The 4 Signs Of Adrenal Fatigue

If you’re producing a low amount of cortisol, there is some level of adrenal fatigue. It may not be Addison’s disease (where your body is simply not producing cortisol), but you’re still not producing enough cortisol throughout the day.

Before someone reaches the adrenal-fatigue state, they go through an alarmed state. This is the state where the person is in ‘fight or flight’ mode, producing high levels of cortisol. They feel like they don’t even need to sleep, have a lot of energy, they experience anxiety for sure but even though they can’t sleep, they feel wired 24/7…

This is not good because it is burning down the body. That individual will be producing massive amounts of adrenaline and thus use a lot of their minerals. Calcium is being pulled into the blood steam to get into fight or flight and this is one of the reasons as to why calcium levels might be elevated in bloodwork. Sodium is also being used because it helps to raise blood pressure and potassium will also be lost because of the tissue breakdown that takes place as a consequence of stress.

All of a sudden, your body crashes and your cortisol levels drop. Now, you’re experiencing adrenal fatigue…

WHAT ARE THE SIGNS?

1. Allergies, asthma and difficulty breathing:

This happens a lot of the time when you are low on cortisol, norepinephrine and adrenaline. You can’t actually fight inflammation!

Yes, allergies and asthma can be mastocytosis due to histamines but it can also be inflammation-based. We forget that cortisol is not a bad thing, it just has to be within range.

Look at the back of a label of an asthma/allergy medication. They’re giving you norepinephrine in order to push the sympathetic nervous system!

2. Recurrent infections:

When you have adrenal fatigue, your body becomes weakened. You don’t have the strength to fight infections. It lowers secretory igA, your body’s first immune response in the mucosa, nasal passages, mouth, etc and this means that viruses can pass through at a much easier degree.

3. Melasma:

I see so many people with melasma and hyperpigmentation and this is always triggered by a highly stressful event. The result is an extremely high output of cortisol, followed by a crash.

4. Digestive issues:

Remember that before you got to this stage, you were in an alarmed state and producing too much cortisol, which meant that you weren’t producing enough hydrochloric acid, enzymes and bile.

What’s the issue with this? It leads to weaker and slower digestion.

There are many other signs but these are some that people don’t always link to adrenal fatigue.

WHAT NOW?

You can test your adrenal issues by simply doing a saliva hormone test. You just need to spit some saliva in 4 small tubes at 4 different times of the day: upon waking, before lunch, mid-afternoon and before bed.

Remember, when it comes to the adrenals, we cannot only measure it at one time. We need to see your cortisol output for the day and your diurnal rhythm.

There is hope for everyone, you can rebuild your body. If you have adrenal-based issues you’re probably not going to get well in 4 weeks and it is going to take a little while to rebuild your body.

You can get there but your body has literally been worn down from the immune system, virus, food allergies and sensitivities, candida, H. pylori… This means that your gut and immune system are a mess, leading the body to crash and requiring you to rebuild it.