What is Adrenal Fatigue — And How Do I Know If I Have It?

About 80% of Americans report suffering from adrenal fatigue at some point in their lives. But what is Adrenal Fatigue — and how do you know if you have it? I’m gonna be going over this exact question right here in this video — so stay tuned to find out! 

Okay — How do you know if you have adrenal fatigue? It’s a great question, especially because a lot of people suffer from adrenal fatigue symptoms these days. Signs of adrenal fatigue include poor sleep; brain fog; anxiety; depression; sweet and salty food cravings; skin, hair, or thyroid issues; poor weight management; low libido; and trouble recovering from illness. And one of the biggest signs? Energy — or, lack thereof.

Do you feel like it’s impossible to wake up in the morning until AT LEAST 10am? Are you reliant on caffeine as your fuel and feel like you can’t be on your feet without it? Does your energy take a dive right after lunch, only to pick up later in the afternoon or early evening, with a second wind late at night…? If so, you’re probably dealing with adrenal exhaustion.

It’s a controversial topic in the medical community because it can be hard to diagnose. Many adrenal fatigue symptoms overlap with other health conditions — such as sleep apnea or autoimmune disorders. And, standardized testing? Doesn’t exist. In fact, if your doctor isn’t a functional medicine doctor, or natural health practitioner, you’ll probably have a hard time being taken seriously at any mention of adrenal fatigue.

By seeing a doctor that understands adrenal fatigue, they can diagnose you through clinical evaluation. Also, they will know what adrenal fatigue tests to do in order to understand what’s going on and rule out other potential health concerns.  

In any case, the good news is treating adrenal fatigue is usually simple —  and can be done naturally. We’ve got a great video for you to watch that’s all about treatment for adrenal fatigue. No matter the cause of your adrenal fatigue symptoms, you’re likely to see improvement after making a few simple, healthy lifestyle changes. You can discover how here, or in the description below.

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Okay — so we’ve covered a bit about the signs and symptoms of adrenal fatigue — next, let’s dive into what adrenal fatigue means. What is it?

Adrenal Fatigue is what happens when your adrenal glands — two small, triangular-shaped glands located above both of your kidneys — are overstimulated by too much stress.

Everyone experiences stress from time to time, but the kind of stress we’re talking about here is chronic stress. Like other things in life — sugar or alcohol, for example — your body can only take so much before it wants to throw in the towel.

In the same way, your liver will eventually grow tired of too much alcohol, your adrenals (which are responsible for handling stress) can become fatigued from too much stress.

It’s a change that happens over time and is known as the adrenal fatigue stages. There are 3 Stages — 1. Alarm Stage; 2. Resistance Stage; and 3. Exhaustion Stage. The closer you are to Stage 3, the closer you are to ‘burnout.’ As Adrenal Fatigue develops, your adrenals will produce inconsistent levels of cortisol (your body’s stress hormone). This is what affects your physical, mental, or emotional health.

The key is to catch any signs in the early stages to avoid adrenal fatigue issues!

It’s also important to mention, people with adrenal fatigue have low levels of an important hormone regulator called DHEA. This explains why many adrenal fatigue symptoms — especially in females — overlap with women’s health or hormone imbalance issues.

As far as what causes adrenal fatigue… think back to any life event you’ve been through that brought on a significant amount of stress, and you can probably discover the answer yourself.

Maybe it’s something painful, like an injury, surgery, or arthritis. Maybe it was too many nights of poor sleep in a row as a new mom or a college student. Or maybe it was something more emotional — trauma, divorce, or the death of a loved one.

Too much — or too little — of something can also do it — such as exposure to pollution or toxins, too much caffeine, or a diet deficient in nutrients. And often, it’s a number of these things all mixed together.

While more studies need to be done to fully understand adrenal fatigue, there is plenty of evidence on the negative effect cortisol and stress can have on a person’s health. And since the adrenals are in charge of controlling your body’s stress hormone, cortisol, it only makes sense to pay attention to it!

Your adrenal glands are essential organs in your body and are there to help your body respond to stress. They also help control immune system health, regulate your metabolism, and manage blood pressure. When they’re being overworked — they’ll let you know it. 

As we talked about in this video, a lot of signs from the adrenal fatigue symptoms list can be confused with other health conditions — so we highly encourage you to reach out to a natural health practitioner if you need to. And of course — we’re here to help!

If you’ve got questions about your adrenal fatigue symptoms, you can Chat Live with a certified Wellness Consultant on our website, findyourhealthyplace.com, to talk about your specific situation and get personalized support in your health journey.

And — before I wrap up — I want to ask you to share one takeaway in the comments below. What’s one thing you learned from watching this video? Or are you still wondering if Adrenal Fatigue is Real? Let us know in the comments.

If you think adrenal fatigue is the reason behind your health concerns, and you want to learn how to recover from adrenal fatigue, be sure to see our Recovering From Adrenal Fatigue Video here, or in the description below.

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Watch the original video on YouTube here, “What is Adrenal Fatigue — And How Do I Know If I Have It?”