PREVENTION
Frank Aieta, ND
Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome in Women T
he following is an excerpt from a chapter written by Dr. Frank Aieta from the soon to be released book: Essential Remedies for Women’s Health. The chapter entitled “Adrenal Fatigue
Syndrome and Women” gives an in-depth look at this very common but often overlooked condition. Many women today are performing the hectic balancing act of
working full time jobs, tending to their children and taking care of their homes. In my naturopathic medical practice I would have to say that over 75% of the new female patients that I see on a daily basis list fatigue as one of their top chief complaints. Fatigue can have many different etiologies ranging from overt disease causes such as cancer or an autoimmune condition to sleep disorders or thyroid dysfunction. One of my jobs as a physician is to uncover these possible causes through proper history taking, running labora- tory tests, getting appropriate imaging done and performing a physi- cal examination. Other sources of fatigue can be more functional in nature such as dietary shortcomings, which for example can lead to nutrient deficiencies such as iron or B12.
One of the most common causes that I see though is a condi-
tion known as adrenal fatigue syndrome. Unlike an overt disease where there is a defined cause, a syndrome is a group of signs and symptoms that occur together and suggest the presence of a certain disease or an increased chance of developing disease. Syndromes tend to have a broad range of possible causes that could create a particular set of circumstances rather than one specific root cause. Syndromes are important, because they alert us that we have dysfunction going on in the body that may not have a clear-cut, cause-and-effect relationship. A good example of this is PMS or premenstrual syndrome. PMS is simply a descriptive term for a set of symptoms associated with the onset of the menstrual cycle. It does not tell us the cause. To really understand this syndrome we first
need to understand the major players here and they are of course the adrenal glands themselves and the important life sustaining hormones that they secrete.
Adrenal Glands
The adrenals are small glands that sit on top of the kidneys and their role in the body is extremely important to say the least. These powerful little glands manufacture and secrete steroid hormones such as cortisol, DHEA, estrogen, progesterone, pregnenolone, aldo- sterone, testosterone and others that are essential to your health and vitality. They not only significantly affect the functioning of every tis- sue, organ and gland in your body; they also have important effects on the way you think and feel. In all actuality, without the hormones the adrenals produce you would die very quickly. Adrenal fatigue syndrome is produced when your adrenal glands cannot adequately meet the demands of stress. The adrenal glands enable your body to respond to every kind of stress (whether it’s physical, emotional or psychological) through these hormones that regulate energy production and storage, heart rate, blood sugar balance, muscle tone, and other processes that enable you to cope with the stress.
Stress can come in the form of 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 and your adrenals have to respond. If they don’t, or if their response is weak, you will experience some degree of adrenal hypo-functioning and fatigue.
Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome
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In adrenal fatigue syndrome, your adrenal glands function, but not enough to maintain your normal, healthy balance. Their output of hormones has been diminished by over-stimulation. This over- stimulation can be caused either by a very intense single stress or by chronic or repeated stressors that have a cumulative effect. When a person’s adrenal glands have a low reserve, they are unable to make adequate amounts of a key stress hormone called cortisol as well as all of the others. In consequence, people with low adrenal output and reserve tend to be tired and depressed, are more susceptible to colds, flu and other infections, tend to have prolonged infections, and are much more vulnerable to allergies and arthritis, among other things. Many of the patients that I see with low adrenal func- tion tell me that they are prone to bouts of anxiety, nervousness, temper flare-ups and even panic attacks. The reason for this is that adrenal hormones are necessary to maintain adequate blood sugar. In people with low adrenal reserve, blood sugar drops quickly during stress because there is not enough
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