This is Dr. Lam, welcoming you to our discussion on Adrenal Fatigue Syndrome Stage 3C, also
called the “disequilibrium phase.”
As you know, there are four phases at stage 3 of adrenal exhaustion, and when you get
to stage 3C, the body has already gone through 3A, which is characterized by HPA axis dysfunction,
which has symptoms like hypoglycemia, low blood pressure, and the beginning of a catabolic
state.
As well as stage 3B, with the downstream hormonal axis, like the OAT axis, becoming dysfunctional.
Here in stage 3C, we have gone beyond that.
In other words, the body has continued to be damaged to such a point that it’s lost
its equilibrium.
So, despite the previous symptoms, additional symptoms are going to be present here.
So, in stage 3B, we see hyperthyroidism, low energy, estrogen dominance, irregular periods,
as well as low libido, is quite common.
But in stage 3C, things get even worse, and have more symptoms than that.
Now, remember, most people in stage 3B, as well as stage 3C, are able to work a full-time
job most of the time.
It depends on how things go.
Now, the key to understanding stage 3C is here the body continues to weaken, which triggers
a variety of reserve systems to spring into action to maintain the body’s homeostasis.
Much of this alarm response is driven by the sympathetic nervous system on the SNS, but
its chemical messenger, norepinephrine, and the adrenal medullary hormonal system, the
AHS, which is chemical messenger, epinephrine.
The SNS and AHS are collectively called the sympathoadrenal system, or the SAS.
Now, this regulation of the chemical messengers, the norepinephrine and epinephrine of the
SAS, is therefore the hallmark of this phase.
Symptoms common of stage 3C include anxiety attacks, heart palpitations, electrolyte imbalances,
dizziness, severe insomnia, paradoxical and unusual reactions to medications and supplements.
Crash, it can be frequent, with long, unusual recovery periods.
Fatigue tends to be moderate to severe.
A routine laboratory test continues to be negative.
So, the body is in a desperate mode, and this is where you see most of the people that come
in to see you, because they’ve already been exhausted by their regular, conventional doctors,
they have been abandoned by their health practitioners, and they’ve been jumping around from doctor
to doctor, and, usually with no avail, continued testing, even going to extensive neurotransmitter
work-up brain scans to rule out tumors, pituitary masses, hypothalamic dysfunctions, have all
been negative, and their tolerance of supplements that was working before is now kind of starting
to backfire, the medication’s starting to backfire, or it’s increasingly ever larger
dose.
Insomnia becomes a key problematic area, thyroid medications may have to be increased, steroids
may have to be increased, and the person is wired and tired at the end.
So, if you break down stage 3C, you can actually see a progression of early stage 3C, middle
stage 3C, as well as late stage 3C, and the later you go, the more you see epinephrine-type
reactions, and the earlier it is the less epinephrine and the more norepinephrine.
So, the person just comes in and says, “I have occasional heart palpitations, I have
a mild anxiety feeling, that’s not so bad.
That is more of a norepinephrine or a sympathetic overtone.
However, if your person comes in and says, “Well, I have impending doom, I have a panic
attack that’s full-blown, I have heart palpitations every time I stand up, I can hardly walk because
I’m having low blood pressure,” that is more symptomatic of a higher level of sympathetic
involvement, as well as, more importantly, the adrenal hormonal medullary system, or
the epinephrine, component.
So, if you break it down, you will be able to sense of where this person is at.
Now, why is it important, is because as the adrenal recovery progresses, you’ll be able
to see reversal will happen.
The epinephrine-type effect will then start to tone down first, meaning the sense of impending
doom, the panic attack, the dizziness will be the first thing to go away.
Then, the heart palpitation may continue to persist, and it will be the second thing to
go away.
So, in other words, as the person recovers from Adrenal Fatigue, the epinephrine response
will be the first one to resolve, and that is followed by the norepinephrine response
as we progress further during the recovery period.
It’s very interesting if you are able to track these clients from the stage that they
are in, and how they advance forward, when they crash, and how they actually recover
and get better, and usually it does not take a long time.
Even the people with stage 3C, if it is properly done, it will only take a few weeks for the
initial epinephrine-type response to be visibly reduced.
That’s usually the first step, and then they go into a plateau, and then, when you
work on the other part, which is the norepinephrine, the person will draw closer and closer to
what’s an early part of stage 3C, when they come in at the end part of stage 3C, closer
to 3D.