If you answer yes to one or more of these questions, you may be suffering from adrenal fatigue.
- Tired for no reason?
- Having trouble getting up in the morning?
- Depending on coffee to keep you going?
- Feeling run down and stressed?
- Feel light headed when standing up too quickly?
- Craving salty or sweet snacks?
- Suffering from regular colds, flu, coughs?
- Struggling to keep up with life’s daily demands?
- Unable to bounce back from stress or illness?
- Not having fun anymore?
- Increased PMS or menopausal symptoms?
- Experiencing decreased sex drive?
- Simply too tired to enjoy life?
Stress related adrenal fatigue is so common that an estimated 80% or more of people in Western developed nations worldwide suffer from it at some time in their lives, yet conventional medicine still does not recognise, adequately diagnose or treat this debilitating fatigue and stress syndrome.
When we have stressful thoughts, these send messages from the hypothalamus in the brain to the pituitary (master) gland which in turn transmits stimuli to the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands release adrenalin when stress is acute and cortisol when stress is sustained. In the short term this constant push on the adrenal glands can lead to symptoms of panic, anxiety, sleeplessness, irritability, frustration and generally feeling “highly strung” or “wired and tired”.
When the stress is more chronic or unrelenting, cortisol gets depleted and we feel exhausted as though we can’t get through the day without a nap or constant stimulants/relaxants – usually in the form of tea, coffee, Coke, cigarettes and/or alcohol. As cortisol is our natural anti-inflammatory, those with adrenal fatigue can suffer from a range of inflammatory disorders such as asthma, hay fever, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, rashes, dermatitis, fibromyalgia, food allergies as well as a range of other chronic conditions.
Once the adrenal glands are fatigued, it is highly likely that the thyroid gland is under-functioning too. If this is the case you will be struggling to lose weight, despite eating healthily and exercising, feeling cold more than others, feel that you have dry skin and rashes and a wide range of other symptoms. One way of determining if your thyroid is under-functioning is to take your temperature: First thing in the morning before getting out of bed with a mercury thermometer under the armpit, if it is less than 36.6 degrees, then it is considered low thyroid.