being chased by a tiger and need to run for your life or if the stress is being caused by working long hours, fighting with your partner or not knowing where the next mortgage payment is coming from.
There are many factors contributing to adrenal fatigue including prolonged illness or stress, financial stress, death of loved one, poor diet, insufficient sleep, toxin exposure and psychological stress. Adrenal fatigue occurs when the adrenal glands can no longer respond to or compensate for the total amount of stress the body is exposed to. While the condition could be recognised as being very common and is recognised by the World Health Organisation, there is still a reluctance by the professional medical community to verify the existence of the condition and in fact, many argue that it doesn’t exist.
Symptoms
The list of symptoms is long and somewhat all-encompassing which is why it is vital to see a health professional if any of this is ringing true for you, it is important to rule out other more serious causes. Please note there are different stages of adrenal fatigue, the early stage (high cortisol levels) or advanced stage (low cortisol levels) and this will determine which symptoms apply to you. The treatment for both is the same.
So what are to signs that you might need to look at your adrenals?
- Waking tired/ foggy even though you had a long sleep
- Feeling tired though out the day
- Inability to handle stress like you used to. Even small insignificant things cause your to feel stressed
- You startle easily and feel jumpy or anxious
- Craving salty and sugary foods and stimulants like caffeine
- Getting a spike in energy after about 9pm
- Lowered immunity,in the early stages, high levels of cortisol suppresses your immune response so you become vulnerable to infection. In the later stages low levels of cortisol can lead to chronic inflammation, allergies and autoimmune diseases
- Weight gain and an inability to lose it
- Forgetfulness
- You feel cold and unable to warm up
If you answered yes to 6 or more of these symptoms it’s time to take action. Get it sorted out before you score 10/10. Testing is actually pretty simple. Basically you need to measure the levels of cortisol over a period of 24 hours, by spitting into a tube, gross I know but you can do it in the privacy of your own home. It’s the pattern of cortisol over the day which is important so a one off blood test will not give you the complete picture.
If this sounds like you and you would like more information on what to do now, where to get the tests etc I’d love to help.
Next week we will talk about treatment plans