Adrenal Fatigue Isn’t A Thing

I’ve been thoroughly annoyed at the term “Adrenal Fatigue” for a long time, and for a few different reasons. 

[one] I find it’s used to sell people an unnecessary amount of supplements, and I don’t like that. 

[two] It isn’t supported by any studies that are designed in a way that allow us to look critically at the information presented.

[three] I don’t like throwing a diagnosis at someone without explaining why and how and what you can do about it.  

But here’s the thing. The symptoms that are presented alongside all of these googling’s of adrenal fatigue are actually true symptoms. They’re not in your head. They are real. But you’re experiencing a miscommunication in your HPA Axis, and that results in burnout.

When I focus on supporting women in this phase, one of the first things I look at is recovery time, then nutrition, then sleep, then exercise (and always happiness). But never supplements without the other things. There’s no difference between throwing a supplement at something as opposed to throwing a medication at something.

Sure, one might be “natural”, and the other… still sometimes natural. But unless you support the underlying axis, it’s not going to matter. The goal is to use a supplement or a medication to help you get over a plateau. So that you can come off it and still feel good.

That’s just good medicine.

xx

-Dr. Ash