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Adrenal Stress Profile
Cortisol, Adrenaline, and DHEA are critical hormones produced by your adrenal glands in response to stress. Unfortunately constant or prolonged stress can deplete and exhaust the production of these hormones, which can contribute too many other health problems.
Cortisol is not a good or bad hormones, but if the adrenal glands are constantly having to produce more cortisol and adrenaline due to all the stress in your life
– you can finally reach a time where you can NOT make enough. This is referred to as ‘adrenal fatigue or exhaustion’ and a major underlying problem for many of today’s degenerative and chronic health issues such as chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, heart disease, allergies and depression.
Increased or decreased levels of cortisol contribute to:
- Fatigue
- Weight gain
- Cravings, low blood sugar
- Digestive difficulties
- Insomnia, irritability
- PMS, hot flashes
- Depression, anxiety
- Allergies, weakened immune system
- Decreased libido
Mainstream medicine fails to recognize that the adrenal glands can be functioning as either “hypo” (depressed) or hyper (elevated)….which can explain why so many people are frustrated that their doctor can’t help them.
The adrenal glands are part of the same autonomic nervous system that includes our thyroid and reproductive hormones. So why can we say some people are hypothyroid or their ovaries are not making enough progesterone, estrogen or testosterone…but we can’t recognize that the adrenal glands aren’t making enough cortisol, adrenaline or DHEA?
It doesn’t make sense! It could also be there is a specific medication that is marketed to those people with that diagnosis and there isn’t a drug on the market for adrenal exhaustion.
How it begins…
When stress first hits or begins the adrenals will increase the production of cortisol and adrenaline. This is normal and the body is designed to handle short term stress. The problem occurs when the stress becomes constant and prolonged.
We are NOT designed to handle long-term stress. The adrenal glands can become depleted due to all the stress in your life. But more importantly – the more your body (adrenal glands) have to produce cortisol and adrenaline….the less DHEA, testosterone and estrogen can be produce. This is why it is important to Identify where your stress is coming from…you could be exhausting your adrenal glands. And why it is equally important to nourish the adrenal glands with Adrenal Fuel.
Your adrenals can not make an endless supply of these hormones. Constant stress will trigger the adrenals to make more cortisol and adrenaline,…but keep in mind that to produce those two hormones, the adrenals will “steal” progesterone. This begins to deplete your progesterone levels, which are associated with PMS, hot flashes, night sweats, loss of libido, infertility, bone loss, and heart health.
Many of the symptoms that are stated above occur when the adrenals are over stimulated or exhausted. This is why testing is the most accurate way to determine how stress has been impacting your body. Not everyone’s cortisol levels are too high as infomercial want you to believe, which is why taking a supplement that is designed to only lower cortisol could be taking your down the wrong path and one of the main reasons Adrenal Fuel is specially formulated….to balance those hormones.
Remember stress is cumulative and there are different types of stress. There are mental, physical and chemical stresses that overwork our adrenal glands, but there are also dietary stresses that come from low blood sugar and an irritated digestive system. Basically anything that causes your adrenal glands to produce more cortisol and adrenaline is stressful.
Stress will deplete your body of specific nutrients. It is important to determine if your body is 'stealing' nutrients in order to produce more cortisol. If it is, it will disturb normal metabolic function and interfere with the production of DHEA, estrogen and testosterone. Elevated cortisol will interfere with thyroid function, liver function, digestive function, cardiac function, etc…
DHEA has been referred to as the 'anti aging' hormone because it has been shown to increase fat metabolism, increase lean muscle tissue, support blood sugar, help with cognitive function, memory and immune function. Decreased production of DHEA can negatively affect your health!
The Adrenal Stress Profile will measure:
- Cortisol ….four samples
- DHEA …. two samples
- Insulin …. two samples
- Immune status
Measuring cortisol and DHEA levels lets us know if your body is tearing down more than it is building up. Low insulin levels let us know blood sugar is a problem that is further exhausting your adrenal glands. While immune status is determined by measuring secretory IgA.
The test is done in the comfort of your own home and then shipped to the lab for assessment. Four (4) saliva samples will be taken throughout the day (morning, noon, dinner, and bedtime). The reason for the four samples is because cortisol like many of your hormones fluctuate throughout the day, (blood tests may not pick up the fluctuations). Also, the anxiety for many people of going to the doctor is enough to cause an increase in cortisol - which would give us a false positive.
The results of the test will let us know if we are overworking our adrenal glands due to stress, which can begin to throw so many other hormones out of balance.
If you've been struggling with various health conditions and aren't getting any answers – measuring adrenal function to determine the impact stress is having on your body by measuring cortisol, DHEA, blood sugar and immune status is a step in the right direction.
Assessment of estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, FSH & LH can also be performed as needed
