Tuesday, February 3, 2009

A Possible Answer to Your Unexplained Exhaustion

Are you always tired, yet no medical tests performed or treatment offered can explain or adequately resolve your exhaustion? There are many possible contributing causes of fatigue, but one may not be well know or accepted as a valid condition by your physician.

A condition referred to as General Adaptive Syndrome, or more descriptively as Adrenal Fatigue may be worth looking into. Medical professionals readily acknowledge the end presentation of this disorder, which is called Addison’s disease, but often dismiss treatment and intervention opportunities in its earlier stages. Our adrenal glands are our bodies’ central control center, responding instantaneously with acute accuracy to stimuli including stress, injury, chronic pain, and emotional impact. Although capable of rapid recovery, some situations or repeat stressors can lead the adrenals to lose their ability to adapt, resulting in adrenal fatigue.

There are some common presentations occurring in adrenal fatigue cases. These often include, but are not limited to:
  • Difficulty or inability to get your day started until 10 a.m.
  • Drop of in energy level before noon with improvement after a meal.
  • Frequent debilitating exhaustion between 2-4 p.m.
  • Another improvement in stamina after an evening meal.
  • Difficult to stay awake after 9 or 10 p.m.
  • If pushing through the evening hours, many find their “second wind” and best energy of the day between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m.
  • Even with an apparently adequate amount of rest, it is not restorative sleep.
  • Best and often most refreshing sleep comes between 7 and 9 a.m., if afforded that luxury.
Clinical presentations may occur in adults as well as children, often including a decreased ability to handle stress, feeling as though everything takes more effort, unresponsive or under-responsive to thyroid therapy, salt and sweet cravings to name a few.

Adults at high risk for adrenal fatigue include single parents, those working multiple or stressful jobs, care givers and health care professionals, as well as individuals exposed to repeated illnesses, persistent mental stress, and trauma (accidents, surgery, childbearing, loss of a loved one, and divorce).

Children experiencing the responses of “fight, flight, or fright” on a regular basis as a result of ADD, ADHD, Autistic Spectrum Disorders, or Sensory Processing Dysfunction, to name a few, may be at an increased risk of overworking their adrenal glands and throwing their bodies into adrenal fatigue over time. Academic stress, family concerns and other traumatic emotions may also trigger onset of this condition.

To learn more about Adrenal Fatigue and how to restore your body’s ability to regain this vital function, check out the book,
Adrenal Fatigue The 21st Century Syndrome by Dr. James L. Wilson, available through our site.


Tara R. Jenner, owner and managing director, The Brain Trainers and Keith S. Susko, MD, Board certified physician in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation with subspecialty board certification in Pain Medicine

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