Adrenal Stress: Part One
Filed Under Dr. Zoltan Rona (MD) |
Stressed out? Chronically tired? Burnt out? Allergies getting worse instead of better? Catching one infection after the next despite a good diet? Premature menopause? If you are coping with some or all of these health problems, chances are high that you are suffering from varying degrees of adrenal insufficiency.
How do the adrenals weaken? Most commonly, different types of stress are involved. While
some of these stresses are beyond our immediate control (nasty bosses, postal worker strikes, stock market crashes, unfriendly in-laws, hurricanes, etc.), many stresses weakening the adrenals are dependent on our diet and lifestyle choices. For example, a high intake of caffeine and refined carbohydrates, cigarette smoking, heavy alcohol consumption, and drugs too numerous to list all stress the adrenals by causing a greater than normal secretion of adrenal hormones, leading to eventual depletion of stress hormone reserves.
Working long hours under fluorescent lights at a sedentary job and getting little to no exercise also weakens adrenal function. So does long hours of watching television, reading newspapers filled with bad news, and staring at computer screens.
Menopause is one major life event strongly connected to adrenal glandular function. In the healthy female, once the ovaries stop producing estrogen and progesterone, the adrenal glands take over production to maintain a comfortable balance. If this transition period does not occur smoothly, women entering the menopause will experience severe and often debilitating hot flashes, vaginal dryness, depression, loss of libido, accelerating osteoporosis, memory disturbances, and blood sugar control problems (hypoglycemia).
Adrenal insufficiency can cause exaggerated or early menopausal symptoms that create the
illusion that prescription hormone replacement therapy is needed. The ability to deal effectively with physical, chemical, emotional, and other environmental stressors such as viruses, ionizing radiation and prolonged physical exertion depends largely on the health of your adrenal response.
The adrenals are a pair of glands (shaped like Napoleon’s hat) that lie just above the kidneys. They secrete more than three dozen hormones derived from cholesterol directly into the bloodstream. Each gland, about one to two inches in length and weighing only a fraction of an ounce each, is composed of two distinct parts: the inner adrenal medulla and the outer adrenal cortex.
The outer region of the adrenal glands secretes hormones known as corticosteroids, of which there are three types: mineralocorticoids, glucocorticoids, and the 17-ketosteroids (sex hormones). Adrenal cortical hormones are controlled by ACTH, a pituitary hormone.
The inner adrenal medulla secretes epinephrine (adrenalin) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline), the hormones that mediate the “flight-or-flight” alarm response to stress. Adrenal medullary hormones are controlled by the sympathetic nervous system.
The glucocorticoids (cortisol, corticosterone, cortisone) cause blood sugar levels to go higher, reduce inflammation, and dampen the allergic response. Abnormal levels of glucocorticoids could be partially responsible for hypoglycemia or diabetes, an exaggerated pain response, and poorly controlled allergies.
The mineralocorticoids, the most important of which is aldosterone, cause the body to retain sodium while increasing potassium excretion. Abnormal aldosterone levels can therefore create imbalances between sodium and potassium and, consequently, fluid levels in the body. The major sex hormone produced by the adrenal cortex is the androgen, DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) which is then converted into other sex hormones (testosterone, estrogens, progesterone).
Shades of Imperfection
Conventional medicine categorizes adrenal function as either normal, low (adrenal insufficiency, a.k.a. Addison’s disease), or high (Cushing’s Syndrome, a rare disorder caused by an overactive adrenal cortex). Most individuals affected by suboptimal adrenal function fall between these two extremes and are left without any medical solution to their health problems.
Adrenal weakness is at the bottom of poorly controlled stress conditions ranging from anxiety, allergies, and recurrent infections to hypoglycemia, depression, autoimmune disease, and chronic fatigue of unknown cause. If the initial screening tests fail to show either low or high levels of various steroids, reductionistic medical thinking, regardless of patient signs and symptoms, is that adrenal function is normal. Studies, however, show that adrenal function can be compromised long before abnormalities start appearing in such laboratory tests and that the use of adrenal glandular support reverses signs and symptoms and replenishes depleted organ reserves.
Dr. Zoltan Rona
