Jan

28

Estrogen Has Many Crucial Functions In A Woman’s Body

January 28, 2010 | 1 Comment

Take a look at the…
Estrogen Effects In The Body

Ever wonder what your body would go through without an adequate amounts of estrogen? Luckily for most women they may never know the effects of this but for a few hot flashes as they go from peri-menopause into menopause. A body properly nourished and balanced has mechanisms in place to help a woman adjust to the highs and lows of estrogen production through the many stages of her life. In fact, oriental females have no terms in their language for such things as hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms. Check out my post on the topic of nutrition and hormones.

Estrogen’s Effects on the Brain and Nervous System

Estrogen stimulates the production of choline aminotransferase, an enzyme crucial to the prevention of Alzheimer’s. It has major roles in preserving memory and fine motor skills, improves reason and helps to develop new ideas.

A healthy mind is the product of healthy estrogen levels. The ability to concentrate, to maintain good mood and a healthy disposition for life are the results of adequate estrogen levels because estrogen is needed to produce neurotransmitters like serotonin that decrease depression, irritability, anxiety and pain sensitivity. Deep sound sleep throughout the night is improbable without adequate estrogen levels.

Estrogen’s Effects on Metabolism and Energy Production

Estrogen’s effects at regulating body temperature helps enzymes work efficiently to produce high energy and increase metabolism. You will get the most out of your nutrients to build strong bone, maintain muscle mass and to help prevent muscle damage.

Estrogen’s Effects on The Heart and Blood Vessels

Estrogen helps maintain the elasticity of your blood vessels. It acts like a calcium channel blocker (a type of blood pressure medication) to keep your arteries open and dilates the smaller arteries. It decreases the accumulation of plaque in arterial beds, lowers blood pressure, lowers bad cholesterol (LDL) levels and prevents their oxidation. It increases your good cholesterol (HDL) by 10-15% while decreasing platelet stickiness to prevents clots and strokes.It reduces homocysteine levels ( another known risk factor for heart disease).

Lipoprotein A, a fraction containing both cholesterol and protein fragments is a known risk factor for heart disease that is lowered by maintaining healthy levels of estrogen. The overall reduction seen in heart disease is around 40-50%.

Estrogen’s Effects on The Skin and Skin Structures

Estrogen maintains the amount of collagen in your skin, increases hydration and maintains thickness, softness while decreasing wrinkles. Estrogen supports healthy gums to reduce tooth loss. It decreases the chances of developing cataracts and macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness with aging.

Estrogen’s Other Beneficial Effects

Estrogen helps increase your sexual interest and decreases your risk of getting colon cancer. There are many benefits of estrogen on the body because there are receptors for estrogen basically everywhere including the heart, brain, muscle, bone, bladder, gut, uterus, ovaries, vagina, breast , eyes, heart, lungs and blood vessels.

Other Youthful Aging Center Pages:
Estrogen & Other Hormones in Turmoil- A Life Out of Balance
Menopausal Hormone Replacement Therapy
Food Allergies and Obesity
Hormones and Women’s Health
Estrogen and Menopause
Three Estrogens In Balance Throughout A Woman’s Life
Take The Functional Medicine Questionnaire

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The Youthful Aging Center Bookstore

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Jan

26

The Real Health Care Crisis in America

January 26, 2010 | 1 Comment

The Real Health Care Reform Issue

The real dilemma of health care is not in a lack of funds but in the maldistribution and disinformation the media feeds unwary Americans.

There are too many interests in medicine scrambling for a huge chunk of the medical funds. Only trickles will ever make their way into the lives of tax-paying citizens. The reason that many practitioners went to medical school in the first place has since been put on the back shelf- like a small secondary intention overshadowed by pharmaceutical giants as they cast their nets to bag the biggest share of the profits while watching this nation get sicker with each passing year.

Healing requires NON COMMITTED funds- no strings attached. You cannot fund unbiased education from the deep pockets of pharmaceutical giants paradoxically holding political power over how medicine should be taught and practiced in this country. If we could find generous competing pockets that will fund educating our community to create a sense of personal responsibility, that may begin the changes towards disease prevention. That may reverse the harm that has been done by the manipulations of monetized TV ads and drug promotions. That would be a new direction towards reversal of our so called, ‘Health Care Crisis’.

