(Source pixabay)
I earlier wrote about Adrenal fatigue, its causes and common symptoms so you can also check other posts I made on this topic. However, I'm going to talk about the progression of adrenal fatigue. Most people suffer from adrenal fatigue but may likely associate such symptoms with other health conditions. You can take a look at some of the common symptoms of Adrenal fatigue that I earlier listed so you can determine if you're experiencing some of them.
Remember, it is important to see your doctor if you experience some or most of the symptoms I earlier mentioned. Self-medication is dangerous and should be discouraged.
Okay, let's talk about the different stages of Adrenal fatigue. Generally, diseases progress through different stages as the human body decomposes and adrenal fatigue is no exception.
(Source Wikimedia)
The First Stage- The Flight or Fight Response
At this stage, the body has become alarmed by the stressors which accumulate over time and it mounts an aggressive anti-stress response in a bid to lower the level of stress in the body. This is often regarded by some doctors as the Early Fatigue Stage. The body will require cortisol at this stage in order to overcome stress and this leads to the increase of cortisol production. The production of cortisol will lead to the weakening of the adrenals because it has been on the increase.
The Second Stage- Resistance
The cortisol output will gradually decline when the adrenals are no longer able to meet up with the demand for cortisol due to severe stress. This will lead to a decline in the cortisol output. At this stage, the person will become easily irritable as anxiety sets in and usually, people will start experiencing insomnia making it more difficult to sleep and also experiencing frequent wake ups when they sleep. At this stage, infections can become more recurrent. For women, symptoms such as menstrual irregularities will start to surface among other symptoms. This is when a phenomenon known as "cortisol shunt" will set in.
The Third Stage- Adrenal Exhaustion
This stage may take place over few years as the adrenals are no longer able to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for cortisol production. At this stage, mild symptoms which were experienced during the first and second stage of the adrenal fatigue will start to worsen and also become persistent or in some cases chronic.
As the body keeps moving on its downward path of experiencing impaired function, it gathers steam and will eventually become greatly compromised while attempting to maintain the good control of homeostasis leading to the loss of normal equilibrium. At this stage, the body will enter into a state of reactive disequilibrium. The body's main hormones like cortisol will decline below the minimum needed reserve for normal body function and output also fails.
The Fourth Stage- Failure
Finally, the body's adrenals are completely exhausted and at this point, when adrenal fatigue has advanced to this stage, it is always difficult to differentiate between adrenal fatigue and adrenal insufficiency.
Well, I hope it wasn't too technical, I tried as much as I could to make it simple for everyone to understand. However, if you have cause to suspect that you're having adrenal fatigue, I advise that you visit your doctor. Adrenal fatigue is one of the common health problems that most people experience considering the busy lives we all presently have to deal with on a daily basis while going about our daily activities.
I hope you enjoyed reading, in my next post, I'll share useful tips on how adrenal fatigue can be reversed so make sure you don't miss it. Thanks for reading!