Addison's Disease, Adrenals & Autoimmunity

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

Addison’s disease is an autoimmune, inflammatory condition of the adrenal glands, resulting in the gradual destruction and inability to make sufficient amounts of adrenal hormones. 

The most common symptoms of Addison's disease:

• weight loss
• muscle weakness
• fatigue
• loss of appetite
• low blood pressure
• darkening of the skin in many cases, more noticeable on scars, pressure points, lips and mucus membranes
• low blood sugar
• mood changes, depression or irritability
• half of patients experience nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting

Addison’s disease can be difficult to diagnose with the clearest symptom as a darkening of the skin, but it may not be present in some patients and it is never present in secondary Addison’s disease. Diagnosis is made by assessment of Cortisol levels in blood.
Common test used to diagnose Addison's Disease include:

• ACTH Stimulation Test
• Insulin-Induced Hypoglycemia Test,
• CT scan of abdomen,
• NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance imaging) scan of head

Addison’s disease occurs when more then 90% of adrenal gland tissue is destroyed (primary Addison’s disease). The destruction can occur due to various causes:

• Most frequently, it is due to autoimmune process, when immune system attacks adrenal glands
• Tuberculosis as a cause of Addison’s disease is more common in developed countries
• Rarely, adrenal glands can be destroyed by infections, cancer metastasis, amyloidosis, or hemorrhage. When pituitary gland fails to produce enough ACTH, adrenal glands are not stimulated to produce Cortisol and a secondary Addison’s

*Thank you to Daniela Cihakova MD, PhD from John Hopkins Medical Institutions for some of the stats and info above. See more....
 
The point that is key to make here is the most frequent underlying challenge with Addison's Disease which would be autoimmunity. When this disease state is diagnosed I see the same issue in conventional treatment as I do with those diagnosed with Hashmoto's Disease (thyroid autoimmunity.) Just as with Hashimoto's viewed as a thyroid issue, Addison's is viewed as an adrenal issue and in my mind, this cannot be further from the truth. The problem is not the adrenals specifically, it is the autoimmune reaction and the triggers for autoimmunity.

Unfortunately, this is often not addressed with the most common treatment is to give the body some form of cortisol. While there may be a time and place for this treatment, I have to share that this is simply a symptom care as the individual continues to lose adrenal function as time progresses.

So what's the key?

As mentioned above, it is the autoimmune reaction and the triggers for autoimmunity.

One of the challenges here is that conventional medicine does not feel that autoimmunity can be overcome and in fairness, this is true. Based on the symptom/prescription model, there is very little on can do with an autoimmune condition. Thankfully from a holistic model, there is quite a bit that can be accomplished with autoimmunity.

The first key here is to take care of your fundamentals of health. You know, the simple things that unfortunately, most of us do not take care of. For your complimentary four part video series on the fundamentals of health go to www.depkewellness.com and click on the purple "Sign Me Up!" button at the bottom of the page. You will have a video emailed to you each day for four days to engage you in your fundamentals of health.

The next step is to assess adrenal function and get yourself on a protocol to assist your body in resetting your HPA axis (hypthalamus, pituitary, adrenal axis) as well as balancing your adrenals at the core. This is a key because the HPA axis plays a significant role in your body being able to balance from stress, whether this is physical stress due to infection, injury or inflammation, mental/emotional stress, chemical stress or even spiritual/vibrational stress. This is a key because without the HPA axis, all your stress is accumulative and this further depletes to adrenal insufficiency and adding to the autoimmune triggers.

After this, it is key to assess your triggers for adrenal insufficiency and autoimmunity. The most common triggers are as listed:

• food sensitivity
• chronic mental/emotional stress
• standard American diet (SAD) 
• high in sugar and processed food
• chronic inflammatory condition
• chronic infection (commonly GI infections)

Of course we would also want to support immune system and gastro intestinal system along with all else mentioned above. After all, about 70 - 80% of your immune function originates in your GI.

So when you can focus on your fundamentals of health, assist the body in resetting the HPA axis and balancing your adrenal function all while addressing your individual triggers while supporting immune and GI function, this provides the best opportunity for shifting the autoimmune response.

So in the end, understand that autoimmunity and Addison's Disease typically go hand in hand and that you do have power to shift this condition.

