Stress, your adrenal glands and your health

25 Jul Stress, your adrenal glands and your health

True story, this happened this morning while I was driving…. I saw an elderly man almost get hit by a car!

It was one of those surreal moments because I was the only one with the perspective to see that this was about to happen. I had no idea what to do sitting safely in my car 20 metres away. I couldn’t yell loud enough to get the man’s attention or flag the other drivers

I literally froze, and then (thankfully!) the oncoming car saw him and stopped.

In that moment I could feel my heart racing and my hands shaking. I was officially in the alarm phase of stress. This means that my adrenal glands were pouring adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol into my bloodstream to stimulate an appropriate stress response. Behaviorally, this would make me alert and aroused and ready to combat the stress. It is supposed to make me fight or flee…. evidently I did neither. But this was purely circumstantial.

Luckily for me, the moment passed, I knew this man was safely across the street, so I took 5 deep breaths, emotionally let go and over the next 20 minutes, I felt my stress hormones decrease.

It’s great when our stress is limited to just a moment in time. But for most people it’s not. Stress can be chronic, exhausting and draining. It can affect you all day and night, interrupting your eating and sleeping habits.

As with so many incredible medical discoveries scientist, Hans Selye serendipitously discovered the concept of General Adaptation Syndrome (G.A.S.) AKA “the stress syndrome”.

With long-term stress, you can enter the Resistance phase. This happens when the adrenal glands make every effort to support this ongoing stress by making and releasing enough cortisol to meet your increased demand. Since hormones are an integrated system, the need to make so much cortisol starts to affect the production of other hormones, such as DHEA and eventually, the sex hormones. Normally, pregnenalone (a hormone precursor) can convert into DHEA (and eventually sex hormones) or Cortisol. Under situations where the body needs to make more stress hormones, it steals from the pregnenalone pathway (resulting in less DHEA and sex hormones), so that most of it is shunted into the cortisol production pathway.

Cortisol also has an effect on blood sugar, by increasing glucose production in the liver and over time, this can lead to insulin insensitivity and diabetes. To highlight this, I can say that clinically, I have seen thin and active people with healthy lifestyles develop diabetes after periods of extreme stress. There are so many other ways that Cortisol can affect the body and lead to more symptoms:

• Cortisol can affect serotonin neurotransmission and lead to depression
• Adrenaline and cortisol can cause elevations in blood pressure
• Stress hormones can cause protein breakdown in the muscle and lead to weakness
• They can impair the immune system and make the body more susceptible to infection and disease
• They can impair melatonin production and lead to insomnia (which further impairs immune function)
• They an cause thyroid dysfunction by releasing inflammatory cytokines, which can impair the conversion of T4 to T3, which results in hypothyroidism hypothyroidism.
• Stress hormones can interrupt digestion (because the blood is shunted to the muscle rather than the digestive tract), causing irritable bowel syndrome, Gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) and even stomach ulcers.
• As indicated above, stress hormones can affect both Male and female sex hormones, causing PMS in women and infertility in both genders.

Eventually (with no time to repair), you find yourself in the Burnout phase. This is when the body runs out of the materials it needs to make stress hormones, and your cortisol levels decline, as well as many of your other hormone levels. Symptomatically, patients can feel extreme fatigue, depression and irritability. There may be low stamina, weakness, abdominal obesity, non refreshing sleep, feeling of overwhelm, dizziness, low blood pressure, and therefore, craving salty or sweet food.

In addition, this may be accompanied by symptoms of low sex hormone production such as low libido, hot flashes, depression, poor memory and erectile dysfunction. Just imagine how long term stress can make menopause and andropause so much worse.

Are you connecting with these symptoms? If so, you may want to get checked out. Important components of Physical exam include checking your blood pressure, completing stress questionnaires, measuring your blood pressure and waist circumference and having some blood (and saliva or urine) tests done.

If you are ready to get started (right now), complete the assessment below.

Circle: (1) for symptoms you have had in the past; (2) for symptoms which occur sometimes; (3) for symptoms which occur often; and (4) for those which are a major concern

1 2 3 4     1. Symptoms present since stressful event

(i.e. accident, pregnancy, break-up, etc.)

1 2 3 4     2. Nervousness

1 2 3 4     3. Dizziness on rising from a lying position

1 2 3 4     4. Prolonged exposure to stress

1 2 3 4     5. History of asthma or bronchitis

1 2 3 4     6. Environmental sensitivities

1 2 3 4     7. Hemorrhoids

1 2 3 4     8. Food allergies

1 2 3 4     9. Low energy, fatigue

1 2 3 4     10. Varicose veins

1 2 3 4     11. Other endocrine gland imbalances

1 2 3 4     12. Arthritis, bursitis, joint problems

1 2 3 4     13. Dry, rough tongue

1 2 3 4     14. Increased skin pigmentation

1 2 3 4     15. Excessive perspiration

1 2 3 4     16. Excessive urination

1 2 3 4     17. Use of coffee

1 2 3 4     18. Consumption of refined foods, sugar

1 2 3 4     19. Excessive marijuana use

1 2 3 4     20. Muscle twitching – Na/K imbalance

1 2 3 4     21. Heart palpitation – Na/K imbalance

1 2 3 4     22. Use of cigarettes

1 2 3 4     23. Eyes sensitive to light

1 2 3 4     24. Flat feet

1 2 3 4     25. Edema of extremities

1 2 3 4     26. Aching calves

1 2 3 4     27. Salt cravings

1 2 3 4     28. Weak ankles

1 2 3 4     29. Recurrent Infections

1 2 3 4     30. Tired feet

1 2 3 4     31. Blurred vision

1 2 3 4     32. Low back pain

1 2 3 4     33. Headaches

1 2 3 4     34. Knee problems

1 2 3 4     35. Stomach or duodenal ulcer