Do you suffer from exhaustion, especially after an illness or stressor? Are you feeling rundown or tired for no reason? Having difficulty getting up in the morning? Do you crave sweet and salty foods? These may be signs that your adrenal glands are not functioning as well as they should.
Adrenal fatigue, sub-clinical hypoadrenia, and neurasthenia
are terms used as a “catch-all” phrase for a collection of
signs and symptoms apparently caused by low functioning adrenal glands.
This “syndrome” is not currently recognized by conventional
medical diagnoses. The predominant symptom, as the name suggests, is fatigue
that is not relieved by sleep. Some individuals may not have any signs
of physical illness. Your primary care physician may say your labs are
normal; yet you feel like there is a general sense of being unwell. You
may find yourself using stimulants like caffeine to get going in the morning
as well to push through the day.
Daily life activities including excessive exercise, acute illness, and
chronic illness all put a demand on the adrenal glands. Anyone can experience
the effects of adrenal fatigue. Chronic and recurring infections are one
of the commonly overlooked sources of stress and fatigue. You may find
that illnesses or infections last longer or occur more often. The adrenal
glands are most likely involved in both the cause and the effect of these
kinds of symptoms.
There are many current health conditions that show symptoms of adrenal fatigue including: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) linked to Ebstein Barr virus, Fibromyalgia, Syndrome X or Metabolic Syndrome and many autoimmune disorders. It is useful to have other potential causes ruled out first such as hormonal issues, which include thyroid problems and sex hormone deficiencies.
If there are concurrent stressors in you life (an unhappy marriage, poor dietary habits or a stressful job) the impact on your adrenal glands is even greater. During these stressful times, we tend to forego many of the simple actions that can support our bodies. We tend to skip the yoga class, or miss the daily walk with our partner in the park. Rather than bringing our own home-cooked meal to work, we eat out at the local deep fryer. Instead of our usual apples and almonds for a snack, we find ourselves grabbing a quick food bar in the vending machine. For those who find it a chore to remember to take their daily “multi”, you will typically forego that behavior too.
There are many wonderful ways to support your adrenal glands. The simplest being: eating well. Eating more foods with Vitamin C such as fruits, support the adrenals, which have the largest storage of this particular vitamin. If eating foods higher in B-complex vitamins is a problem, then taking an oral supplement can be beneficial. Herbal medicines like maca, licorice, ashwagandha and Siberian ginseng have been found to be supportive of our health as well. If you find that the addition of the aforementioned items still doesn’t bring back some energy, a qualified practitioner could prescribe you glandular supplements to support your endocrine system.
Jonathan Kalman, N.D. is a licensed naturopathic doctor. He is in private practice in San Diego, CA and is the medical director of the Good Old Fashioned Medicine Center. You can find Dr. Kalman on the web at GoodOldFashionedMedicine.com.
