Adrenal/HPA Axis Dysfunction
The adrenals are walnut-sized glands that sit atop each kidney. They are part of the endocrine system, which is a collection of glands that produce hormones to keep the body delicately balanced.
The adrenals produce hormones in response to stress, and when out of balance can disrupt immune function, digestive health and gut lining, thyroid function, reproductive function, brain health, and detoxification.
Adrenal glands produce hormones such as cortisol, DHEA, epinephrine, and norepinephrine, estrogen, progesterone. When the adrenals are functioning properly, these hormones help the body control blood sugar levels, regulate blood pressure, maintain normal estrogen levels, burn fat, and react to stressors like infections, a major illness, emotional stress, or injury. Epinephrine and norepinephrine are fight or flight hormones that are released when the body is under extreme stress.
How Do Adrenal Glands Imbalance Other Body Systems?
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Gut infections
When under high stress, high cortisol beats up on Secretory IgA, the first line of defense in your gut. The loss of Secretory IgA makes you vulnerable to gut infections like H. Pylori, Blastocystis hominus, Clostridium difficile, and Candida. Before killing gut pathogens, we always test and correct the adrenal function first. If the adrenals are left untreated, gut infections usually return, leaving people in a never ending cycle of chasing pathogens bound to return. -
Female Hormone Imbalance
Cortisol is the main adrenal hormone and is made from progesterone. When under stress, you produce higher cortisol, which decreases your progesterone level via the "cortisol steal." Thus, the more you’re under stress, the more female hormone imbalance occurs as your progesterone levels drop. This leads to estrogen dominance, which can create a host of female issues, including fatigue, headaches, weight gain, mood swings, skin problems, hair loss, thyroid dysfunction, brain fog, and insomnia. Read More...
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Food Cravings
The adrenal glands are responsible for controlling blood sugar. Often, when the adrenals are out of balance, blood sugar is also out of balance, causing the individual to crave carbohydrates. In addition, high cortisol suppresses the first line of immune defense in the GI tract, which leaves the individual vulnerable to yeast and overgrowth, which can promote food cravings.
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Fatigue
The adrenal glands work hard to help us handle life’s stressors. Our body is equipped with a stress modulation system that is skilled in tackling stress, and this system is controlled by the adrenals. As we push our adrenals harder, they start to lose their ability to keep up. Eventually, with the demands of overwork, high-stress life situations, irregular work hours, inadequate sleep, lack of regular physical activity, poor eating habits, and environmental toxin exposure, the adrenals lose function. Luckily, adrenal imbalances are relatively straightforward to test and correct.
At Quin Functional Medicine, we test for 4-7 cortisol data points throughout the day as well as DHEA levels and hormone metabolites in order to assess HPA axis function. Since there are many different versions of HPA axis imbalance, we get the best results when we use lab-based treatment programs to precisely address each individual's imbalances.
