Combat Fatigue

Fatigue and lethargy is one of the most common complaints amongst adult patients. If you have symptoms such as tiredness, fearfulness, allergies, frequent influenza, arthritis, anxiety, depression, reduced memory and difficulties in concentrating, insomnia, worn-out, inability to loose weight after extensive efforts, you may be suffering from adrenal fatigue (technically known as hypoadrenia).

Adrenal fatigue has a broad spectrum of non-specific yet often debilitating symptoms. The onset of this disease is often slow and insidious. Patients are told that they are stressed and need to learn to relax more. Yes, we all know that "stress kills" to a large extent. But, the question is how? And, what are the solutions?

The real truth is that stress is not a mysterious entity at all. Our body has a built-in mechanism to deal with it. Being able to handle stress is a key to survival, and the control center in our bodies is the adrenal glands. When our adrenal glands become fatigue and unable to handle stress, dysfunctional physiological smptomatology sets in.

Adrenal fatigue was first described in the medical texts in the 1800s as a clinical condition. It was one of the most prevalent conditions, afflicting almost every adult in one way or another. Despite effective diagnostic tools and treatment programs,  most conventional physicians were simply not informed and not prepared to treat adrenal fatigue as a serious threat to health. This condition was seldom diagnosed as a sickness for the past 50 years. Instead, it was considered as a condition whereby no treatment was available other than to tell the patient to "relax". Why was this so? The reasons were simple.  Laboratory tests were unable to detect any abnormality, until recently. Today,  adrenal fatigue could be accurately diagnosed, overcome and treated properly.

Adrenal fatigue should not be confused with another medical condition called Addison's disease where the adrenal glands are not functioning. While Addison's disease is often caused by auto-immune dysfunction,  adrenal fatigue is caused by stress. Adrenal fatigue is the non-Addison's form of adrenal dysfunction. Unfortunately, conventional medicine only recognizes Addison's disease as hypoadrenia, despite the fact that adrenal fatigue is a fully recognizable condition. As such, do not be surprised if your doctor is unfamiliar with this condition.

Signs and Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue

· Tendency to gain weight and unable to loose it, especially around the waist.

· High frequency of getting the flu and other respiratory diseases and these symptoms  tend to last longer than usual.

· Tendency to tremble when under pressure.

· Reduced sex drive.

· Lightheaded when rising from a laying down position.

· Unable to remember things.

· Lack of energy in the mornings and also in the afternoon between 3 to 5 pm.

· Feel  better suddenly for a brief period after a meal.

· Often feel tired  between 9 - 10 pm, but resist going to bed.

· Need coffee or stimulants to get going in the morning.

· Crave for salty, fatty, and high protein food such as  meat and cheese.

· Increase symptoms of PMS for women; period are heavy and then stop, or almost stopped on the 4th day, only to start flow again on the 5th or 6th day.

· Pain in the upper back or neck with no apparent reasons .

· Feels better when stress is relieved, such as on a vacation.

· Difficulties  in getting up in the morning

· Lightheaded

Other signs and symptoms include:

· Mild depression

· Food and or inhalant allergies

· Lethargy and lack of energy

· Increased effort to perform daily  tasks

· Decreased ability to handle stress

· Dry and thin skin

· Hypoglycemia

· Low Body Temperature

· Nervousness

· Palpitation

· Unexplained hair loss

· Alternating constipation and diarrhea

· Dyspepsia

 

If you have many of these signs and symptoms, it is time you consider adrenal fatigue as a possible cause once you have ruled out other organic pathologies. None of the signs or symptoms by itself can definitively diagnose adrenal fatigue. When taken as a group, these signs and symptoms do form a specific syndrome or picture - that is of a person under stress. These signs and symptoms are the end result of acute severe or chronic excessive stress and the inability of the body to reduce such stress. Stress, once a "basket" term used by physicians to explain non-specific symptoms undetectable by conventional blood test, is of no mystery to the body at all.

The ability to handle stress, physical or emotional, is a cornerstone to human survival. Our body has a complete set of stress modulation system in place, and the control center is the adrenal glands. When this gland becomes dysfunctional, our body's ability to handle stress reduces, and symptoms will arise..

Let us now look at how the adrenal glands work.

ADRENAL GLANDS BASICS

The adrenal glands are two small glands, each about the size of a large grape. They are situated on top of the kidneys. Their purpose is to help the body to cope with stress and help it to survival. Each adrenal gland has two compartments. The inner or medulla modulate the sympathetic nervous system through secretion and regulation of two hormones called epinephrine and nor epinephrine that are responsible for the fight or flight response. The outer adrenal cortex comprises 80 percent  of the adrenal gland and is responsible for producing over 50 different  types of hormones  in three major classes - glucocorticoids,  mineral corticoids and androgens.

The most important glucocorticoid is cortisol. When this is lowered, the body will be unable to deal with stress.

Mineral corticoids such as aldosterone modulate the delicate balance of minerals in the cell, especially sodium and potassium. It therefore regulates our blood pressure. Stress increases the release of aldosterone, causing sodium retention (leading to water retention and high blood pressure) and loss of potassium and magnesium. Magnesium is involved in over 300 enzymatic reactions in the body. When the body lacks magnesium, it will suffer from a variety of pathological conditions such as cardiac arrhythmias, uterine fibroids and osteoporosis.

The adrenal cortex is also responsible for producing all sex hormones, although in small amounts. One exception is DHEA, a weak androgenic hormone that is made in large amounts in both sexes. DHEA, together with testosterone and estrogen, are made from pregnenolone, which in turn comes from cholesterol.

Pregnenolone also leads to the production of progesterone and as one of the intermediary steps in the making of cortisol. Pregnenolone is therefore one of the  most important intermediate hormones being produced in the hormonal cascade. Prolonged deficiencies in pregnenolone will lead to reduction of both glucocorticosteroids and mineralcorticoids such as cortisol and aldosterone respectively.

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