Stress and Adrenal Hormones
Your body is designed to effectively respond to short bursts of stress when followed by many days of rest and relaxation. Sadly, for most of our patients, this is not their reality. Many have been dealing with the effects of chronic fatigue for months or years. Too much stress can wreak havoc with your stress response system, called the Hypothalamic/Pituitary/Adrenal (HPA) Axis.
Symptoms of HPA Axis dysfunction include:
- Difficulty falling and staying asleep
- Feeling tired or exhausted later in the afternoon or after dinner
- Tired but wired at night
- Poor sleep
- Worsening menopausal symptoms
- Nervous energy or jittery
- Irritable and unable to control temper
- Forgetful
- Crying for no reason
- Unexplained weight gain around the middle
- GI symptoms such as gas, bloating, constipation, nausea, heartburn
- High blood sugar
- Heart palpitations
- Fatigue
- Anxiety and depression
Food cravings for salt or sugar - Sensitive to noise
- Weakened immune system and get sick more easily and frequently
- Very difficult to get out of bed in the morning
- Experience energy crashes during the day
- Need for caffeine or other stimulants during the day
- Feeling stressed out almost all of the time
- Falling asleep when you don’t wish to such as when watching a movie or reading
- Difficulty falling and staying asleep
- Feeling tired or exhausted later in the afternoon or after dinner
- Tired but wired at night
- Poor sleep
- Worsening menopausal symptoms
- Nervous energy or jittery
- Irritable and unable to control temper
- Forgetful
- Crying for no reason
- Unexplained weight gain around the middle
- GI symptoms such as gas, bloating, constipation, nausea, heartburn
- High blood sugar
- Heart palpitations
- Fatigue
- Anxiety and depression
Food cravings for salt or sugar - Sensitive to noise
- Weakened immune system and get sick more easily and frequently
- Very difficult to get out of bed in the morning
- Experience energy crashes during the day
- Need for caffeine or other stimulants during the day
- Feeling stressed out almost all of the time
- Falling asleep when you don’t wish to such as when watching a movie or reading
Testing your cortisol and DHEA levels can be very helpful in determining if your HPA axis is functioning properly and assessing what stage of HPA imbalance you are in. At SYNOLO WELLNESS we can order baseline Cortisol and DHEA testing to be done before your first visit so we can review the results with you at your visit. We assess your specific stage of HPA Dysfunction and key driving stressor(s) and determine specific actions for you to take to improve your symptoms and your overall health.
