Adrenal fatigue, what does it even mean? Well you have 2 adrenal glands that are about the size of a walnut that sit at the top of your kidneys. The role of these glands is essentially to help you handle stress and survive. It is much more complex than that but I am trying to keep it simple and it would take forever to describe every single function and hormone that depends on these little guys. It's quite impressive actually! Your body depends on these glands to function properly for energy, endurance and survival. Have you ever been stuck in a traffic jam and someone in the lane beside you cuts you off. You feel that anger and rage instantly coursing through your body and you feel your face get flush and your ready to jump out of your skin in attack mode? Your adrenal glands are responsible for that.
Let's break this down. There are 2 states that your body can be in, sympathetic state which is your 'fight or flight' mode and parasympathetic state which is your' 'rest and digest' mode. Your body should be in the 'rest and digest' state the majority of the time to allow for proper digestion and function/synchroinicty of all of your systems. Now 'fight or flight' mode comes into play when there is a stress in front of you that you need to tackle. Since the beginning of time, 'fight or flight' would be a means of survival. Imagine thousands of years ago that you are traveling with your group or pack on foot, then you come across a wild animal that starts to charge at you. Your adrenal glands will surge adrenaline through your body. This is where the 'super human strength' suddenly appears. Your start to breath faster and oxygen is sent to all the vital organs while blood flow going to the intestines is shut down. Your body does not care that you have food to digest, it's main purpose is survival!
Now fast forward to today, we don't live in jungles, need to hunt for survival but our bodies have not adapted to that and a stress such as a traffic jam will produce the same response as if a lion jumped out of nowhere and was standing right in front of you ready for attack. Your body doesn't know the difference because it senses the same response and reacts. Where the problem lies is that modern day is much more stressful than it used to be. We have families that need dual incomes to survive, mothers who can't afford to take full maternity leave after having a child, the cost of living is just too expensive, guilt of working so much to support your family, having to come home from a full day of work and jump into home life mode of supper, dishes, homework, being the chauffeur for sports. From the moment we get up to the second we rest our heads to go to bed, the majority of us are in constant GO mode, fight or flight. Well as mentioned before you need to be a the rest and digest mode so that you can properly digest your food and wind down. Being constantly stressed means that you are not properly digesting your food and will start to have a ripple effect to your other systems.
When you are constantly in fight or flight mode this causes stress on the adrenal glands and can lead to adrenal fatigue when not addressed. Once you have suffered adrenal fatigue for a period of time you can develop other conditions like infections, allergies or auto immune disorders. I know this first hand. I had never heard of adrenal fatigue before and had been suffering for years with conditions I had never heard of. I have Hashimotos, celiac, adrenal fatigue, helicobacter pylori, SIBO, low estrogen, low testosterone, methylation issues, digestion issues and the list goes on. All because I didn't know the signs and now have to address and try to reverse 9 years of stress my body was under. I am currently working with a naturopath and functional medicine doctor and I couldn't be happier because my family doctor was of no help and completely dismissed alternative medicine as a fairy tale and that I would need pills to address my issues. No....but thanks for playing! LOL
Some factors that might cause you stress in your life can be death of a loved one, repeated stress, emotional stress, over exertion, lack of sleep, poor eating habits, sugar and white flour, lack of exercise, prescription or non-prescription drugs, fear, job loss, divorce, financial pressure, lack or relaxation, negative attitude and toxins. There are so many more but these are the most common ones.
Signs and symptoms of adrenal fatigue are:
-difficulty getting up in the morning (still suffering from this one myself lol)
-still fatigued after sleep
-craving salt or salty foods (this was huge one for me but didn't know it at the time) -lethargic
-more energy needed to do simple daily tasks
-decreased sex drive
-unable to handle stress like you used to
-takes longer to get over an illness
-light-headed when standing up quickly (I had this pretty bad for a while)
-mild depression
-symptoms increase if you skip a meal (yes! I got HANGRY and shaky)
-brain fog
-memory slipping
-less tolerant
-less productive
-don't fully wake up til about 10am, hit a wall around 3 or 4pm then feel better after supper. (For me I used to feel tired all day, crash around 2-3pm and then at 9pm it was like a flip switched and I would be cleaning the house late at night)
I know that was a lot of information to cover but that was just scratching the surface. Later this week I will talk about how to get properly diagnosed, the struggle with getting a diagnosis, simple tests that you can do at home, and what you can do on your own while you wait or seek professional help.
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