If you have a comment or question pertaining to this article, please leave this below and I will address this personally.

If this subject intrigues you and you are not currently a client of Depke Wellness, we always offer a complimentary 20 minute phone consultation to assist you in understanding this further. Feel free to call our office at (949)954-6226.

What you need to know...

by Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

...about adrenal function.

Adrenal Fatigue

I have to share an immense level of excitement that I have for all of you. The "Adrenal Summit" is being released soon and this is the missing link of understanding in regard to health and happiness in our culture. It seems that the only subjects that get significant attention these days are subjects covered in conventional medicine. Well, conventional medicine does not talk about adrenal function, therefore there is little information available on this subject.

First, you may wonder why conventional medicine does not discuss this significant health issue. The reason is simply because there is not a drug for adrenal fatigue. I am not bashing conventional medicine for this but understand that the model of symptom, diagnosis and prescription does not work if the prescription is not available.

You may also ask, if this does not have a prescription response, is this really a problem? That's an easy answer and actually a big fat YES! I have personally reviewed over 4,300 adrenal test kits in my career and have only seen 5 come back healthy and balanced at the onset of a new client. Yes, ONLY 5! In fairness, people that visit Depke Wellness have health issues, so understand that if you have a health issue, the likelihood that your adrenals are balanced is about 1/10 of one percent. I don't know about you, but those seem like very poor odds to me.

Since so many have not heard of adrenal function let's first look at the symptoms you may feel if your adrenal function is imbalanced.

• Fatigue
• Body aches
• Unexplained weight loss
• Weight gain in your midsection
• Low blood pressure
• Lightheadedness
• Loss of body hair
• Poor mental clarity
• Poor sleep patterns
• Blood sugar instability
• Inflammatory conditions
• Poor immune function
• Toxicity
• Digestive challenges
• Thyroid, pancreas or ovary dysfunction
• and so much more...

The symptoms and health issues are typical for those in a stage II or stage III adrenal insufficiency but phase I is actually quite different. In stage I, you likely feel like you can take on the world. You'll probably say things like "it doesn't matter what life throws at me, I can push through everything" or "stress actually stimulates me and helps my focus and productivity" or even "I can burn the candle at both ends and even in the middle." During this time, your adrenal glands are over producing cortisol to address your chronic stress. Understand though that this is nothing but stimulation of cortisol and can be compared to drinking a pot of coffee or eating sugar for energy. Yes, it's energy but not an optimal production of energy. Staying there long term will eventually push you into later stages of adrenal insufficiency and ultimate the symptoms and health challenges listed about.

With the understandings shared above, I want to get back to why I am so excited for you. Our upcoming adrenal summit is a collection of 13 leaders in their perspective fields as tied directly into adrenal function. The other exciting part is that this summit is going to be free for your enjoyment and education!

Let's take a quick look at who is sharing and what they are sharing.

Dr Daniel Kalish, DC

Adrenal Summit Launch 

Dr. Thomas O'Bryan, DC, CCN, DACBN
Gluten Sensitivity, Celiac and Adrenal Function

Dr Peter Osborne

Gluten Cross Reactivity and Adrenal Function

Dr Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS

The Cortisol/Insulin Connection

 

Dr Josh Axe
Exercise Effects on Adrenal Function

Glen Depke, Traditional Naturopath

Inflammation Effects on Adrenal Function

Linda Clark, M.A., Certified Nutrition Consultant (CNC)

Detoxification, Toxicity and Adrenal Health

Sue Ingebretson

Stress and the Emotional Impact on Adrenal Health

Dr Robert Janda, DC

Infection and Adrenal Function

Manny Aragon

The Structural Body and Adrenal Health

Lynda Buitrago, MS

The Thyroid/Adrenal Connection

John Lewis and Jeffery Zavik

Obesity, Sensitivity and Adrenal Function

Dr David Fletcher

Chiropractic Care and Adrenal Health

Glen Depke

Adrenal Summit Conclusion

The experts that we have for your enjoyment and education are the leaders in their field and actually the experts experts. This event is going to create a paradigm shift and the needed education for our culture to understand adrenal fatigue, the impact this has on our health and happiness and more importantly, what we can do about this.