If you have not seen the movie ‘The Whole Truth’ I invite you to do so now and to learn more about the ways that you can prevent illness through good habits of healthy nutrition. It’s far time to take the initiative into our own hands, for our own lives and make health care reform happen from the inside out… it begins in the home, in the habits that we personally practice and in those that we teach our children to practice as we lead through example.

Here is the reprint from an email I received today which sparked these words…

Pictured is a young physician by the name of Dr. Starner Jones. His short two-paragraph letter to the White House accurately puts the blame on “Culture Crisis” instead of “Health Care Crisis”. Here’s the quick read:

Dear Mr. President:

During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone.

Ours is a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one’s self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance

While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as “Medicaid”! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer.

“And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman’s health care?”

I contend that our nation’s “health care crisis” is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a “crisis of culture”, a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one’s self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based in the irresponsible credo that “I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me”.

Once you fix this “culture crisis” that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you’ll be amazed at how quickly our nation’s health care difficulties will disappear.

Respectfully,
STARNER JONES, MD

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Jan

22

Hormones and Nutrition On Your To Do List For 2010

January 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Every baby boomer needs to be informed about the issues of hormones and nutrition. In fact, discovering your nutritional deficiencies and recovering your youthful levels of hormones for longevity with vitality should be at the top of your to-do lists in 2010… “Who doesn’t need some of that?”

Women are the most to feel and complain about the cycle of ‘change’ within their body, so let’s clarify the stages of female menopause

Menopause, pre-menopause, peri-menopause as well as post-menopause are the terms describing a woman’s transition from having regular periods to none at all. Pre-menopause refers to the years before any menstrual irregularities occur. Peri-menopause marks the interval in which your body begins its transition into menopause. Menopause is the permanent end of menstruation and fertility and refers to the time when periods have recently stopped for good. Post-menopause refers to the years after this transition and through the rest of a woman’s life.

But women are not the only ones to go through hormonal changes. Many times our male counterparts are also having signs and symptoms of dropping hormonal levels. That is known as Male Menopause, or Andropause. Some men will shrug it off as insignificant, either because they really don’t feel badly enough to come to the doctor, or just because they are stuck in the ‘don’t ask for directions’ mode throughout all of the important seasons of their lives. Oh well, guys will be guys. If they feel badly enough, they will find their way to words.

There is ONE little glandular system (the adrenal glands) that can make all of the difference in the world as to whether a woman (and a man, but mostly a woman) will feel the menopausal wrath from H*LL or slide through just as our Eastern Neighborly women do; in fact, Japan simply has NO words for the term HOT FLASHES nor any other subjective references relating to the discomforts our Western women complain about with intensity. Why is that? Do they stress less? Do they eat better? Is there less toxicity in their diets and environment?

YES, YES and YES…

In the US we are incredibly STRESSED. We eat horrifically and live with way too many chemicals that hurt our bodies (both men and women suffer from this problem). So we will spend some time reviewing these issues on this blog site and hope that you will come around, bookmark the blog or pick up the feed trail and get fed on the subject of graceful aging, vital aging, youthful aging so you can live a long and fruitful life in health.

Other Youthful Aging Center Pages:
Testosterone for Men
Basic Lab Testing To Assure Longevity and Youthful Aging
Food Allergies and Obesity
Physician Supervised hCG Weight Loss Program
Take The Functional Medicine Questionnaire

Recommended Reading:
The Youthful Aging Center Bookstore

Jan

22

How To Use Natural (Bio Identical) Estrogen

January 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Estradiol Molecule Natural estrogens is another term to refer to pharmaceutically compounded hormones using natural substances that mimic the exact molecular structure of the hormones that your body produces.

Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and natural hormone therapy are used interchangeably.

Bioidentical hormones work like a lock and key with your body’s enzyme system. Meaning that hormone A, will be converted by enzyme A into an intermediate compound, hormone B which will be worked upon by enzyme B, and successively until the whole process comes to its natural completion. Only enzyme A can unlock hormone A to transform into hormone B. This is the magic of using compounds that are IDENTICAL to what your body is designed to work with.

