Are you:
- Always fatigued or exhausted?
- Irritable and impatient?
- Feeling too hot or too cold?
- Depressed, anxious, or panicky?
- Bothered by changes in your skin or hair?
- At the mercy of your moods?
- Inexplicably gaining or losing weight?
- Losing enthusiasm for life?
- Sleeping poorly or insomniac?
Being tired – fatigue as it is known in medical terms – can be caused by many conditions and lifestyle factors, stress being high on the list. Usually the first thing considered are problems with the thyroid – a butterfly shaped gland in your neck. You may have had your thyroid tested by a blood test, and may have been told that it is normal.
You still may be one of the 30% of the U.S. population that has a thyroid related hormonal problem. You also may be one of the many people who are being treated for thyroid disorders but inadequately treated despite apparently normal lab tests.
The Thyroid
The thyroid controls metabolism – the body process that produces energy and body heat. It helps maintain blood circulation and heart health. It is necessary for muscle and skin tone. It heightens the sensitivity of nerves. It helps regulate other glands, especially those related to energy, sex hormones, and blood sugar.
Every organ, every tissue, every cell is affected by thyroid hormones.
Or else
But being hypothyroid is not the only hormonal dysfunction that can result in fatigue. The pair of adrenal glands that sit on the top of the kidneys can also be responsible for some of these symptoms. The adrenals are our first-line defense against stress – secreting cortisol to calm us down.
The problem is that if we are under repeated stress year after year, the adrenals lose their capacity to respond, resulting in a profound effect on every organ system. Changes occur in the metabolism of food, fluid balance, the heart and cardiovascular system, and sex drive. In addition, blood sugar imbalances, allergies, joint pain and decreased immune response become evident.
As energy levels are low, often people use coffee, colas, and other stimulants to get going in the morning and keep going during the day.
How do we know?
Specialized testing along with an exact account of symptoms can help distinguish the hormonal cause of fatigue.
In addition, there are at-home salivary adrenal tests if more information is needed. This is convenient because the adrenal hormone cortisol has a daily rhythm which should be high in the morning and low at night. Taking one snapshot of the hormone level in a blood test leaves us wondering what is happening the rest of the day. Doing the salivary test at home makes it convenient to take 4 samples at strategic times during the day to get an accurate picture of what the hormone levels really are.
Then treatment can be specifically designed for the pattern shown by the test and your symptoms.
What is the treatment?
In order to manage chronic disease, the impact of stress must be assessed. Specialists may not see the whole picture because they are trained to look only at the system of their specialty, but each organ system influences all the others.
The Naturopathic approach that I use for treatment of the thyroid, adrenals, and sex hormones necessitates that I look the function of just about every other body system, because they are all interrelated.
Then I individualize a plan using natural medicines and / or bio-identical hormones to fit you exactly.
The End of Being Tired
Yes – you are tired of being tired – and if what you just read makes sense, now is the time to make a change. For a wholistic, natural approach to getting more energy, call my office at 928-649-9234.
