Adrenal Fatigue
Your adrenal glands
enable you to deal with stress which may be caused by allergies,
hormonal imbalances, low thyroid or life experiences.
Chronic stress causes adrenal fatigue, resulting in low levels of
natural cortisol. This alters your immune system, lowering
your resistance to infections, and inhibits your ability to handle
inflammation. A healthy immune system helps to eliminate
cancer cells from our bodies every day. Your adrenal glands can be supported by using
natural supplements. The thyroid, sex, and adrenal hormones
work together synergistically to enhance one another's functions. It is important that they be balanced in order for you to enjoy
optimal health.
The Adrenal Glands
The two adrenal glands sit on top of each kidney and are the
size of a walnut. The adrenal glands are our stress glands and
produce many powerful hormones to combat stress. You may be
familiar with adrenaline, which produces the “fight or flight”
response in the face of a stressful condition. The adrenal gland
also produces cortisol, which is the naturally occurring adrenal
steroid that is secreted in response to stress. In the face of
emotional or physical stress, injury, infection, inflammation,
allergies or hormonal decline the adrenal gland responds by
producing cortisol. If the stress is chronic, the adrenal glands
become fatigued and produce lower and lower levels of cortisol.
The adrenal glands also decline with age as do the other hormone-producing glands. Cortisol potentiates the immune system’s ability
to fight infections and prevent cancer. Cortisol also promotes the assimilation of
thyroid hormones and sex hormones by the cells of the body.
If the adrenal gland is under stress and unable to produce the
proper amount of cortisol, then the thyroid gland and the sex
organs become stressed. The hormones produced by the thyroid
gland, ovaries, testicles and adrenal glands work together in
synergy. If we have the proper physiological doses of these
hormones in our cells, then our body will be healthy and well. If
we produce or assimilate too little of these hormones, then our
cells function poorly and we become unhealthy and ill. It is this
decline in hormone production that causes aging and leads to a
host of degenerative problems.
The Use of Natural Cortisol
Drug companies do not promote the sale of bio-identical
cortisol, natural thyroid, bio-identical male or female hormones.
The drug companies purchase the bio-identical hormones and make
molecular changes so that their hormones are no longer
bio-identical but rather counterfeit. This enables the drug
companies to patent and sell these counterfeit hormones under a
proprietary name, allowing them to make huge profits.
The cells of our body have receptors for each of our
bio-identical hormones. When we use bio-identical hormone
supplementation we are replenishing the body with the same
identical hormone molecules that our body has always made. Because
these hormones are bio-identical they bind quickly to the
receptors and cause the appropriate effect. Our body has enzymes
which breakdown the bio-identical hormones quickly and metabolize
them so that they can be excreted from our system.
Counterfeit hormones produced by drug companies have different
molecular structures than the bio-identical hormones. They bind to
the receptors in our cells in such a way that they are not easily
metabolized and therefore cause a hyper effect, which can lead to
a host of side effects.
The drug companies make counterfeit hormones to cortisol, some
of which you may be familiar, such as Cortisone, Dexamethasone,
Prednisone, Deltasone, Prednisolone, to name a few. Because these
hormones are counterfeit and not biologically the same as the
hormones which our bodies’ naturally produce, their chronic use
can cause dangerous side effects.
By prescribing
bio-identical cortisol we are supplementing the same
biologically identical cortisol that is normally produced by our
bodies but in insufficient quantities due to adrenal fatigue. This
has the effect of relieving the stress on the adrenal gland and
allowing the synergistic effect between cortisol, thyroid and sex
hormones to occur. This has the inevitable effect of promoting
health and wellness. As long as our bio-identical hormones are
supplemented appropriately they have only positive effects.
If taken in too large a quantity, even the bio-identical
hormones can have the opposite effect that they would have if they
were given in an appropriate physiological dose range. When our
body produces insufficient quantities of our bio-identical
hormones or when the bio-identical hormones are not properly
assimilated, then adverse effects will also occur and our health
deteriorates.
By supplementing our
hormones at appropriate physiologic
doses there will be no long term or adverse side effects rather
there will only be positive benefits to our health. Remember that
the aging process is caused by the gradual and insidious decline
of our various hormone levels. If we want to remain healthy and
well we must maintain our hormones within the physiological range
that we experienced when we were in our 20’s.
The adrenal glands also make several other key hormones such
dihydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and adrostenedione. These hormones
have androgenic effects similar to testosterone but they are not
as powerful. In women, after menopause, these hormones may be
converted in the fat cells of the body to estrogen hormones.
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