About the Adrenal Glands

Your two adrenal glands are small, triangular-shaped endocrine glands located on the top of each kidney. Each adrenal gland is approximately 3 inches wide, and a half inch high.

Each gland is divided into an outer cortex and an inner medulla. The cortex and medulla of the adrenal gland secrete different hormones. The adrenal cortex is essential to life, but the medulla may be removed with no life-threatening effects.

Take our Adrenal Function test to determine if you suffer from Adrenal Fatigue:

_____1)  Do you often feel overworked, pressured or dead-lined?

_____2)  Trouble relaxing, or loosening up

_____3)  Body tending to be stiff, uptight, tense?

_____4)  Easily upset, frustrated, or snappy under stress?

_____5)  Often feel overwhelmed or as though you just can't get it all done?

_____6)  Weak, shaky at times?

_____7)  Sensitive to bright light, noise, or chemical fumes? Need to wear dark glasses?

_____8)  Feel significantly worse if you skip meals or go too long without eating?

_____9)  Use drugs or food to relax and calm down?

_____10) Have type II diabetes, hypoglycemia?

_____11) Tend to gain weight around the middle?

_____12)  Changes in cognitive ability such as confused, not thinking as clearly, foggy

brain?

_____13) Reduced sex drive.

_____14) Chronically fatigued: a tiredness that is not usually relieved by sleep?

_____15) Feeling unwell a lot of the time, tend to have colds and flu's that hang on?

_____16) Decreased tolerance to cold, feeling cold a lot?

_____17) Small irregular brown spots have appeared on skin?

_____18) Hands and legs get restless-experience meaningless body movements?

_____19) Often become hungry, confused, shaky, or somewhat paralyzed under stress?

_____20) Water retention, bloating, digestive problems?

_____21) Feeling "wired" yet "tired at the same time.

_____ Total

If you suffer from a number of the above symptoms you may be suffering from adrenal fatigue syndrome. When the adrenal glands are not functioning optimally, you can have a condition that is known as adrenal fatigue, or adrenal exhaustion. Adrenal fatigue often develops after periods of intense or lengthy physical or emotional stress, when overstimulation if the glands leave them unable to meet your body's needs.

Some other names for the syndrome include non-Addison's hypoadrenia, sub-clinical hypoadrenia, hypoadrenalism, and neurasthenia.

The adrenals produce hormones that help to balance your blood sugar, which helps your body to manage your daily ebbs and flows of energy. When blood sugar drops, the adrenals release hormones that cause the blood sugar to rise, and increases energy. The adrenals also release hormones when we're under stress, releasing energy. It's the "fight or flight" response from the days when we needed to run away from wild animals, which now kicks in for everyday stressors, such as traffic jams, arguments, and work pressures.

But being consistently under stress takes a toll on the adrenal glands, and eventually, they run out of steam, and stop producing sufficient hormones.

Conventional endocrinologists and tests cannot diagnose adrenal fatigue, because they are prepared only to diagnose extreme dysfunction in the adrenals, such as Addison's disease, a potentially fatal condition where the adrenals essentially shut down.

At IHC we can run a saliva 4 point cortisol and DHEA test to evaluate your adrenal function.