Attention stressed out moms!

Adrenal Fatigue....What it is, what causes it?

What is adrenal fatigue?

Adrenal Fatigue is a group of symptoms used by holistic practitioners to explain the exhaustion of the Adrenal gland's production of stress hormones and dysfunction of the Hypo-pituitary-adrenal axis of the endocrine system.

This happens over prolonged periods of intense stress

(not to be confused with Adrenal Insufficiency AKA Addison's disease Medical Diagnosis)

The adrenal glands sit directly above both kidneys and have direct conversation with the thyroid, ovaries/testies, thyroid, hypothalamus and pituitary in the brain to regulate our hormones. As a matter of fact, the adrenals are responsible for helping module 50 different hormones!

When the demand on the adrenals to continually produce cortisol is too great or too often, the adrenals will initially hyper-produce cortisol and stress hormones but over time produce less and less cortisol, DHEA, and other stress hormones. This leads to complete exhaustion and burnout and diminished ability to handle stress.

Symptoms:

1.Extreme Fatigue or Jittery at points in the day. (Difficulty getting going in the morning without numerous cups of coffee only to awaken later in the morning, crash around 2:00 pm and re-awaken again around 10-11:00 pm)

2. Brain Fog.

3. Weight Gain. (Difficulty losing weight)

4. Auto-immune conditions

5. Depression

6. Weakened immune system

7. Light-headedness (especially upon standing)

8. Low blood pressure

9. Sleep Disturbances (difficulty staying asleep or awakening multiple times)

10. Irritability

11. Sugar and salt cravings

12. Decreased Libido

Causes:

1. Chronic Stress

2. Lack of Sleep

3. Emotional Trauma

4. Stressful life events such as death of a loved one or loss of job

5. Reliance on stimulants to get through the day long term (coffee, drugs, etc.)

6. Diet high in sugar and inflammatory foods

7. Food allergies

8. Autoimmune or inflammatory conditions

If you are experiencing adrenal fatigue and are thinking "why doesn't my primary care

address this or test for this?" Unfortunately, there is no ICD-10 diagnostic code for Adrenal Fatigue so it does not fall under standard medical diagnosis, although the research shows the dysfunction is very real and valid.

Typically in the medical model of medicine things are viewed as either "normal" function or

total "failure" of adrenals, which is considered Addison's disease. Addison's disease is

adrenal insufficiency and can be fatal if not addressed. This is an auto-immune disease in

which the adrenal glands fail to produce hormones and can lead to severe salt cravings light-headedness and fainting, joint pain, unexplained weight loss, and hyper-pigmentation of

the skin.

Adrenal Fatigue falls under a "sub-clinical" category of disease. An example of this would be

Pre-diabetes or Pre-hypertension. There's chronic dysfunction in this body system that

is LEADING towards disease but no yet diagnosis of adrenal exhaustion. Routine blood tests

do not test for this because the most accurate way to test for adrenal fatigue is through

the saliva. Specific testing of rhythmic cortisol and DHEA hormones is best seen through

the saliva at specific times of the day to determine the function.

This is why this is missed so much! This happens quite often in victims of abuse or

trauma, especially within childhood. When this happens, the brain LITERALLY develops different.

The hippocampus of the brain, which modulates emotion, memory, and autonomic

functions shrinks when exposed to chronic stress. The body remembers this stress when a

child is young, especially pre-verbal, as "intrinsic" autonomic memory.

This means that the brain responds to stress stimulation automatically as you were programmed,

as your system does to simple tasks such as walking, opening a door, eating your food. You don't have to consciously remember how to do these actions, they are intrinsic memories stored through this system. When your brain experiences a traumatic event, specifically repeated or chronic events, the brain begins to access the HPA-axis and produce cortisol automatically after repeated stimulation from a similar stressor, even if an individual is not conscious of any memory of this event.

Now let's add insult to injury!

Imagine years go by and this individual enters motherhood, is LOADED with stressors, crying children, juggling tasks, working, not sleeping, and chronically stimulating her HPA-axis without even realizing it until she becomes EXHAUSTED and can't get herself out of this cycle.

Motherhood is the perfect storm for adrenal fatigue for any women who have a history of abuse.

How to heal adrenals naturally:

1.Know triggers to emotional stress and have techniques to combat it.

• ...Emotional stress can trigger the adrenals to continually release cortisol.
• Start to gain awareness of your body and what situations and environments you are in that
  create these triggers. Signs may be tightness in chest, heavy breathing, brain racing, sweaty palms, feelings of dread or overwhelm, sick feeling in your gut.

2.Have essential oils readily available for when you are in a stressful environment.

• ...Melissa, Green Mandarin, Copaiba, and Roman Chamomile are some of the
• Roman Chamomile helps increase biological activity of the hippocampus. This is really powerful for abuse survivors because studies have shown this area of the brain to reduce in activity and size.
• top anxiety/depression oils that can reduce the stress response quickly.
  Melissa will cross the blood brain barrier quickly and have a fairly immediate effect on anxiety. Place 3 drops over your heart or behind your neck when you are having a panic attack or severely anxious.

3.Reduce foods high in aspartame

• ....Aspartame is a fake sweetener and it is highly neurotoxic. This product gets broken down into 3 biochemical parts, 1 of which is aspartic acid, which is one of the
  main "excitatory" neurotransmitters in the central nervous system.
• This product will increase anxiety and nerve excitation when consumed on a regular basis.

4.Incorporate low glycemic foods and anti-inflammatory foods

• Eating foods that slowly raise blood sugar help to maintain energy levels and help you avoid crashing mid day.
• Foods high in healthy fats and fiber such as:
  1. Avocado
  2. Eggs
  3. Wild Salmon
  4. Broccoli
  5. Spinach
  6. and garlic

5.Exercise 3-5 days per week in nature.

• Exercise helps tremendously with reducing stress and naturally increasing dopamine
• ...These supplements are powerful in helping regulate the stress response.
• Phosphatidyl Serine is a great supplement to take in the afternoon or before bed when and pleasure centers of the brain, Aerobic exercise is nature helps promote a sense of calming and seclusion, but also has a grounding effect on our energy. Being out in nature has positive effects on our mood and self esteem. Aim for 30 minutes, even if it'sjust walking.

6.Supplements high in Adaptogens, Vitamin B6/12, Vitamin C, Licorice, American Ginseng, Rhodiola Root extract. If you are in Phase 1 or 2 of Adrenal Fatigue and your cortisol levels are elevated.

• In complete Phase 4 exhaustion, Raw Adrenal Bovine would be recommended to help increase cortisol levels.

7.Take Turmeric:

• Turmeric is a powerful anti-inflammatory herb. Taking this daily as a concentrated capsule or using it with cooking will help to reduce inflammation. Cortisol, our main stress hormone that is depleted with adrenal fatigue, helps to modulate inflammation levels. It's important to take this daily to keep inflammation levels down.

If you feel you may be suffering with this, contact Dr. Misty Kosciusko, a certified Functional Medicine Practitioner in Portsmouth, RI here Functional Medicine Appointments. We specialize in helping women with chronic fatigue!