Adrenal Imbalance

Look at these symptoms: Profound fatigue, upper body obesity, high blood pressure. Now look at these: Salt cravings, weight loss, low blood pressure. While each set is very different, both are connected to adrenal function. The adrenal glands are responsible for triggering your body's reactions during emergencies, but these critically important organs also affect a whole heap of other aspects of your health, including how you respond to daily stress. If you have symptoms, medical tests can tell if you fall on one end of the adrenal spectrum or the other, but not if you're somewhere in the middle. Take the time right now to find out if your symptoms might be related to changes in adrenal function...

What do our adrenals do?
Your adrenals are powerful endocrine glands that help your body react to stress and keep those reactions in balance. They produce a range of hormones designed to protect us, releasing energy stores and sharpening our senses for immediate defense.

In your body's normal state, you respond to stressors and quickly recover to a state of healthy, energised calm. Chronic stress can disrupt adrenal function and lead to symptoms of adrenal imbalance. When constant stress prevails or other health problems lead the adrenals to work on overdrive, underdrive, or to eventually reach exhaustion, we can suffer dramatically. At the extremes, there's Cushing's syndrome (an overproduction of the stress hormone cortisol) and Addison's disease (an underproduction of cortisol). These conditions can be life-threatening, and will likely be diagnosed and treated quickly, but there is a whole lot of adrenal imbalance in between that is often missed.

Your symptoms are your body's way of asking for more support.
Most of us put enormous demands on our bodies - much more stress than they were designed to handle - and we don't give them adequate support. Chronic stress is especially harmful. Most of us have demanding jobs, run households, and are parents and caregivers, often for aging parents. Many of these relationships are themselves stressful. Not to mention the toll of the recent financial crisis. The demands of an always-on-the-go lifestyle fall most heavily on the adrenals which were not designed to sustain this constant toll. The cumulative effect over many years is enormous - and it tends to peak between the ages of 35 and 55. If left unchecked, these stresses can create serious problems including fatigue, insomnia, sleep disturbances, digestive problems, loss of libido, and stubborn weight gain. Check out the chart on signs and symptoms of adrenal imbalance below.

Four basic patterns leading to adrenal fatigue:

1) A prolonged period of resistance, finally giving way to adrenal fatigue.
You could say this is typical of "the stoic," who bears up to everything life has to throw at her but blows out her adrenals with a final life stressor - "the straw that broke the camel's back."

2) A single life blow, major or minor, followed by chronic, ongoing adrenal fatigue.
This pattern might be typical of those whose adrenal reserve was weak to begin with. You may have heard someone say, "Poor thing, she never got over x..."

3) Cycles of recurrent adrenal fatigue, with intermittent but partial recovery.
This is a characteristic pattern of those whose constitution is strong. They may give and give, but despite warning symptoms refuse to change. Such cycles can also result from forces of circumstance - "a series of unfortunate events."

4) Slow decline into adrenal dysfunction.
In this case, life's urgent stressors just grind down a person's resistance to stress gradually, to a point where they end up with subclinical Addison's.

Elementa's unique holistic approach to adrenal fatigue
The great news is that in all the above cases of adrenal fatigue, recovery is possible. Elementa practitioners have helped many patients through the process of healing adrenal imbalance.
In our clinic, we have developed a holistic approach that has proven successful in supporting healthy adrenal function:

• Consultation with a naturopath or nutritionist to get the full health picture
• An adrenal support formula to help your body maintain energy and mental clarity, and boost immune function.
• Supplements, where necessary, to ensure your body has the base nutrients it requires.
• Eating and lifestyle changes plan. A flexible diet designed to satisfy your body's real requirements while reducing unnecessary burdens. Simple changes to your lifestyle to help you both decrease stress and learn to deal with it better.

Your physiology and life history are unique. Your path to adrenal balance will be unique too.  Since it took you many years to get here, it may take you a few months to get better.

Case Study (Adrenal Fatigue)
By Elementa Naturopath & Medical Herbalist Annaliese Jones

Mrs Patient is age 44, mother of 13 year old twins.
Symptoms included ‘tired all the time', low motivation, weight gain, trouble concentrating, high blood pressure (managed with Acupril) and anxiety.
This patient had been involved in a car accident 6 months previous, is a busy teacher and a self confessed worry wart. She and her family had recently immigrated to New Zealand.  She had suffered anorexia as a teenager. Her most urgent concerns were the tiredness, anxiety and low motivation.

During our session a few things were ruled out including: iron deficiency, insufficient sleep, blood sugar imbalance, and "that "it was all in her head."
It was clear to me that this patient would benefit from strengthening her adrenal glands. Worry and stress had also depleted her of some essential nutrients that our bodies require for energy production.

Treatment plan:

• Broad spectrum multivitamin with high dose B vitamins and selenium
• Individualised herbal formula addressing her anxiety, stress and adrenal glands
• Reduction of caffeinated drinks (which she was relying on to get through the day) and other dietary changes were also recommended to enhance energy.
• Magnesium amino acid chelate
• Blood tests including hormonal and thyroid (which showed no problems in these areas)

Follow up appointment 3 weeks later:
Patient had been religious about taking the recommended medicines and had also cut her coffee down to 1 a-day.
Her energy had improved by 80% and she even had the energy now to get some regular walking into her day.
Her blood pressure and waist measurement had come down slightly.
No anxiety episodes since our last session.
This patient continues to be supported by natural medicines including an herbal formula that is periodically tweaked depending on her needs. Her energy has remained improved and her blood pressure is slowly but surely getting to the point that her doctor is happy to reduce her drug therapy.

Call Elementa on 09 520 4015 to make an appointment today