Our bodies actually produce three main forms of estrogen, namely estrone (E1), estradiol (E2) and estriol (E3). Compounding pharmacies produce these identical compounds to replace hormones that have been lost as the ovaries stop production during menopause and the peri-menopausal period.

Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy has become more popular since the release of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) Study Results in 2002. WHI uncovered many of the health risks associated with the use of synthetic (non-identical compounds) hormones and horse derived hormones to relieve symptoms in menopausal females.

The Uses of Natural (Bio Identical) Hormones

Natural estrogens are used to alleviate symptoms of peri-menopause, menopause and post-menopause in women who have measurably low levels of these essential hormones. The symptoms may include a combination of the following: hot flashes, night sweats, irregular periods, mood swings, vaginal dryness, burning and itching.

Some women may also experiences episodes of dropping hormonal levels due to stress induced premature ovarian failure or surgery, to name a few.

Other reasons to use these natural, bio-identical hormones includes the prevention of osteoporosis, or ischemic heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

These natural, bio-identical hormones hormones maintain bladder and urinary tract function, they also work well to improve your lipid profile by increasing the levels of favorable fragments called HDL, while reducing levels of more unfavorable fragments called LDL.

Topical estrogen therapy has also been used for the reduction of wrinkles and to promote its skin softening effects. But it’s not all fun and good, there’s some risk to taking any kind of hormones for long term.

Possible Side Effects of Natural (Bio Identical) Hormones

The side effects of estrogen include nausea, upset stomach, bloating, headache, dizziness and lightheadedness which may be temporary and self limiting.

There are other reactions that you need to look out for including breakthrough bleeding, breast swelling, breast pain, fluid retention, weight gain, mood swings, depression, dropping libido, increased risk of gallbladder stones or malfunction, increased risk of thromboembolic disorder (blood clots) and increased risk of breast or uterine cancer.

The increased risk of breast cancer may be reduced by using the less harmful form, such as estriol and combine the strogen with progesterone as counterbalance.

Directions For The Safe Use of Natural (Bio Identical) Hormones

These hormones are available in many different forms, such as in capsules, topical creams and gels, suppositories, oral troches, implantable pellets and injections. Selecting the right choice for you may be a personal preference and is also a discussion to have with your prescribing physician who may have suggestions based on the type of benefits you may expect to derive from each individual preparation. If you have questions while you are on these products, consult with a physician or with the compounding pharmacist directly who is extremely knowledgeable on the proper use of these compounded hormones.

If you miss a dose, take it as soon as you have remembered but do not take it if it is almost time to take the next scheduled dose; that is, do not double dose because you forgot yesterday’s dosage today.

If you have any questions and would like to be tested for your hormone levels, I encourage you to contact our office and set up an appointment so we can look at your concerns more closely and establish a relationship that will help you feel your best. Visit the Youthful Aging Center online now.

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Jan

20

Weight Loss for 2010

January 20, 2010 | 1 Comment

Thank you for posting your comments, success and concerns with the hCG weight loss program, scroll below to leave your thoughts and share your story with the rest of us. We will offer as many tips and suggestions as time allows, please sign up to our feed to stay current on what is being posted and commented on this site.

The hCG Weight Loss program is an easy way to lose up to one pound of body fat per day for incredibly contoured body changes. This program helps reset your basal metabolic rate back into a more rapid calorie burning rate.

The only set back?

It requires a willingness to use a tiny little needle and syringe to receive a daily injection of hCG and the discipline to consume a restricted very low calorie diet consisting of 500 total daily calories.

It’’s not as bad as it sounds though because hCG makes those love handle fats available for the extra calories your body needs to function all day long.

The good news is that this is done in pulse fashion, 21 to 40 days max for each cycle. Then you are off of the program for six weeks and back on to pulse hCG again if you have over 50 pounds of weight to lose.

Our medical office is offering a special payment program to make this medically supervised natural weight loss program available to most. Check out our offer at Youthful Aging Center’s hCG Weight Loss Program page.

Download our 2010 Specials for Medically Supervised hCG Weight Loss Program supervised by the youthful aging center of Miami.

There are some other options and useful information online. Check out
The Every Other Day Diet.

