Adrenal fatigue – like many things in the medical field – is a controversial topic. It refers to a collection of symptoms, ranging from anxiety to sleeplessness to extreme fatigue.
Also known as Addison’s disease, adrenal insufficiency is a related but more specific condition, which refers to an insufficient production of hormones produced by your adrenal glands.
Furthermore, while adrenal insufficiency is a recognized and diagnosable medical condition, adrenal fatigue is not. And, adrenal insufficiency is usually treated with some form of hormone replacement therapy.
If you see a conventional doctor, however, you won’t receive a diagnosis or treatment plan for adrenal fatigue.
Adrenal Fatigue Is Complicated
At EvexiPEL, we recognize that adrenal fatigue is complicated. And, just because the symptoms may not be as apparently severe as those of adrenal insufficiency, they are still very real and are still affecting your quality of life.
That’s why we don’t look for a specific medical diagnosis when we take on new clients. Instead, we base our process on our highly trained and skilled practitioners’ conversations with clients; bloodwork; and the specific symptoms that each client is feeling.
Our number one goal is restoring your quality of life back. So, if we decide together that hormone replacement therapy has a high probability of making you feel better, let’s do it!
But first, let’s talk a little more about:
- What exactly adrenal fatigue is
- What causes it
- How to know you have it
- How could bio-identical hormone replacement therapy help to alleviate it
What Causes Adrenal Fatigue?
Like we said earlier, an inadequate production of one or more hormones produced by your adrenal glands causes adrenal insufficiency (or Addison’s disease).
Adrenal fatigue is essentially a milder form of adrenal insufficiency, usually provoked by chronic stress.
The problem occurs when your stress levels are so high that your adrenal glands cannot keep up with it – as a result, they are unable to produce enough of the hormones that you need.
What Are My Adrenal Glands and Which Hormones Do They Produce?
Humans have two adrenal glands; each one sits on top of a
kidney. Our adrenal glands have two parts: the outer section is called the adrenal cortex, and the inner section is called the adrenal medulla.
The adrenal glands produce and discharge four distinct hormones that travel through your bloodstream, acting as “chemical messengers.” This means they essentially travel around telling different tissues in your body how to function properly.
Your adrenal cortex (the outer section) produces three hormone compounds:
- Mineralocorticoids
- Glucocorticoids
- Adrenal androgens
For instance, the most predominant mineralocorticoid is aldosterone, which helps your body maintain its proper salt and water levels (which will regulate your blood pressure).
Regulating Your Body’s Metabolism
The most important glucocorticoid is cortisol, which helps regulate your body’s metabolism, glucose production. It also triggers your body’s response to illnesses and has anti-inflammatory effects.
These are all very, very important functions of your adrenal gland hormones, but at EvexiPEL we are most concerned with your adrenal androgens. These are the male sex hormones.
That is to say, the main two are dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and another hormone you may have heard of called testosterone.
So, it’s not uncommon for symptoms of adrenal fatigue to be related to an insufficient production of testosterone, which is something we can specifically address with bio-identical hormone replacement therapy.
For the sake of understanding your adrenal glands, it is also important to talk about catecholamines (hormone compounds produced by the inner adrenal medulla). The most notable catecholamines produced are:
- Adrenaline
- Noradrenaline
- Dopamine
Furthermore, these are important because they control your body’s physiological manifestations of stress.
You may have heard of this referred to colloquially as the “fight or flight” response. So, if you are experiencing adrenal insufficiency or fatigue, your catecholamines have likely been put under a lot of pressure.
What Are the Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue?
Adrenal fatigue symptoms occur when the hormones produced by your adrenal glands are not effectively regulating the bodily functions that they should be regulating. Together, these hormones end up affecting a lot of things; here are some symptoms that may occur:
- Lack of motivation to get out of bed, exercise, see people, etc.
- Decreased sex drive
- Prolonged illnesses
- Extreme exhaustion (often for no reason)
- High-stress levels
- Feeling like you need snacks or coffee to get through the day
Restoring Balance
BHRT is a type of hormone therapy that uses hormones that are structurally identical to the substances as they naturally occur in your body. It has been a favorite for both men and women going through the aging process and dealing with hormonal imbalance.
Other hormone therapy options include pills, patches, and creams, but don’t offer an individualized approach for your unique needs and health concerns. BHRT is the natural alternative to synthetic hormone treatments that often don’t provide relief.
We use BHRT through hormone pellet therapy. Hormone pellets have been around for decades but were pushed aside when pills and patches flooded the market.
However, many practitioners are turning back to hormone pellet therapy to offer their patients a more individualized approach to restoring balance and optimizing hormones.
Which Hormone Replacement Therapy is Best for Me?
With various options and tons of information out there, it can be a lot of pressure deciding which method is the best for you. Take some time to read through these FAQs to get a better idea of what hormone pellet therapy is all about and how it can help you.
Designed for both men and women, hormone pellets are roughly the size of a grain of rice and composed of an estrogen hormone or testosterone.
They come from organic plant materials that mimic the molecular structure of those hormones found in the body. And, these tiny pellets are inserted under the skin, usually in the buttocks, in a simple and painless in-office procedure.
Contact Us Today
These are just a few symptoms of adrenal fatigue. If this is sounding like you, get in touch – we’d love to talk!
So, depending on which of your adrenal gland hormones aren’t functioning properly, EvexiPEL’s pellet therapy could be a great solution for you.
So, by naturally replenishing your hormones, hormone replacement therapy can get you back to feeling like your old self.
Resources
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Article Reviewed By The Medical Faculty and Advisory Review Board
- Image attribution.
- Clevelandclinic.org
- Healthline.com
- Health.harvard.edu
- Bluecrossnc.com