What is Adrenal Fatigue?
Adrenal Fatigue is not a disease, but rather a ‘syndrome’ of abnormalities characterised by decreased function of the thyroid gland. Causes include severe stress or stress accumulation over a long period of time, and infection (acute or chronic). Often, patients with moderate adrenal fatigue will not display any serious symptoms beyond fatigue or malaise, with most reporting that they “feeling tired from carrying out daily life activities.” On the other hand, severe cases of adrenal fatigue are “too tired to carry out daily life activities.” If left untreated, the abnormalities could impact other organs such as the cardiovascular and digestive system etc.
Symptoms
Patients should suspect adrenal failure if symptoms comply with the following:
- Tiredness from an unknown cause. May be too tired to get out of bed in the morning, even though they had enough sleep.
- Severe Health Deterioration following periods of stress or illness
- Craving for sweet or salty foods
- Symptoms of fatigue and tiredness may be worsened by irregular eating patterns. Sufferers may feel more alert energetic in the evening.
Diagnosis
Checking for levels of hormones in the body that are connected with adrenal function may indicate abnormalities of the adrenal gland. This includes cortisol, DHEA hormone, sex hormones etc.
In addition, doctors may identify other potential causes of adrenal fatigue such as chronic infection, heavy metal accumulation in the body, inability to sleep, as well as other diseases linked to adrenal fatigue like inflammation, immune system defect, cancer etc.
General Treatment
Most general doctors do not regard adrenal fatigue as a disease of priority. Hence, treatment is mainly aimed at relieving the symptoms e.g. giving sleeping pills or antidepressants individuals who have trouble sleeping.
Treatment with Integrative Medicine
Adrenal fatigue patients are grouped into 3 groups based on level of abnormality: low, moderate, and high. The higher the abnormality, the longer the treatment required. Patients can be cured of the disease and return to normal health, but this may take a long period of time (on average at least 6 months).
Treatments starts with recommendations about lifestyle changes including diet, exercise, readjusting the homeostasis of different substances and hormones in the body (through the use of vitamin, electrolyte or hormone supplements), providing medication to relieve stress, IV Vitamin therapy and chelation therapy etc.
Moreover, it is known that Inner Balance Training helps to reduce stress, a major cause of adrenal fatigue. As treatment progresses and thyroid condition improves, patients will feel less tired and fatigued, and be able to carry out daily life activities and exercise with more efficiency. The important point to remember is adrenal fatigue cannot be cured immediately, so patients may still experience fleeting symptoms of fatigue etc. that come and go during the course of the treatment. Determination and adherence to treatment and recommendations will help to return patients to normal health.
