Dr. Jeremy Lam, MD: Adrenal Fatigue versus adrenal
insufficiency, how to tell the difference. Hi everyone and
welcome to this quick look at adrenal insufficiency versus
adrenal fatigue and what these conditions could mean for your
health. Now, adrenal insufficiency and adrenal
fatigue can actually look very, very similar. And they both
involve the adrenal glands, which are your main anti stress
organ system that's responsible for fighting off stress and
producing cortisol, which is your main anti stress hormone.
Cortisol really affects all tissues and organ systems in the
body. Cortisol rises in the morning, so wakes you up in the
morning and then drops down low throughout the day. It also
helps to regulate your metabolism, regulate
inflammation, immune system, as well as maintain the functions
of the heart and the blood vessels. So when your cortisol
levels are low, it can cause havoc on your body, and they
cause symptoms that are associated with both adrenal
fatigue and adrenal insufficiency, such as fatigue,
sugar imbalances, irritability, brain fog, low blood pressure,
and salt cravings as well. These two conditions are so similar
then how can you tell them apart? Well, adrenal
insufficiency, otherwise known as Addison's disease, is a
medical condition that has been around for quite a while and it
affects very small population about four out of 100,000
people. When you have this condition, your adrenal glands
can't make enough cortisol, and really the only way to address
it is to take steroids for the rest of your life. There are two
types of adrenal insufficiency. The first is known as primary
adrenal insufficiency, where your adrenals are not able to
secrete the stress hormone cortisol because of illness,
injury, or autoimmune disease. Secondary adrenal insufficiency
is because your pituitary gland which is in the brain fails to
send a signal to the adrenal glands to make more cortisol.
Adrenal Fatigue is a little different. It's subclinical,
which means you will have fatigue, you have some of the
same symptoms as adrenal insufficiency, but your adrenal
glands are still working and they're still putting out
cortisol. This is why adrenal fatigue often isn't able to be
detected via testing because your cortisol levels may come
back normal when tested. It's because when you're under so
much stress, that it's putting pressure on your adrenal glands
and causing imbalance throughout your body circuit. This means
that adrenal fatigue usually involves others components of
your body that are quite apart. This means that adrenal fatigue
also affects other components part of your body, and that's
why when you do have adrenal fatigue, you may experience
other symptoms such as cardiac symptoms, issues with your
metabolic system, body aches relating to poor detoxification,
gut issues related to high inflammation. You can have
insomnia, depression, anxiety relating to your neuroaffect or
your brain as well. Another difference is Adrenal Fatigue is
caused by ongoing stress when you're when. Another difference
is that Adrenal Fatigue is caused by ongoing stress. This
stress can come in a number of sources such as work pressures,
negativity, poor health, inflammatory diet, sedentary
lifestyle, mood disorders, grief, unhappy relationships,
and unhealthy environment, medications, poor sleep,
pollutants and toxins, emotional stress, as well as chronic
disease. Why is it important that you know the difference
between adrenal fatigue and adrenal insufficiency? That's
because the path to recovery is very, very different. With
adrenal insufficiency it's only your adrenal glands that are
dysfunctional. So taking steroids should solve most of
your problems. But when you do have adrenal fatigue, your
recovery path needs to be quite different. taking steroids can
be part of this recovery journey, but that should be last
resort, as they're very strong and can have lasting effects on
the body. Instead, your recovery from Adrenal Fatigue should
involve strategies and therapies that address all the involved
symptoms and components of your body. So if you experience
fatigue that just is not go away, then visit your doctor
first, they'll be able to perform a test to help you
determine the health of your adrenal glands, and whether
adrenal insufficiency is involved. If your tests come
back normal, then it's time to take a deeper look to really
consider if adrenal fatigue is a factor or not. Thank you for
listening today and we hope that you got something helpful and
learning the difference between the adrenal fatigue and adrenal
insufficiency. Make sure you subscribe to learn more about
adrenal fatigue. And remember that we're here to empower you
to take control of your health. teaser. Are you fatigued and
wondering if your adrenals are to blame? Listen in and as we
talked about the difference between adrenal fatigue and
adrenal insufficiency. If you do have your adrenals tested and
turn out that your lab results come back normal, then adrenal
fatigue would be another potential cause for your fatigue
that you want to consider.