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Jan

12

Dr. Broda Barnes, MD and His Basal Body Temperature Testing for Low Thyroid Function

January 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment

The thyroid gland may be one of the most elusive causes of many chronic health issues seen in my office.This gland is capable of mimicking over 65 major symptoms of illness and disorder in the human body- the proverbial mockingbird of medicine, wouldn’t you say?

Untreated, a weak thyroid affects the metabolism of every cell in your body and mocks your attempts at living out a long and healthy life span. A weak thyroid gland can even create errors in diagnosis and treatment. For instance, treating only your frequent upper respiratory illnesses with antibiotics while missing the underlying cause which may be hypothyroidism, can continue to weaken your body further leading to chronic fatigue, poor sense of well-being and may worsens your ability to think and even remember!

However, there is a very simple way of catching this little gland off guard to help you make the diagnosis more obvious for your doctor.

If we would all just remember to go back to basics once in awhile, and doctors are no exception. If most doctors would dare revisit their roots in medicine, more of them could learn to detect that which is hidden in plain sight. Sometimes, scientists just get so caught up in all of the neat gadgets, gizmos and flashy techy stuff modern technology seems to throws at us from every which way. Be we often find that it takes just a bit of common sense, some old fashioned discipline and even perhaps frank gall to gather up the courage to look back at history as we explore all that we have forgotten or have put aside for the sake of advancement. A sensible, and simplistic approach may be all that is needed here to land this elusive, moving target.

Enter the case of the deceptive thyroid disorder known as the low T3 syndrome. This is NOT your typical hypothyroidism, in fact this diagnosis is usually missed by 98% of all traditional physicians in their rapid scanning of lab tests looking only for those values that are obviously too far outside of the normal reference range.

But we are not talking here about a blatant thyroid shut down. No, we are looking at sub-optimal thyroid deficiencies in my practice. The exact kind of deficiency that causes so many vague symptoms of fatigue, sluggishness of thoughts and that overall yucky feeling I see so much each day in patients with less than optimal physiology. Most doctors are just too busy to mess with these suboptimal levels or less than ideal physiology states, choosing instead to wait for frank disease and a total shut down to start replacement therapies with medications that are way too expensive or worse that leave behind a trail of side effects requiring other medications to calm the wake.

So here’s the formula, it’s called the Barnes Basal Body Temperature Test, developed by Dr. Broda Barnes, MD. who wrote more medical research on the subject than you can imagine and certainly at a time when perhaps we may have all been coming out of training pants and diapers. But it still sets a precedent for clinical significance and potency of diagnosis. It goes like this:

Put an axillary (armpit) thermometer by your bedside at night and make sure that you shake it down to the lowest temperature reading. In the morning and before getting out of bed or moving around, put the thermometer under your armpit for 10 minutes and lie very, very still. Record your readings for at least 3 mornings in a row. The normal readings are 97.8 to 98.2. If yours are lower than this and you have the classic symptoms (which are outside of the scope of this article at the moment), then take all of this information to your doctor to get tested.

If you are a woman that still has menstrual cycles, make sure that you do this when you are not on your cycle as this will affect your temperatures. Do it immediately after your cycle or during the final days of your cycle like on days 3, 4 or 5. Don’t do it in the middle of your cycle or you will get the rising temperatures seen with ovulation which is one of the ways we use to teach women to check for ovulation and thus improve their chances of getting pregnant.

Hope this common sense approach helps. Let me know…

Recommended Reading:
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Recommended Reading:
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Jan

8

Where Does Anxiety, Adrenal Fatigue and Hormonal Imbalance Fit Together?

January 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Hormonal changes are often the trigger for many women suffering from anxiety disorder.

Young women come into puberty, mothers give birth to their babies, and mature women transition through the peri-menopausal period of life- all of these hormonal peaks and troughs set off cascades of hormonal reactions within the body.

In that sea of hormones, the effects of unresolved uncertainties around the changing roles (e.g. maturing from child to woman, taking on motherhood, becoming an independent woman past childbearing years) can make the sensation of these anxiety provoking situations overwhelmingly intolerable.

