Most Common Cause of Fatigue that is Missed or Misdiagnosed by Doctors

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Dr. Mercola, of www.mercola.com recently had an article about adrenal fatigue, highlighting concepts from Dr. Wilson's book. You can read it here:

Most Common Cause of Fatigue that is Missed or Misdiagnosed by Doctors

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"Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome"

A very good resource for those who think they may be suffering from adrenal fatigue is Dr. James L. Wilson's book Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome.

Dr. Wilson explains the causes behind adrenal fatigue, a list of signs and symptoms, how it can lead to other diseases and health conditions, and even a questionnaire to help you determine whether you are indeed a candidate for adrenal fatigue. Most importantly, he includes a complete program to help you recover from adrenal fatigue through lifestyle, diet, and supplementation.

He has an excellent website: http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/, where he presents a lot of the information from his book. This even includes the "Burn out" questionnaire: http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/adrenal-fatigue-questionnaires/burnout-questionnaire.html

50 Contributors to Adrenal Fatigue

1. Caffeine
2. Sugar
3. Alcohol
4. Eating “on the run”
5. Food allergies
6. High-carb diet (lots of grains & sugars)
7. Nutrient deficiencies
8. Overeating, even healthy food
9. Pesticides and herbicides on produce
10. Processed foods/junk food
11. Skipping meals
12. Change in living situation
13. White flour
14. Born with weak adrenals due to adrenal fatigue of mother
15. Malalignment of the spine
16. Chemical toxicity
17. Over-the-counter and prescribed medications
18. Heavy metal toxicity
19. Electromagnetic pollution
20. Parasite infestation
21. Chronic pain
22. Physical trauma/injury
23. Type A personality
24. Anger
25. Depression
26. Resentment
27. Worry/Anxiety
28. Emotional trauma
29. Fear
30. Guilt
31. Low self-esteem
32. Negative thoughts
33. Unresolved conflict
34. Relationship issues
35. Wrestling with major issues: moral, theological, spiritual
36. Mental strain/overwork
37. Major life events, positive or negative
38. Serious illness
39. Illness of loved ones
40. Death of a loved one
41. Financial difficulties
42. Job change/loss
43. High conflict situations
44. Late nights
45. Lack of sleep
46. Overexertion in exercise
47. Smoking/secondhand smoke
48. Loud, pounding music
49. Media: News, Violent movies
50. COLLEGE

The things that contribute to adrenal fatigue are all elements that put stress on a person physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. You can probably think of even more. A certain amount of stress is normal and in many ways beneficial. However, when one has stress coming from all different sources, assailing at the same time, it is more than the body can be expected to handle. At that point, the body is thrown out of equilibrium, and must do everything it possibly can to regain balance. That requires a lot of energy, and leads to high levels of inflammation, toxicity, fatigue, and ultimately, disease. The good news? Adrenal fatigue is highly preventable and treatable. Watch for an upcoming post on behaviors that prevent or reverse adrenal fatigue!

"Burn Out": Signs & Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue, A through Z

This list is by no means comprehensive, but it gives a good idea of what signs and symptoms may indicate weak adrenal glands. This health condition in its milder state is also commonly referred to as "Burn out." I have listed sources/resources at the end.

Allergies (food or environmental)
Anxiety attacks
Apathy
Apprehensiveness
Arthritic-like pains
Auto-Immune disease
Back/neck pain
Best sleep from 7-9 in the morning
Brain fog
Chronic Fatigue diagnosis
Cognitive difficulties
Concentration difficulties
Craving salty, fatty, and high protein food such as meat and cheese
Crying spells
Depression
Digestive problems
Dry skin and hair
Eyes are dry
Fatigue, worsened by physical exertion or stress
Fibromyalgia diagnosis
Hair loss
Headaches
Hormonal problems
Hypersensitivity to noise
Hypoglycemia
Immune system is weak
Inability to handle stress
Insomnia
Irritability
Lightheaded when rising from lying down
Memory problems
Need for caffeine to get going
PMS
Salt cravings
Sensitivities to odors (cleaning products, perfumes, hairsprays)
Sighing frequently
Tired for no reason
Un-refreshing sleep
Varicose Veins
Vision problems
Weight gain (especially around the waist)
Zeal is lacking

Sources/Recommended Reading:

BOOKS:
Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome by James L. Wilson
How to Overcome Tired, Irritable, and Depressed Feelings, by Dr. Thomas A. Owen

WEBSITES:
http://www.adrenalfatigue.org/
http://www.drlam.com/articles/adrenal_fatigue.asp
http://www.naturalnews.com/024985_cortisol_blood_adrenal_fatigue.html
This Chronic Fatigue/Fibromyalgia Symptom Checklist is also helpful: http://www.anapsid.org/cnd/diagnosis/berne.html

Adrenal Fatigue: The STRESS Connection

How does stress contribute to adrenal fatigue?

