What Is Adrenal Fatigue? Part 1

This is a multi-part post on Adrenal Fatigue , how to recognize it and get the help you need.

Adrenal Fatigue (Hypoadrenia)

 First of all what is Hypoadrenia? This is the medical term for deficiency in the adrenal hormones. In the normal way steroid hormones are produced in exact quantities according to the body’s emotional and physical needs. However when Hypoadrenia occurs these hormones, especially cortisol, will be decreased. This will cause havoc throughout your body and even affect you mentally.

There are varying degrees of Hypoadrenia or depletion of the adrenal hormones. There can be a small amount of the hormones, resulting in general malaise, or none at all. Complete absence of the adrenaline hormones is known as Addison’s disease. This disorder is relatively uncommon affecting 4 in 10,000. The most prevalent cause for this problem is autoimmune disease. The other major cause is extreme stress. This can be either emotional or physical. Stress will cause the hormones to be depleted. Patients of Addison’s disease are usually on corticosteroids all their lives. If left untreated this disorder can be fatal.

On the other end of the scale there are many people suffering from adrenalin hormone depletion who have only a small decrease in hormones. However it still makes a surprising difference in their health. The adrenal hormones are so important to our mental and physical wellbeing that even the smallest misbalance can cause serious problems.

There are several names for Hypoadrenia, but adrenal fatigue most aptly describes it. This is because fatigue or tiredness is the most common symptom that patients of this disorder experience.

Adrenal fatigue is one of the names given to ailments arising from the depletion of adrenal hormones. It is in fact a collection of symptoms known as adrenal fatigue syndrome. It is not widely recognized by the medical profession. However it’s devastating effects should be recognized, as a surprising number of people suffer from adrenaline fatigue.

One of the reasons for the medical community’s neglect of this problem is the fact that the symptoms are not only diverse but are often hard to pinpoint. The symptoms can often be associated with other diseases or syndromes and the real source can become difficult to diagnose. Another reason that doctors do not consider the adrenal glands as a cause of the patient’s symptoms is the fact that adrenal fatigue is not a widely studied syndrome. This leaves many patients with this disorder confused and without hope of ever getting better.