Anxiety can be sensed as a vague uneasy feeling, from fleeting ‘butterflies in your belly’ sensations to the extreme experience of severe and debilitating fear that leads to social phobias, agoraphobia (fear of leaving the security of the home) and to mental breakdowns from the draining effects this has on your adrenal glands.

The adrenal glands are the seat of a system created for handling and coping with stress. These small glands, like two sentinel walnuts sitting atop the kidneys are guardians that monitor the body’s needs for hormones created to cope with the challenges of everyday living, and for healing from illness and attacks upon the immune system.

Like a well oiled system, our bodies are built with interrelated parts relying one upon the other for optimal performance, nowhere is this better illustrated than within the adrenal glands where the seat of emotions interact with the workings of the immune system through a hormonal cascade referred to as the HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrena l) axis. Our bodies are awash in a sea of hormones, and just as the tides of seas respond to the cycles of the moon, so does our internal milieu rely on the oceans of our emotions. This HPA axis links our thoughts to the physical manifestation of what these thoughts create within us.

Anxiety is the well worn path of repetitive fearful thoughts allowed to take up residence within our bodies unchecked and unbalanced through good nutrition and rest for the recovery of our adrenal glands and an overly stressed out system.

Take the time to take care of yourself. Have rest, laugh, reward yourself for your accomplishments and don’t be so harsh to judge your life based on the unmet expectations of those that may have secondary gains as motive. This would truly be a recipe tipping the scales towards anxiety disorders and hormonal imbalances sure to overwhelm the craftsmanship of your perfectly designed system.

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Dec

30

Mike Learns About the Wrath of Cortisol And Adrenal Fatigue On His Body- Part II

December 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Mike came in on his one month follow up for severe adrenal fatigue and related symptoms. This is where we got into some deeper discussions about what was happening inside of his body because he had been living with unchecked stress and damaging his adrenal glands for over three years.

“Mike, there are a few things that feed into the problems you are having with keeping your weight in check. First that central fat around your waist line is definitely telling me that your stress is causing insulin resistance in your body.”

The adrenal glands produce hormones that cause your body to raise your blood sugars in times of stress as this is the brain’s primary source of fuel to stay sharp and to think fast. The same mechanism that causes this also creates an increased demand on your body’s production of insulin. So the pancreas has to work overtime to create more and more insulin to keep up with these demands. Over time, this creates an extremely fatigued pancreas, and just like the adrenal system working overtime will eventually burn out, so too will the overburdened pancreas burn out creating a slow descent into adult onset diabetes.

“You see Mike, stress makes your body create lots and lots of cortisol- the hormone of stress which acts as an anti inflammatory helping your body heal rapidly from its wounds. Remember, man has been around for centuries, but early man had different stressors like running from the fangs of saber toothed tigers. The system was built for immediate stress responses to temporary and fleeting stress that was sure to pass quickly. You were either eaten, or escaped to hide away and recover from the immediate threat. Today, there are no such tigers yet we have not changed all that much in the way that we are built to cope with real or imagined stressors (and therefore real or imagined tigers).”

Mike was understanding that his adrenal response was locked and set to the ‘Always On’ position. thus spilling a constant and alarming amount of cortisol throughout his system which would eventually ravage his health over time.

The cascade of hormone production can be shifted to the exclusive production of cortisol at the expense of creating downstream hormones, and this is the source of so much grief for men and especially for women during the time of menopause. I told Mike, “Our country is a melting pot of constant stress and it is no wonder that so many American women are struggling with the symptoms of menopause and pre-menopause.”

Mike just smiled at me and said that he knew what I was talking about as he could already see these changes happening to his wife Judy.

When your body has too much cortisol in the bloodstream (and a declining levels of sex hormones that results) it turns off muscle production and bone mineral deposition which leads to osteoporosis, to muscle weakness and to frailty. The excess cortisol production also blocks the activity of Growth Hormone contributing to the accumulation of central fat- that dangerous fat surrounding your vital organs and filling out your midline, Mike.

Stress also causes something far more dangerous but way too silent to know that it is happening until it is too late. When you have insulin resistance like this for too long, it sets up inflammation within your body and especially inside of your blood vessels. Over time, this causes coronary artery disease and atherosclerosis (which is hardening of all the major arteries of the body). So stress IS a leading cause of heart disease and even strokes and heart attacks.