Basically, an ongoing high level of stress overstimulates the adrenal glands to the point that they just can't handle any more. Our bodies are designed to handle a certain amount of short-term stress: for example, an injury, an argument, a surprise encounter with a wild animal. However, today's society provides ongoing stress from all different sources: the daily news, long work weeks, heavy traffic, lack of sleep, malalignment of the spine, food- and/or environmental allergies, highly processed foods including white flour and white sugar, caffeine, toxic chemicals added to our food and water, building materials, polluted air, electromagnetic pollution, the list goes on and on. Add the death of a loved one, problems at work or school, problems at home, problems at church... and you have a recipe for disaster. Although you may not consider all of these things to be "stress" per se, they are all hard on the body.

College alone can do it for some people. In fact, that is what got me interested in this whole topic. When I first returned home after graduating from college, I had an overwhelming sense of fatigue along with aches and pains. I was first diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue. Later on, after I'd started dealing with ulcerative colitis (inflammation and ulceration of the colon), it was discovered that I had low adrenal function, and that that was likely the primary problem. For me, this was probably caused by a combination of the following: a Type A personality, spinal issues, lack of sleep, processed [read: cafeteria] food, parasite "souvenirs" from trips to China and Brazil, taking too many credits and trying to accomplish too many things... you name it. I'm sure no one else has ever had any of these things going on? ;)

So, when the body is under tremendous stress, it keeps producing the stress hormones epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenalin), cortisol, and a couple of others. Cortisol also just happens to be the body's most powerful anti-inflammatory hormone. After a while, the adrenal glands are just plain worn out, and can't keep up with the demands that continued stress places on the body.
When that happens, the body cries out for help via a number of different, seemingly unrelated, symptoms.
Stay tuned for a full list of symptoms...

Adrenal Fatigue: Do You Have It?

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Do you feel like a trampled flower?

Have you heard of adrenal fatigue? Chronic Fatigue seems to be more familiar to people. Chronic fatigue is generally thought to be caused by the Epstein-Barr virus. Adrenal Fatigue, however, is not something one can "catch." It's more of something one sets oneself up for. It's also known as adrenal exhaustion, adrenal insufficiency, and hypoadrenia. Do any of these symptoms sound familiar?

• ongoing fatigue
• body aches
• insomnia
• unrefreshing sleep
• decreased ability to handle stress
• mild depression
• irritability/mood disorders
• digestive problems

Many people deal with such symptoms but brush it off, thinking "Oh, everyone deals with these symptoms--it's normal" or "It's just stress." Well... just because something is common doesn't mean that it's normal. And yes. Stress is a major cause of adrenal fatigue, but it's not anything to take lightly.

Unfortunately, the conventional medical community does not generally recognize adrenal fatigue until it has gone too far and has led to disease: Addison's Disease, which can be fatal. It seems more prudent to make changes before it gets to that point.

What are the adrenal glands, anyway? Well, this is "who" is involved when we talk about an "adrenaline rush" or that we're "running on adrenaline." Our two adrenal glands are located just on top of the kidneys. They have a major role to play in our physiology. I won't go into the details of that, but will provide resources in upcoming posts if you want the whole story on how they work. Their main job is to produce a number of different hormones which regulate the body's response to stress. Cortisol, adrenaline, and DHEA seem to get the most press. DHEA, by the way, is the anti-aging hormone.

Stress can come from both external and internal stressors. I think most of us are quite familiar with external stressors: deadlines at work, traffic jams, pollution of various kinds, relationship issues, etc. It's often the internal stressors that people are not as aware of. This kind of stress has a number of different sources: the thoughts we think, the foods we eat, the toxins we accumulate, and even the unsuspected parasites we host...

To be Continued...