Adrenal Fatigue

Do You Have Adrenal Fatigue?

As a practitioner, I see many clients struggling with adrenal fatigue. They have low energy, trouble getting out of bed, are tired mid-afternoon, and get energized at night. They also experience body aches, muscle weakness and feel light-headed.

If you are feeling these symptoms, you should get your hormones tested with a 24-hour saliva test. Saliva testing triumphs blood testing because you want to gain insight into your cortisol levels throughout the day as opposed to one snapshot using a blood test. If you have been going to your conventional doctor and have not felt better, it’s time to run some functional medicine labs to gain insight into how your body is functioning and where the imbalances are. Once you have gained beneficial insight into your current state of wellness, you know the possible root causes of your symptoms. Now, it is time to follow a customized nutraceutical protocol to get your body in alignment to reach total wellness of mind and body.

There are two important stress response hormones, DHEA and Cortisol. Cortisol helps your body maintain blood sugar and gives you energy. Excess cortisol caused by stress or fatigue can negatively affect the body’s adrenal function.
DHEA is the master precursor to our major sex hormones, such as testosterone and estrogen. When the body is under stress, it prioritizes the formation of cortisol over DHEA.

As one experiences more stress or chronic daily stress, the issue is that the cortisol will elevate, and DHEA lowers, making one susceptible to hormonal imbalances. Over time, adrenals will enter into a state of exhaustion where DHEA and cortisol will plummet, and the individual will have significant problems with energy and hormonal imbalances. Additionally, when your vitamin C levels are low, your body cannot produce the necessary amount of cortisol when combatting stress, which results in adrenal fatigue. We utilize a first-morning urine test to check your current Vitamin C and B vitamins, which are essential for proper adrenal functioning.

The theory of adrenal fatigue states when people face long-term stress, their adrenal glands cannot keep up with the body’s need for these hormones. When this happens, supporters of adrenal fatigue believe that symptoms may appear.

What are the symptoms of adrenal insufficiency?
fatigue (tiredness)
body aches
muscle weakness
loss of appetite or weight loss
low blood pressure
light-headed
loss of body hair
skin discoloration.

If you are feeling symptoms, you should get your hormones tested with a 24-hour saliva test.

Why is sleep so important? Cortisol and DHEA have a natural wave-like cycle that should occur daily. When this cycle is off, it can cause several major health problems.

You want to run a comprehensive saliva hormone test where you collect your saliva 4X throughout the day to gain insight into what is happening with your cortisol levels. Most doctors measure cortisol and DHEA at one time of the day and not throughout the day.

I highly recommend utilizing functional medicine lab tests to check your hormone and stress markers using a 24-hour saliva test. To gain further insight into your well-being, I recommend utilizing your first-morning urine collection to perform an organic acid test which is a screening test providing a snapshot into multiple aspects of one’s health, giving insight into your gut microbiome, any nutrient deficiencies, your neurotransmitter levels, as well as toxic exposure that could be underlying the cause of your current health status, or symptoms.

Making your health your number one priority is crucial these days to achieving total wellness of mind and body. If not now, then when? Better to be proactive than reactive to disease. Unfortunately, too many are going through life not feeling their best, settling on just getting by. Gain insight and take charge of your health by finding out how your body functions and following your healthy lifestyle factors to get your body in balance and achieve total wellness.

You are here for a reason, and to accomplish all you want to do and experience in life, you must feel your best!

Order your hormone saliva test and organic acid urine testing so you discover your hormone health, gut health, nutrient deficiencies (checks Vitamin C, B, glutathione, CoQ10, Biotin, and more), your neurotransmitter levels, as well as toxic exposure, detoxification pathways, oxalates, and Krebs cycle.

Only order your hormone saliva test to check your hormones, DHEA, and cortisol.

Checkout my latest video on Adrenal Fatigue

Tags: adrenal exhaustion, adrenal fatigue, adrenal insufficiency, adrenal test, chronic fatigue, cortisol, Cortisol Test, functional medicine nutritionist, functional medicine practitioner, functional medicine testing, Great Plains, hormone test