Another issue with stress is the way that it knocks out your body’s immune defenses and makes it harder to keep the outside offenders from breaking down your barriers to disease and allergic reactions to environmental pollutants.

Studies consistently show that patients with the lowest morning cortisol levels, have the worst quality of sleep and those that can not sleep well throughout the night are subject to have increased risk for all cause mortality including cancers. Studies proved that patients with metastatic breast cancer whose diurnal (daytime) cortisol rhythms showed flat line response or low levels all had earlier mortality rates.

“So Mike, it is important for us to treat these extremely low levels of daytime cortisol to reverse the trends that I see happening in your life. Are you ready to begin?”

Check out the next report to see how Mike was able to get a hold of his condition and begin reversing the grim statistics of his unhealthy lifestyle choices. Mike was getting the help he needed, including working with his psychologist to start developing much better coping mechanisms for dealing with his daily stressors.

We will continue with his story as it develops. Fatigued all of the time? Check Your Adrenal System and Your Hormone Levels!

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Dec

27

The Mental, Physical & Social Effects From Chronic Stress- Part I

December 27, 2009 | Leave a Comment

There is a connection between stress, hormonal dysfunction and a suppressed immune mechanism. All of these seemingly unrelated factors converge upon the adrenal gland system.

Mike was suffering from adrenal fatigue. I knew this 10 minutes into our interview. He was sharing vague, seemingly unrelated symptoms and could not seem to connect the dots that these were all the result of an underlying condition known as adrenal fatigue.

“Doctor, I am always telling Judy (his wife) that I can’t seem to get motivated to go out with our friends anymore like we used to. I am always just so tired. Judy says I am abnormally fatigued so she made this appointment for me today”.

I asked Mike to elaborate on his complaints and feelings a bit more and he described how he seemed to be more nervous and irritable lately. He said Judy told him he might be depressed.

“Why would Judy say that to you Mike?”

Mike replied, “Doc, I am having a tough time concentrating, I seem to be on edge all of the time, apprehensive like something bad is about to happen. I feel tired, weak and it’s very easy to get me frustrated with the simplest tasks.”

I asked Mike about his eating habits, especially asked if he was having cravings for sweet and salty foods. He confirmed that indeed he was, and worse during the afternoon slump as he was reaching for sweets and coffee just to keep going.

“Doc, I also feel lightheaded and dizzy at times, but the worse problem is that I seem to get that second wind at about 11 pm and find myself staying up late to catch up on the work I was unable to complete during the day. I am having a terrible time getting up in the morning lately. My internal clock seems to be shifting to later and later morning start ups. I don’t know what to do.”

“Mike are you feeling any body aches or headaches?” He confirmed that he was having shoulder and neck pains and muscle spasms and that the headaches were part of his daily routine since about three months now.

Mike was also suffering from stomach and digestive problems which he never had experienced before. He was having epigastric pain, indigestion, symptoms of Irritable Bowels like alternating episodes of diarrhea and constipation. Plus he seemed to be having trouble with eating certain foods and thought he might be having symptoms of food allergies and food sensitivities for which we requested testing.

“It seems lately that I am getting more sensitive to foods and even to chemicals I come in contact with, I can’t tolerate certain strong odors, or smoking, offensive perfumes and everything seems to give me some sort of allergic reaction. Doc I feel like I am falling apart, can you help me find out what is going on with me?”

The Many Faces of Stress Due To Adrenal Fatigue

Half of all Americans are suffering from stress related symptoms and health effects. Mike was one of them. Almost 90% of the visits made to a primary care physician are for these types of stress related complaints.

Stress is a very real problem in our society and it is linked to very real medical diseases such as cancers, lung ailments, liver cirrhosis, cardiac disease, suicides and accidents. In fact, stress is responsible for more than 25 billion lost workdays lost each year from absenteeism.

A List of Physical Effects Caused By Stress and Adrenal Fatigue

The list goes on and on, but many people with this condition share in the same handful of vague, seemingly unrelated bodily complaints. Here are some of the reactions that take place in your body when you are chronically under increased stress.

