Is this a legitimate medical condition?

[DaveC426913]

Has anyone heard of this or have any input on it in terms of it being a legitimate ailment?

No Googling! I can do that! I'm hoping for some advice.

 

[RazorRose]

Not that i or anyone here has seen. (i'm at work at united general hospital)

we did theorize that if someone had been under a great deal of prolonged stress, and that they were running off of full adrenaline for a long period of time (we are talking days i'd say 3+) and then kept pushing that the adrenaline just stopped it could be considered an "ailment" but i'd think of it as more of a symptom, that shows something else is causing that person to feel stressed.
and eventually if you pushed it far enough and long enough you'd just collapse.

 

[Moonbear]

I've never heard that particular term before. Is it referring to something like an adrenal insufficiency, which is a pretty serious (but treatable) condition of not being able to produce adequate adrenal steroids? One symptom of it is fatigue. Maybe it was an attempt of a physician to try to explain this condition to someone in laymen's terms, or someone not fully understanding what they were being told?

If that's what it is, the person should see an endocrinologist for a full work up. Often it's not a symptom of a dysfunction of the adrenal gland, but at the pituitary, and can even be a symptom of a pituitary tumor.

 

[DaveC426913]

The reason it's come up is because the http://www.who.int/en/" ) has recognized it as a legit ailment.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/286390

Every other source I can find relegates it to Alternative Medicine.

Legit sources do recognize Adrenal Insufficiency and Addison's Disease but do not recognize Adrenal Fatigue, which seems to be defined as a mild, chronic and borderline case of Insufficiency.

These are the symptoms:

• Tired for no reason
• Having trouble getting up in the morning
• Need coffee, colas, salty or sweet snacks to keep going
• Feeling run down and stressed
• Crave salty or sweet snacks
• Struggling to keep up with life’s daily demands
• Can’t bounce back from stress or illness
• Not having fun anymore
• Decreased sex drive

Sounds like someone who is simply getting old and stressed.


A certain wife thinks I should mention it to my doctor. I think my doctor will laugh me out of his office.

 

[Monique]

If you search Pubmed, no records show up for the quoted phrase.

 

[Proton Soup]

searching for the exact phrase "adrenal fatigue" at WHO yields zero results. if this is a real disease, it would be nice to see some objective diagnostic criteria.

 

[nutrobion]

Adele Davis addressed adrenal fatigue in her book "Let's Get Well", published 1965 (my copy). She called it adrenal exhaustion, and covers it well with a chapter of its own.
Her book was my 'bible' for health information for years, even after becoming a registered nurse. She backs everything with references to research. A reliable source. Available on eBay from time to time.
It's unlikely you'll find much about it mainstream, since it can be treated by nutrition supplements, and avoiding medications and substances that tax the adrenal glands, and of course, by avoiding stress.
When the nutrients required for the adrenals to function are depleted, you end up with symptoms of one or more of a wide variety of diseases.
I induced my own case of it by accident. Manifested as S&S of Lupus. I looked up Lupus in Let's Get Well, and it said adrenal exhaustion could mimic lupus, and that among other things, taking too much aspirin could cause adrenal exhaustion. It happened that I was taking 2 regular aspirin tablets every 2 hours while awake to cope with the pain of a back injury. As soon as I quit taking the aspirin and increased my intake of pantothenic acid, I recovered.


I hope this helps.

 

[DaveC426913]

Adele Davis addressed adrenal fatigue in her book "Let's Get Well", published 1965 (my copy). She called it adrenal exhaustion, and covers it well.
Her book was my 'bible' for health information for years, even after becoming a registered nurse. She backs everything with references to research. A reliable source. Available on eBay from time to time.
It's unlikely you'll find much about it mainstream, since it can be treated by nutrition supplements, and avoiding medications and substances that tax the adrenal glands, and of course, by avoiding stress.
When the nutrients required for the adrenals to function are depleted, you end up with symptoms of all kinds of diseases.

I hope this helps.

Thanks.

I am of two minds. While I am somewhat jaded about the medical establishment, I am also extremely dubious of alternative medicine.

Tough call. Hump. Death. Hump. Death.

 

[hypatia]

Always pick hump.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Don't people with a caffeine addiction suffer Adrenal Fatigue?

 

[Proton Soup]

Don't people with a caffeine addiction suffer Adrenal Fatigue?

there's no such thing. it's a made up malady to get people to buy more overpriced vitamins from their chiropractors. "i'm tired" ADRENAL FATIGUE! "i'm fat" ADRENAL FATIGUE! "i don't feel sexy" ADRENAL FATIGUE!

and all one of those articles above did was claim "WHO said somethingsomething, but what they really meant was ADRENAL FATIGUE!, ergo, WHO recognizes ADRENAL FATIGUE!". um, yeah, thank you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iYTVcCvTUs", you almost slipped that one by me.

 

[Count Iblis]

http://worldofweirdthings.com/2009/05/07/why-alternative-medicine-spreads-like-a-virus/

After applying a mathematical model which assumes that a person is either ill or healthy and has a period of time to demonstrate a traditional cure to others, converting a certain amount of people, the researchers found that bad medicine spreads like a virus. Literally. When someone is sick for longer periods of time but actually manages to recover in the end, this person has more time to show the traditional or alternative treatment to a greater number of people and when he gets better, it convinces those who saw his traditional cures that they really work. On the other hand, when a medication clears up the disease quickly, the same person has a lot less time to show people how well the science-based medicine worked.

 

[DaveC426913]

there's no such thing. it's a made up malady to get people to buy more overpriced vitamins from their chiropractors.

Well, the World Health Org seems to disagree. Unless you think they're in bed with the chiropractors.

 

[Proton Soup]

Well, the World Health Org seems to disagree. Unless you think they're in bed with the chiropractors.

really? can you quote me the text where they do, because i completely missed it in those links? i also searched the WHO site for adrenal fatigue and found squat.

 

[Count Iblis]

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/adrenal-fatigue/AN01583

It's frustrating to have persistent symptoms your doctor can't readily explain. But accepting a medically unrecognized diagnosis from an unqualified practitioner could be worse. Unproven remedies for so-called "adrenal fatigue" may leave you feeling sicker, while the real cause — such as depression or fibromyalgia — continues to take its toll.

 

[DaveC426913]

really? can you quote me the text where they do, because i completely missed it in those links? i also searched the WHO site for adrenal fatigue and found squat.

Oh dear. I appear to have been hoodwinked. The article I linked to does not seem to have anything at all to back it up.

I dunno, maybe the 'recognized' link is supposed to point somewhere meaningful but it does not.

Please delete this entire thread.

 

[Proton Soup]

Are you talking about the link I have in post 4?

yes, in post 4, http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/286390", which states:

The World Health Organization has just this year recognized a new syndrome, which they're calling "21st century disease." The technical name is adrenal fatigue...

so, first of all, I've got a problem with their putting words in WHO's mouth by referring to something as "adrenal fatigue", and claiming it is a technical term when it is not generally recognized. also, i don't see this "21st century disease" they are referring to.

 

[DaveC426913]

yes, in post 4, http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/286390", which states:

Yeah. I'm retracting this entire thread. There is no legitimate organization that recognizes Adrenal Fatigue.