As National Stress Awareness Month draws to a close, we want to make sure that you are informed about how chronic stress affects your health by leading to adrenal fatigue.
Mainstream physicians may diagnose you with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but this is just a description of your condition, not the underlying cause. If you have difficulty recovering from stress, chronic fatigue, dizziness or recurrent infections, it is likely that you are suffering from adrenal fatigue.
Adrenal fatigue occurs when the adrenal glands do not produce adequate amounts of the body’s stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol is essential to our life because it enables us to handle stress and change. However when our cortisol levels are low, we begin to feel the symptoms of adrenal fatigue. Balancing your hormones with bioidentical cortisol is the best way to take back control of your life!
*Tip from Dr. Hotze: “In addition to balancing your hormones with cortisol, Vitamin C is an important nutrient for our adrenal glands. The adrenal cortex has the highest concentration of vitamin C of all the organs in the body, and the cells of this gland use it at a higher rate than any other cells. Vitamin C enhances immunity, which is often impaired in those with adrenal insufficiency. During times of stress, our bodies excrete vitamin C more rapidly, making our need for this vitamin even greater.
I advise all of my adult patients to supplement with 3,000–6,000 mg of vitamin C per day. A slow-release buffered form is best to prevent over acidity of the stomach and to ensure sustained blood levels throughout the day.”