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Stress
is something that almost anyone living in western cities
can relate to. Stress can be physical, emotional,
psychological, environmental, or a combination of
these.
What
most of us don’t know is that our ADRENAL glands, two
tiny organs the size of grapes, are largely responsible
for trying to cope with all our stressors. Adrenal
fatigue is becoming epidemic. It contributes
significantly to many of our modern day health
problems. Adrenal fatigue can disrupt blood sugar
levels, blood pressure, bone density, hormones, the
respiratory tract, the nervous system, etc. Adrenal
imbalances can contribute to poor immunity, weight gain,
depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia,
allergies, asthma and frequent colds or the development
of diseases such as osteoporosis, diabetes, etc. Adrenal
imbalance can be brought on by chronic stressors, single
extremely stressful events and/or chronic respiratory
infections.
Conventional medicine only recognizes and treats extreme
adrenal imbalances such as Cushing’s disease. In
naturopathic circles we diagnose and treat more subtle
imbalances to prevent the onset of diseases in the
future and deal with poor quality of life in the
present. Try the following questionnaire to gage your
adrenal functioning:
1.
Difficulty getting up in the morning.
2.
Continued fatigue not relieved by sleep.
3.
Craving for salt or salty foods.
4.
Lethargy. Everything seems like a chore.
5.
Increased effort to do every day tasks.
6.
Decreased sex drive.
7.
Decreased ability to handle stress. Compulsive eating,
smoking or drug use.
8.
Increased time to recover from illness, injury or
trauma.
9.
Light-headed when standing up quickly.
10.
Mild depression.
11.
Less enjoyment or happiness in life.
12.
Increased PMS.
13.
Symptoms increase if meals are skipped or inadequate.
You have to drive yourself with snacks, colas and coffee
just to keep from collapsing.
14.
Poor concentration and attention span.
15.
Memory less accurate.
16.
Decreased tolerance. People seem a lot more irritating
than they used to.
17.
Don’t really wake up until 10:00 AM, Afternoon low
between 3:00 and 4:00 PM, Feels better after evening
meal.
18.
Decreased productivity.
If 3 or
more of these statements apply to you probably have some
degree of adrenal fatigue.
Try the
following test at home to determine if your adrenal
fatigue is moderate to severe.
1.
You require a small flashlight or
penlight, a mirror, a watch with a second hand and a
dark room.
2.
Shine the flashlight ACROSS one eye (not directly into
it) from the side of the head.
3.
Keep the flashlight steady while observing your PUPIL
(the dark circle in the center of the eye) in the
mirror.
4.
Normally the pupil contracts in response to light.
5.
Watch for the following abnormal response that occurs
with moderate to severe adrenal fatigue: pupil DILATES
(opens up) within 2 minutes and stay open for 30-45
seconds before it recovers and contracts again.
6.
Time how long the dilation lasts with the second hand
and record it along with the date.
7.
A decreasing of this time is an indicator of recovery of
adrenal health.
Adrenal
fatigue is commonly treated by naturopathic doctors
using supplementation with herbs and vitamins as well as
life style counseling. For more information see the
bottom of this page.
Questionnaire and test above are from “Adrenal Fatigue:
The 21st Century Stress Syndrome” by Dr.
James Wilson, ND, DC, PhD |