Adrenal Fatigue Symptoms: What is Adrenal Fatigue, Can You Really Suffer from This Disease?
What Are the Supposed Symptoms of Adrenal Fatigue?
Commonly stated symptoms of adrenal fatigue include tiredness, exhaustion, craving salty or sweet treats, digestive problems, low blood pressure, sensitivity to cold, poor quality sleep and a constant need for stimulants such as coffee or cola drinks to keep active. Practically everyone feels these symptoms at some point. According to the author of a book claimed to be the bible of this condition an estimated 80 percent of those in industrialized societies are affected by the disease.(1) Another doctor, Bruce Rind has a chart listing 55 different body systems that supposedly demonstrate the effects of adrenal fatigue.(2)
Adrenal Fatigue vs. Adrenal Insufficiency
The reason for the public’s acceptance of the adrenal fatigue is an associated real disease, adrenal insufficiency. Those practitioners who claim adrenal fatigue is a real and treatable disease base their argument on an assumption that chronic stress eventually creates a mild insufficiency in the adrenal glands. When this is coupled with chronic fatigue syndrome it opens the door to a barrage of supposed cures. A Mayo Clinic endocrinologist, Todd Nippoldt, M.D., says adrenal fatigue is just a label that people use for a host of nonspecific symptoms, which others claim to be able to cure. (3)
Does Adrenal Fatigue Exist?
If adrenal fatigue is a real entity, then the allopathic medical community continues to ignore a condition affecting countless numbers of individuals. Unfortunately, there is no clinical evidence that such a disease exists. The National Library of Medicine (NLM) Medical Subject Headings does not include the phrase. Nor can adrenal fatigue be found in a search of the NLM PubMed database in the past 58 years. PubMed contains references to the world’s scientific literature since 1950.
Treatments for This Alleged Disease
If you believe you are experiencing symptoms of adrenal fatigue, then based on advice from the complementary and alternative medicine fields, adrenal fatigue is treated with a combination of diet, better sleep, stress reduction, stabilization of the thyroid level and cutting out all caffeinated products as well as sugar. Various supplements such as acai berries and other products that claim to boost the cortisol level are supposed to help. Even laughing more often and taking short rest breaks have been touted as cures. Practitioners recommend diets including whole grains and omega three oils to alleviate adrenal fatigue.
Warning
There are serious conditions that effect the adrenal glands, including Addison’s Disease (a real deficiency) and Cushing’s Disease, an over abundance of adrenal hormones. These require a doctor’s attention. Chronic fatigue syndrome, particularly in the young, is a recognized condition in the medical literature and also should be diagnosed and treated by specialists. Symptoms of this latter syndrome generally are more severe than the vague uneasiness of adrenal fatigue. They include impairment of cognitive ability, poor sleep, recurring sore throats and muscle aches and pains.
Notes
(1)[https://www.adrenalfatigue.org/products/adrenal_fatigue.php](https://www.adrenalfatigue.org/products/adrenal_fatigue.php Adrenal Fatigue: the 21st Century Stress Syndrome) Adrenal Fatigue: the 21st Century Stress Syndrome
(2) https://www.drrind.com/scorecardmatrix.asp Metabolic Scorecard: Symptom Matrix
(3) https://www.mayoclinic.com/health/adrenal-fatigue/AN01583 Mayo Clinic Doctor on Adrenal Fatigue
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