Keeping Your Adrenals Healthy

Almost all of us have some type of stress in our lives. Even attempting to avoid stress can cause stress, because it is so prevalent in the human experience. The fact that stress can be a major factor in a number of health problems has become common knowledge; unfortunately, avoiding it often seems impossible. Managing stress is of the utmost importance for a lot of people, especially those who are suffering from specific illnesses such as adrenal fatigue syndrome. If your adrenal glands aren’t producing the hormones necessary to keep you awake and alert, stress will make it near impossible to function.

The adrenal glands are very important; the hormones they produce affect many different bodily functions including the body's blood sugar levels, immune function, blood pressure, and even thyroid hormones. That means that if you have imbalanced adrenal hormones, your thyroid hormones may also become imbalanced. Unfortunately, imbalanced adrenal hormones can lead to a downward spiral that can be difficult to recover from without the help of bio-identical hormones.

Many scientists believe that adrenal fatigue syndrome is a problem that afflicts a large proportion of the population to some degree. A large number of individuals are unaware that their adrenal glands are not functioning properly and believe that the symptoms that they are experiencing may be related to other health issues. There are some doctors who either are not aware of adrenal fatigue syndrome or who do not yet accept it as a legitimate health issue; patients of these doctors may not be getting the proper advice. Those same patients would greatly benefit from referrals to bioidentical hormone doctors who would be able to help them balance their hormones and feel energetic and healthy again. If you think you might be suffering from adrenal fatigue syndrome, you may need to be your own advocate in order to get the help that you need.

Doctors who specialize in bioidentical hormone therapy are able to diagnose imbalanced cortisol levels using a simple saliva test. Cortisol is a “stress” hormone produced by the adrenal cortex. Treatment for imbalanced cortisol levels typically includes stress reduction techniques, nutrition recommendations, fitness recommendations, and supplements in addition to specialized bioidentical hormone treatments that can help your adrenal glands recover and start functioning properly again. There are a variety of treatment recommendations that have been shown to build up the strength of adrenal glands that have been heavily taxed by stress, but it is important to follow the advice of a knowledgeable physician.

It is not wise to try to treat adrenal fatigue syndrome without the help of a qualified professional. Any therapy that is recommended should be geared towards getting the adrenal glands to begin functioning properly again. Some treatments can actually have the opposite effect and cause adrenal glands to stop producing hormones at all! By getting the advice of a professional, you can give your adrenal glands a bit of a rest while boosting their health, allowing your body to naturally and effectively deal with stress. Having healthy adrenal glands can, after all, make stress less stressful and help you enjoy getting up in the morning for a change.