What's in your adrenals?

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What's in your adrenals?

Tuesday, 29 December 2009 09:24

Medical Weight Loss Newsletter | Daily Dose The hurry and the hustle of this busy time of year has come and gone again. Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love the friendship and the fellowship with everyone. The spirit of giving and caring is so unique this time of year.

However, for many it can only worsen their fatigue and adrenal exhaustion. As we talked about last week, adrenal fatigue is a real problem. We spoke a little of the signs and symptoms as well as the treatment modalities. I want to go into a little more detail about the structure and function of the adrenal gland.

There are many glands that produce hormones that are in our bodies. These hormones are able to communicate messages to the brain and the body by their release from the glands. Each hormone has a very specific target and will communicate its message by locking into specific receptors on the cells. Each hormone is regulated by a very specific feedback loop or relay system that is able to adjust the amount of hormone that is excreted.

Specifically, the adrenal gland is a small walnut shaped gland that sits atop the kidneys. There are two major parts to the adrenal gland. The medulla is the middle part and the cortex is the outer part. Each section of the gland has very specific parts.

Our body has a very specific response to stress and it all starts with the adrenal gland. If you remember from biology, there is the flight or fight response to stress. In other words, we will usually respond to a stress by either running from it or fighting it. With either of those two responses, our body will move into high gear and begin to use more and more energy to help us combat this stressor. There are several things that cause stress in our bodies. One of the biggest in today's environment would be financial, economic, marital or social stresses. However, the most common stressor a thousand years ago might be acquiring food or shelter.

When we are faced with a stress, our brain will produce a hormone that will stimulate the adrenal glands to produce adrenaline from the medulla and cortisol from the cortex of the adrenal gland. The adrenaline will produce an increase in the heart rate, a surge in strength. The cortex is more of the supply chain. The cortex will produce cortisol which leads to an increase in blood glucose from storage. The cortisol effect will also be to decrease the functions in the body that are not considered essential under a state of stress. This will include digestive, reproductive, and immunological systems. Therefore, people that are under a state of stress will often have problems with their bowels, menstrual cycles or libidos, and be more prone to infections. With a state of stress, there is naturally more mood swings and emotional instability. This has to do with the hormonal effect on the brain.

We certainly need this stress response because without it a successful life would not be possible. In order to successfully deal with stress the body must be able to turn off this stress response once the inciting event, or stressor, has been removed or has ceased to cause stress. Until the body is able to do this, there will be an abnormal stress response. Over time this hyper-response to stress will lead to an exhaustion of the adrenal glands. This ability to cope with stress successfully depends on many factors:

Genetics
Environmental influences
Learned behavior
Social support
Mental health
Physical health
Nutritional balance

It is important to know what your response to stress is and how to improve this response. There should be some consideration of actually testing your cortisol levels to see exactly where you fall. We truly can not manage that which we do not measure.

On the 8th and the 9th of January I have two speaking engagements. On the 8th I will be speaking at Howard Regional Hospital's West Campus. The topic I'll be covering is "Personally Reform Your Health". It will be from 12:10-12:50. On January 9th I will be at Day's Pharmacy in Cicero covering the topic of Bio-Identical Hormones. I will be at the pharmacy from 10-12. If you are interested in attending either event please contact them in advance as seating will be limited.

Day's Pharmacy - (317) 984-2121

Howard Regional Women's Center - (765) 453-8272

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