As we have seen, chronic stress is very common in our society and the ill effects attributed to adrenal fatigue are literally killing us. It seems we are constantly bombarded with stress–everywhere we turn it seems there is something else we have to deal with–things like a death in the family, work stress, moving, changing jobs, illness and/or disputes with loved ones and friends. However, there are many more sources of stress that most people don’t think about, including:
Mental & Emotional
|
Tissue Damage/Inflammation/Pain
|
Dietary Imbalances
|
Others
|
You can quickly see why so many people are “sooooooo stressed”–most of us have stressors overtaking our lives. In particular, our diets and eating patterns create a perpetual cycle that keeps us in adrenal fatigue.
Learn more about stress and your health:
[postlist 2]
Adrenal fatigue is a term applied to a collection of nonspecific symptoms, such as body aches, fatigue, nervousness, sleep disturbances and digestive problems. The term often shows up in popular health books and on alternative medicine websites, but it isn’t an accepted medical diagnosis.
This is a great point Shela, and is often a point of confusion or contention when working with medical providers. From my conversations with my colleagues, the point of difference is that the terms “adrenal fatigue”, “adrenal stress” and/or anything similar are not diseases; rather they represent a transitory state that can exacerbate and/or develop into other health conditions if not properly addressed.
Most diseases are viewed as endpoints; a diagnosis is the culmination of matching specific symptoms with a persons physical and mental presentation over time. In medicine, a diagnosis of adrenal dysfunction – with disorders of hyper-secretion of cortisol at one end, such as Cushing’s Syndrome, or hypo-secretion at the other, such as Addison’s Disease – represent a state that can only be managed; it cannot be corrected. When we speak of adrenal fatigue and the like, we are speaking of a state that has a wide impact on a number of body systems that can be corrected. In this way, we can alleviate the negative impact of this transitory state to restore health throughout the system.
Great observation – thanks for the comment –
Dr. Chad