Perhaps you have heard of the health and wellness buzz-term “adrenal fatigue” and have read about some of the debates surrounding whether the issue really exists.
It seems a lot of Western medicine practitioners do not believe it is a diagnosable condition, while those with a holistic approach to health and well-being recognize adrenal fatigue as having a big part in the major disease states that are widespread among our cultures nowadays.
You probably can guess what may cause adrenal fatigue or exhaustion (beyond fatigued adrenal glands!), but I’ll list them below for you anyway.
- Constant emotional stress
- A diet high in stimulants like sugar and coffee
- Not enough sleep (consistently)
- Exposure to too many chemicals and pollutants over time
- Chronic disease
- Trauma
Looking at #4, exposure to chemicals, certain medications would fall under this category. Some you may have never heard of, but #1 and #2 from the list below could be recognizable to a good many of you!
Drugs That Can Directly Lead to Decreased Adrenal Function (drugs that we know of anyway!):
- Abrupt stoppage or interruption of oral steroids (i.e. prednisone, hydrocortisone, dexamethasone, fludricortisone) after long-term use, and on rare occasions even inhaled steroids (i.e. Flovent, Pulmicort, Advair) and topical steroids (i.e. triamcinolone, betamethasone, clobetasol) can cause problems after long-term use
- Ketoconazole
- Megestrol or Megace
- Cytadren (Aminoglutethimide)
- Metopirone (metyrapone)
- Lysodren (mitotane)
All of the items listed above (from both lists) create some sort of stress on the body and the adrenals. The function of the adrenal glands, which sit on top of the kidneys, is actually to help the body adapt and handle regular amounts of stress naturally, but too much stress begins to wreak havoc on the normal functioning of the adrenals.
When under too much stress (from one of the culprits above), our nervous system responds by releasing stress hormones into our blood stream. While these hormones help the body fight stress, they ultimately lead to a toxic waste product called free radicals, which are linked to causing 80% of all disease. Constant stress leads to excessive stress hormone release which leads to an overload of free radicals, an overload our body cannot handle, causing adrenal depletion and fatigue.
Once our adrenal glands are fatigued, the endocrine system becomes pressured to make energy that it just doesn’t have. This leads to the rise and fall of blood sugar levels which causes cravings, unstable moods, and exhaustion.
Furthermore, reproductive hormones like estrogen and testosterone get fired up to help give the body energy because the adrenals are suffering, so the reproductive and menstrual functions become wonky and not able to perform normally.
Lastly, the thyroid gland steps in to try to increase the metabolism to create more energy because the other sources are struggling to keep up. At this point, the entire hormonal and stress fighting system is in crisis.
So, aside from the obvious, like lifestyle changes, what can be done to help support your adrenals, especially if you run into an issue with or cannot stop taking one the medications listed above?
Well, the myriad of options can be complex, but I’m going to leave you with one option which stems from an ancient plant called Tulsi!
Check out the video below to learn more about this super-charged herb that is considered to be holy in the world of Ayurveda, an ancient healing system of medicine in India.
Just to sum up a few of the benefits of Tulsi, I made another list for you!
This power herb:
- Has a wide range of benefits
- Helps the body cope with stress
- Helps the body have endurance under stress
- Helps detoxify the body in environmental stressful situations (like taking certain medications and receiving radiation therapy!)
- Supports mood health and cognitive function
- Stabilizes blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood fats and lipids (as in cholesterol stuff)
To read the detailed article on Tulsi click here, and to check out an option where you can purchase a good source of the herb click here (we’re not making money from this suggestion, just love this herb as an option for you!).
Sweet, you made it to the end!
Feel free to ask any questions or leave in any concerns, comments, or feedback by replying below.
We’d love to hear from!
Have a question not related to this article? Click here to fill out our form that sends a message to us directly!
Talk soon, Cate