Life After Adrenal Fatigue?

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

Today's article will be short, direct and to the point. This is easy because I see this issues with clients in the clinic all the time.

You have heard me talk about adrenal issues more than once so you already understand that this is a huge issue for so many reading this article and you most likely already "get" the reasons behind your adrenal issues. One area that I have not covered in great detail though, is what does life look like after you have been living with adrenal issues for some time.

Well, today is the day you get a glimpse at life after adrenal fatigue. I will review the main challenges that are created in your body as a direct result of poor adrenal function.

Let's start with other affects on the endocrine function. When your adrenals are "off" this may lead to challenges with the function of your thyroid, pancreas and/or ovaries. If this is an issue, it likely shows up as hypothyroidism, type II diabetes or insulin resistance and/or PMS or menopause symptoms for women.

Another area that is affected is with your metabolism of fat and protein. Ultimately this can lead to an inability to regulate body fat and weight properly, poor absorption of fat and protein and well as a breakdown in your mucosal lining. This is the lining for the nose, mouth, esophagus, gastro-intestinal tract and for women the vagina. This lining is your immune systems first layer of defense that is positioned where you are easily exposed to the outside environment. This lining is the Marines of your immune system and a breakdown here is an overall immune system weakness. Also understand that if you feel that you are doing everything necessary to lose weight and you cannot, this is likely due to an adrenal issue.

We also want to recognize that your adrenals play a role in every level of detoxification. Since we are all toxic on some level, we require optimal adrenal function for optimal function of the detoxification system. Poor adrenals equal a toxic body.

Two other areas that work in conjunction with each other  and depend on your adrenal function is your immune system regulation as well as pro and anti-inflammatory states. Lack of immune system regulation can lead to chemical intolerance as well as challenges such as cancer. The inflammatory states, which would be a healthy response to and immune reaction also depends on the adrenals. Understand that your body needs the ability to create inflammation and take it away as needed. With poor adrenal function, you lose this ability and often become chronically inflamed.

A huge area for so many is the adrenals ability to assist in regulating blood sugar and its affect on cellular energy. Honestly, who doesn't want more energy these days and how many people struggle with poor blood sugar regulation? Without proper adrenal function, you can kiss energy goodbye and good luck with your blood sugar. Those in early stages of adrenal dysfunction may not notice this but long term it creeps up on you.

The next area is with your muscular/skeletal system. Understand that your adrenals play a role in bone and connective tissue turnover as well as muscular integrity. As an example, it is normal to to be sore after a hard workout or up and down in the garden all day, but it is not normal for muscles to be sore with normal daily activity, yet this occurs more often than not for so many.

The last area is with neural tissue health. With this we are looking at your quality of sleep and mood, ability to memorize and learn and your overall neural connectivity. Heck with this we are talking about your autonomic nervous system that is simply the master regulator of everything in your body.

Wow! I get it...

So now you know, if you have an adrenal issue, this is much more than it sounds. This is actually an issue with your health on an ultimate holistic level. I am also sure that most of the people reading this article have some challenges with their health that are affected by poor adrenal function as listed above.

So you tell me, is adrenal health important to you?

I think I know your answer...