What is adrenal fatigue?
“Adrenal fatigue” is a term used to label non-specific symptoms that are thought to be due to long-term emotional, mental, or physical stress. Supporters of adrenal fatigue believe that one may develop this condition due to stressful situations such as a difficult job, shift work, single parent, or working student. Alcohol or drug use is also thought to cause adrenal fatigue.
What are the symptoms of adrenal fatigue?
Symptoms for adrenal fatigue are believed to be fatigue, body aches, sleep disturbances, nervousness, or digestive problems. It is also said that one may have salt and sugar craving and need stimulants such as caffeine all day to stay active. These are non-specific symptoms and are also present in many other diseases. These symptoms may just be present in normal and busy person.
What are the medical conditions mislabeled as adrenal fatigue?
Many medical conditions can be mistaken for adrenal fatigue, which includes adrenal insufficiency, Addison’s disease, sleep apnea, fibromyalgia, depression, and chronic fatigue syndrome.
Scientific medical literature does not support the diagnosis of adrenal fatigue. Usually, patients have another medical condition that is causing such symptoms. Hence most of the physicians and endocrinologists do not agree with this condition.
What is adrenal fatigue theory?
According to the supporters of adrenal fatigue theory, adrenal glands, when exposed to long term excessive stress, are unable to keep up with the production of cortisol hormone. Cortisol is a steroid-based hormone that helps our body to deal with stress. Over time, the production of cortisol is decreased, which results in adrenal fatigue. There is no proven scientific research to show this, hence this theory has never been proven in the medical literature.
An extensive review of medical literature involved 3,470 articles. Out of which, 58 studies were included, none of the researches proved that adrenal fatigue exists.
What is the difference between adrenal insufficiency and adrenal fatigue?
Adrenal insufficiency is a real medical condition when the adrenal glands are unable to produce sufficient cortisol. It is either causes by adrenal gland dysfunction or loss of pituitary gland function. The pituitary gland is a pea-sized organ that is located under the brain that sends signals called ACTH to the adrenal gland to produce cortisol.
Adrenal insufficiency manifests itself differently than the so-called adrenal fatigue. It presents with confusion, dehydration or weight loss. Patients may complain of weakness, fatigue, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, or abdominal pain. Blood pressure or blood sugars may be low.
Adrenal insufficiency is diagnosed through several blood tests. It can easily be treated with steroid-based medications to replace the deficient hormone, cortisol.
How is adrenal fatigue diagnosed?
There is no proven test to diagnose adrenal fatigue. Supporters of adrenal fatigue usually recommend that it is diagnosed based on symptoms only. A few recommend checking blood or saliva for cortisol. However, these tests are not based on scientific facts or proven research studies. These hormones are often checked out of context – for example, the level of cortisol may widely differ if checked at 8 am or 12 pm. Analysis made from these tests is usually incorrect.
What to do if you think you have Adrenal Fatigue?
Physicians, particularly endocrinologists who are hormone experts – recommend against the adrenal fatigue diagnosis and treatment. It is strongly recommended to have your physician rule out underlying diseases that may be incorrectly labeled as adrenal fatigue. It is crucial to a real diagnosis of the underline disease and receives correct medical treatment if needed.
Reference:
Cadegiani FA, Kater CE. Adrenal fatigue does not exist: a systematic review [published correction appears in BMC Endocr Disord. 2016 Nov 16;16(1):63]. BMC Endocr Disord. 2016;16(1):48. Published 2016 Aug 24. doi:10.1186/s12902-016-0128-4
