"Fatigue"

by Elisabeth Lucas, M.D.
E-mail Elisabeth

Let's talk about fatigue. Are you tired? Does the following sound as though it could have been written about you?

Mrs. A.J. comes in complaining of fatigue. This has been going on for quite some time. She works, has a husband, 2 children. She is stressed at work during the day, and then comes home to more stress as there is never enough time to take care of the kids, cook the meals, and clean the house. She feels certain that there is no time to take care of her self. She goes to bed, may or may not fall into a dead sleep, but, when the alarm goes off in the morning, she does not feel at all rested.

You can change the details to fit your scenario. No matter the individualized life, women like A.J. feel as if they're on a roller coaster ride and can't get off.

These women are suffering from adrenal exhaustion. This is not a Western medicine diagnosis - you will not find it in a code book. In conventional medicine, either your adrenal glands are assumed to be fine and therefore are never mentioned, or you have adrenal insufficiency, a disorder in which you barely have enough energy to lift your head off the pillow. There is no in-between.

In functional medicine, we have something we call adrenal exhaustion. The adrenal glands normally secrete cortisol 24 hours a day, sometimes more, sometimes less in that period of time. Cortisol output is greatly increased during those times that the body perceives itself to be under stress. Adrenal exhaustion is often divided into 3 stages. In the first stage, one actually puts out more cortisol than usual as the body is stressed. As one goes into stage 2, the adrenal glands cannot keep up with the demand, and the output lessens. This situation continues to worsen as one goes into stage 3. Each of these stages can last from months to years and are quite individualized.

TO BE CONTINUED