Adrenal Fatigue

Adrenal Fatigue affects your everyday life.

Morsi Huss is a Naturopath and has a ‘Master of Herbal Medicine (USA)’, an ‘Adv. Dip. of Naturopathy’ and an ‘Adv. Dip. of Western Herbal Medicine, i ‘American Association of Drugless Practitioners (AADP) USA, and has many years of experience diagnosing and treating patients with Adrenal Fatigue.

To book an appointment for an Adrenal Fatigue assessment, please Contact Us by email or phone on 0403 330 524 to arrange for an appointment.

What is Adrenal Fatigue

Adrenal fatigue is a collection of signs and symptoms, known as a syndrome, that results when the adrenal glands function below the necessary level. Most commonly associated with intense or prolonged stress, it can also arise during or after acute or chronic infections, especially respiratory infections such as influenza, bronchitis or pneumonia. As the name suggests, its paramount symptom is fatigue that is not relieved by sleep but it is not a readily identifiable entity like measles or a growth on the end of your finger. You may look and act relatively normal with adrenal fatigue and may not have any obvious signs of physical illness, yet you live with a general sense of unwellness, tiredness or “gray” feelings. People who experience adrenal fatigue often have to use coffee, energy drinks and other stimulants to get going in the morning and to prop themselves up during the day.

This syndrome has been known by many other names throughout the past century, such as non-Addison’s hypoadrenia, sub-clinical hypoadrenia, neurasthenia, adrenal neurasthenia, adrenal apathy and adrenal fatigue. Although it affects millions of people in Australia and around the world, conventional medicine does not yet recognise it as a distinct syndrome.

Adrenal fatigue can wreak havoc with your life. In the more serious cases, the activity of the adrenal glands is so diminished that you may have difficulty getting out of bed for more than a few hours per day. With each increment of reduction in adrenal function, every organ and system in your body is more profoundly affected. Changes occur in your carbohydrate, protein and fat metabolism, fluid and electrolyte balance, heart and cardiovascular system, and even sex drive. Many other alterations take place at the biochemical and cellular levels in response to and to compensate for the decrease in adrenal hormones that occurs with adrenal fatigue. Your body does its best to make up for under-functioning adrenal glands, but it does so at a price.

What is the cause of Adrenal Fatigue

Adrenal fatigue is produced when your adrenal glands cannot adequately meet the demands of stress. The adrenal glands mobilize your body’s responses to every kind of stress (whether it’s physical, emotional, or psychological) through hormones that regulate energy production and storage, immune function, heart rate, muscle tone, and other processes that enable you to cope with the stress. Whether you have an emotional crisis such as the death of a loved one, a physical crisis such as major surgery, or any type of severe repeated or constant stress in your life, your adrenals have to respond to the stress and maintain homeostasis. If their response is inadequate, you are likely to experience some degree of adrenal fatigue.

During adrenal fatigue your adrenal glands function, but not well enough to maintain optimal homeostasis because their output of regulatory hormones has been diminished – usually by over-stimulation. Over-stimulation of your adrenals can be caused either by a very intense single stress, or by chronic or repeated stresses that have a cumulative effect.

Who is likely to devellop Adrenal Fatigue

Anyone can experience adrenal fatigue at some time in his or her life. An illness, a life crisis, or a continuing difficult situation can drain the adrenal resources of even the healthiest person. However, there are factors that can make you more susceptible to adrenal fatigue. These include certain lifestyles (poor diet, substance abuse, too little sleep and rest, or too many pressures), chronic illness or repeated infections such as bronchitis or pneumonia, prolonged situations that you feel trapped or helpless in (bad relationships, stressful jobs, poverty, imprisonment), or maternal adrenal fatigue during pregnancy.
Adrenal Fatigue

How would I know that I may have Adrenal Fatigue

You may be experiencing adrenal fatigue if you regularly notice one or more of the following:
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Feeling tired for no reason
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Having trouble getting up in the morning
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Depending on coffee or other stimulants to keep you going
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Feeling run down and stressed
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Dragging through each day
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Craving salty or sweet snacks
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Struggling to keep up with life’s daily demands
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Unable to bounce back from stress or illness
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Life is not fun anymore
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Experiencing decreased sex drive
If you answered yes to two or more of these questions, you will probably benefit from booking an appointment for an Adrenal Fatigue assessment.

Are there health concerns related to Adrenal Fatigue

The processes that take place in any chronic disease, from arthritis to cancer, place demands on your adrenal glands. Therefore, it is likely that if you are suffering from a chronic disease and morning fatigue is one of your symptoms, your adrenals may be fatigued to some degree. Also, any time a medical treatment includes the use of corticosteroids, diminished adrenal function is probably present. All corticosteroids are designed to imitate the actions of the adrenal hormone, cortisol, and so the need for them arises primarily when the adrenals are not providing the required amounts of cortisol.

Natural Treatment

Treatment involves correcting the deficiencies that directly result from impaired adrenal function as well as correcting any end organ damage or hormone imbalances that arose from it. Correcting any biochemical and hormonal abnormalities, individual tailored prescription of herbal medicine, nutritional supplements along with diet and lifestyle changes enable persons with documented impaired adrenal function to return to full health. Importantly, energy levels are restored to that of a young, healthy individual.

Recovery is rapid with patients reporting marked improvement in 2 weeks and an almost full recovery within 3 months.