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Adrenal fatigue is a term used to pertain to exhausted adrenal glands. As the term implies, the adrenal glands cannot produce enough hormones because they are overused. The term is mostly a general umbrella term for a collection of nonspecific symptoms. In the next chapters, you will get to know more about these clinical manifestations.
The adrenal glands are important because they can produce a wide variety of hormones that can work wonders for your body even if it is under stress. These are some of the reasons that they are regarded as important for your body functions:
Aldosterone elevates sodium ion reabsorption in your bloodstream. As a result, this can help maintain optimal blood pressure.
Androgens help males maintain their reproductive functions and make the male traits dominant.
On the other hand, cortisol increases blood sugar levels for your body. This is the reason that people tend to have large bursts of energy when they are subjected to stress.
The adrenal glands work using numerous mechanisms of function. As soon as stress strikes your body, these glands will secrete corticosteroids such as mineralocorticoids and glucocorticoids. These substances are responsible for helping your body cope with different types of stress. In the process, these glands utilize proteins, fats, and carbohydrates to produce the necessary substances to overcome stress. To further improve the stress-coping mechanisms of your body, these glands also aid in regulating water and salt balance inside your body.
Adrenal fatigue is an umbrella term for a combination of numerous symptoms and signs that can result from dysfunction of the adrenaline glands. Because of this, the condition is generally referred to as a syndrome. This is closely connected to prolonged or intense stress levels of the body. Situations that can elevate stress levels for your body may include chronic and acute infections. Respiratory problems such as pneumonia, bronchitis, and influenza can also result in adrenal fatigue. As the term implies, the main indicator of the condition is fatigue. Unlike the typical fatigue, this condition cannot be resolved by sleeping. Furthermore, you cannot readily identify the condition, unlike conditions such as measles. The feeling of being tired will constantly drag you down. In fact, this can even lead to unproductiveness in functional activities such as work.
There are other names coined to refer to this condition. Some of the names of the condition are the following:
Adrenal apathy
Adrenal neurasthenia
Neurasthenia
Subclinical hypoadrenia
Non-Addisons hypoadrenia
Although the condition already affects millions of people in different parts of the country and the rest of the world, traditional medical approaches still do not recognize adrenal fatigue as a type of distinct syndrome.
This condition can wreak havoc on your daily life. In more serious cases, the adrenal gland activities are significantly decreased that you can have much difficulty doing simple tasks such as rolling out of bed for a few times within the day. As the increment in the level of adrenal gland activity decreases, the extent of affectation for the rest of your organs significantly increases. Moreover, you will notice great changes in other biochemically-related components and processes of your body such as the following:
Electrolyte balance
Fluid balance
Fat metabolism
Protein metabolism
Carbohydrate metabolism
Sex drive
Cardiovascular system functions
Heart functions
Aside from these components, the condition can alter the cellular levels of functions. This takes place as a direct response to the decrease in adrenal hormone levels. The response acts as a compensatory response to the deterioration in major body functions. However, by compensating for the lost biological and physiological functions, the body pays the price through other problems that you may see in other body systems over an extended period of time.
Anyone can be considered as a potential sufferer of this medical condition. This may or may not take place in one or more parts of a persons life. Usually, a major situation becomes the trigger that starts the entire cycle of stressful events that come next. As a result, even the healthiest individual can suffer the consequences of adrenaline resource drainage. However, there are numerous factors that can further increase the likelihood of being susceptible to this medical condition. These may include certain practices that you incorporate in your lifestyle such as numerous pressure-inducing situations, pneumonia, bronchitis, chronic illnesses, repeated infections, bad relationships, maternal adrenal fatigue when giving birth, imprisonment, poverty, a stressful job, substance abuse, poor diet, and too little rest and sleep.
At the moment, you cannot find recent statistics that can tell you how common this condition is among people from different walks of life. According to some experts, adrenal fatigue is estimated to affect around 15 percent of the general public. This portion of the population is typically stricken with the severe type. However, if you include the low cortisol indications, you can see that the percentage can shoot up to as high as 65 percent. These figures are applicable right before the stress-triggering factors that the 21st century brought and have affected people. These may also apply at the present because of the significant economic recession that the country has just been through recently.
There are numerous causes of adrenal fatigue. This is produced when the adrenal glands cannot meet the demands of stress that your body currently undergoes. In this regard, the adrenal glands initiate reactions to help your body cope with stress satisfactorily. Every type of stress is considered. These include psychological, physical, and emotional aspects. To make this happen, the adrenal glands secrete hormones for energy storage and production. Aside from these, the hormones aid in assisting biological processes such as muscle tone regulation, heart rate moderation, and immune functions. Additionally, the adrenal glands help attain homeostasis for your body when the body undergoes different types of stress caused by the following situations: physical stress such as a major operation, emotional stress such as the death of a loved one, and the constant stressors that can add up to the pile. These may include monthly bills or your work responsibilities. When it comes to a point that your body is unable to cope with all the stressful things that take place in your life, that is the moment when adrenal fatigue starts to set in.
Autoimmune diseases can also play a major role in the destruction of the adrenal cortex. The adrenal cortex is the outermost layer of the adrenal glands. In the process, the immune system dysfunctions can cause around 80 percent of the cases for adrenal fatigue. In the case of autoimmune problems, the immune system will create large antibodies that can attack your own tissues or organs. These antibodies can slowly destroy these multiple tissues and organs at a time.
Adrenal fatigue takes place when around 90 percent of the cortex has been altered and destroyed. This results in aldosterone and cortisol insufficiency. In some instances, the adrenal glands are the only affected regions. In other cases, the endocrine glands may also be affected. This typically takes place in conditions such as polyendocrine deficiency syndrome. This syndrome is considered as a subtype of adrenal fatigue.
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