Increased blood pressure
Increased heart rate
Increased heart contractions
Increased blood flow to skeletal muscles
Decreased blood flow to areas not naturally needed for rapid activities, like the kidneys and intestines
Dilation of the pupils
Increased muscle strength
Release of sugar from the liver
Increased mental activity
Increased metabolic rate.

A Few Things That Happen to a Body Under Constant Stress

Mike is suffering from symptoms of adrenal fatigue resulting from constant exposure to unrelenting stress. A person under constant stress can have many medical problems. Here is a short list:

Reproductive problems due to disruptions in hormone production,
Constant fatigue due to insulin resistance causing problems with energy utilization,
A slowed metabolism due to thyroid dysfunction
Delayed wound healing and growth due to poor nutrition absorption from the gut
Problems with fluid balance due to decreased kidney function, and
Problems with good quality sleep.

The Mental Effects of Chronic Ongoing Stress

It turns out that Mike had been suffering from the effects of chronic, ongoing stress for about three years now. He basically had all of the following symptoms and needed not only medical intervention, but psychological counseling to work through many of these issues as well. Mike has:

Mental fatigue with a loss of creativity and spontaneity
Confusion, forgetfulness and difficulty with making decisions
Anxiety and feelings of panic
Tension, frustration, irritability, anger and resentment
Depression
Feelings of low self worth
Lowered intellectual functioning
Boredom

The Social Effects of Chronic Ongoing Stress

The psychotherapist wrote a report to our office concerning the issues that they were going to be working through. Mike was suffering from ongoing stress that was causing him problems with:

Procrastination and avoidance of important work and home responsibilities
A lack of concern for others and a resulting deterioration in his relationship with Judy
Reduced effectiveness in communication and an inability to listen to others
Emotional hypersensitivity with tendency to overreact to others, feelings of isolation, alienation and a tendency to suppress his feelings which was leading to Mike’s withdrawal from his friends and family
A loss of control, with quick tempered responses and aggressive behavior

Further, the report revealed that Mike may be showing signs of increased risk taking behaviors, such as gambling and that he was also displaying a tendency towards increased drug use and abuse of sedatives and sleeping pills to self medicate his anxiety and insomnia.

In short, Mike was really suffering and coming to a very serious crossroads. If he did not make some positive changes now, he was heading for a break down and some serious physical, emotional and financial repercussions in his life.

How To Know If You May Be Suffering From Stress Related Changes

If you can relate to some of Mike’s discomfort, then a simple, stress free non-invasive saliva collection procedure for cortisol levels is a great test to reveal the state of your adrenal health. In my opinion, this is the most appropriate way to assess your adrenal functions and to help us make the diagnosis of adrenal fatigue which may be the causing of several seemingly unrelated conditions you may be experiencing.

Mike’s salivary cortisol levels were checked throughout the day to determine the health of his adrenal glands. The normal pattern of salivary cortisol levels are:

From 7-8 am salivary cortisol levels between 13-24 nM
From 11- 12 noon cortisol levels between 5-10 nM
From 4-5 pm salivary cortisol levels between 3-8 nM
From 11 -Midnight cortisol levels from 1-4 nM.

The pattern above is a demonstration which shows how a normal curve would create higher cortisol levels in the morning, after arising. This is the time when you need more cortisol to deal with the stressors of the day. Later in the day, the levels should fall to their lowest range well into the evening, thus making it easier to get some restful sleep.

People with abnormal cortisol patterns share the same pathological rhythm demonstrating a ‘tired and wired’ curve meaning that their cortisol levels are low in the morning (so they feel exhausted as they are trying to get going). Then they get wired out later in the evening when their bodies get that second wind; therefore, they are unable to sleep. While the day is winding down- they are winding up!

Needless to say, Mike did not have a normal pattern and was showing signs of late adrenal fatigue with very low adrenal reserves. Typical of the scenario that we’ve just discussed.

Join us again as we continue our discussions on the effects of chronic stress and how we were able to help poor Mike out of his chronic adrenal fatigue due to unrelenting stress. If you want to learn more about adrenal fatigue and how it affects your hormones, please visit the Youthful Aging Center online to read about the effects adrenal fatigue has on your body.

Recommended Reading:
The Youthful Aging Center Bookstore

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