Adrenal Fatigue Symptoms... 

Feeling Fatigued And Always Tired?

Written By Liz Oakes

The adrenal fatigue symptoms are related to feeling fatigued, severe tiredness, even exhaustion.

This is why this health problem it is also known as adrenal exhaustion. There are also a lot of other possible symptoms.

This includes problems such as brain fog, lack of energy, always tired, fear, panic, anger, muscle pain, weight gain, food cravings and more!

The adrenal gland is very small but it makes some powerful hormones that keep the body running.

These hormones are released as a result of situations where the body feels that you are at risk and need to be able to get out of trouble quickly.

This process was designed with the lifestyle of primitive man in mind, when humans had to be able to run fast to get out of the path of a charging rhino.

These days its more likely to be the result of lifestyle and a busy stressful way of living. 

The most well known of the natural chemicals made by the adrenal glands is known as adrenaline. Most of you would be aware of the term "adrenaline rush".

This usually refers to an exciting situation, a high, that enlivens you and makes you feel its good to be alive.

All of these feelings are the result of an influx of adrenal hormones into your blood stream.

Adrenal Fatigue Symptoms And Causes

Although the adrenaline rush may feel good, if you keep continuing to live your life on an adrenaline high, your body will run out of these hormones and you will come crashing down.

It takes a while for this to happen, and is not always caused by having a good time. It mostly relates to the way we live our lives in the 21st century, and the levels of stress this causes.

The cause of adrenal gland fatigue is commonly simply the stresses and strains of modern life.

If you work long hours, eat too much fast food, and get inadequate sleep, this puts a stress on your system.

Combine this with mental stress, and you may find that your adrenal glands have been releasing an excess of stress hormones for some time.

If you work in a stressful job, and have other stresses in your life, this can contribute. If the saying "burning the candle at both ends" is familiar to you, and you have been doing it, this could be why you have reached exhaustion and are running on empty.

If you have been using too much of these natural chemicals over a long period, eventually your adrenal glands can no longer produce enough adrenal hormones. Once you have adrenal fatigue syndrome it is of value to make lifestyle changes.

More than anything else this health problem is related to stress and how you handle it in your life.

If you allow stress to continue for long periods, this can lead to even worse health problems so it is important to take action and make changes as soon as possible.

Adrenal Fatigue Symptoms... Do You Have The Signs?

Stress and adrenal fatigue, what's the relationship? 

Take a look at the article on adrenal exhaustion if you are not sure of what the relationship is, to discover how adrenal gland problems and stress are related.

Perhaps you may be aware that you have had ongoing long term stress, but were not aware of the link between stress and adrenal gland fatigue and what it can do to your health?

If you have come to this page after reading my article about how stress may have been affecting your health, you might notice that some of the physical symptoms of stress are the same as adrenal fatigue symptoms. 

But not all of the signs are the same as there are some items on the two lists that are quite different.

Symptoms Of Adrenal Fatigue List

I have compiled as a full list of the symptoms below, but please be aware that not everyone has all of these symptoms. 

Also note that you do not have to have all of these symptoms, for it to be adrenal gland fatigue, but many people do suffer from quite a few of them.

So lets take a look at the first group of adrenal fatigue symptoms and see what they include:

• Always tired, excessive fatigue, lack of energy and exhaustion.
• Difficulty getting up in the morning
• Sensitive to cold, especially cold hands and feet

• Brain fog, hard to think properly.
• Mental challenges, memory impairment, hard to concentrate.
• Fear, panic, anxiety, feel unable to cope

• Irritability, impatience and getting angry easily
• Low sex drive
• Irregular periods and/or premenstrual tension

• Low immunity, take longer to recover from illness
• Low blood pressure
• Lightheaded when you stand up after sitting down and especially if you bend over.

• Muscle pain, spasms or arthritis
• Lack of stamina and difficulty recovering after physical activity
• The adrenal fatigue symptoms commonly include changes in your sleep patterns, that may cause insomnia.

• Disturbed sleep and difficulty sleeping again once you have woken up.
• Sensitive to light and noise
• Mood swings and depression

• Difficulty thinking in the afternoon between two and four pm.
• Start to feel better about six o'clock, when you get your second wind

• Feel sleepy around nine o'clock. but if you don't get to sleep straight away, you may be unable to get to sleep until 11.30pm, midnight or into the early hours of the morning.

Adrenal Fatigue Symptoms And Signs

As you may have noticed many of the previous adrenal fatigue symptoms relate to how you feel and how you are physically coping with life.

But of course there is more to it than that, and what you eat is an important part of the equation.

There is a second group of symptoms that you may have, that relate to food, digestion and your weight.

• A need for coffee to get you started in the morning, and to keep you going during the day.
• Lack of desire to eat, followed by low blood sugar or hypoglycemia and sugar cravings
• Increased allergies to food

• Higher than usual sensitivity to environmental chemicals
• Increased appetite
• Crave high fat and salty foods

• Digestive problems
• Irritable bowel syndrome...IBS
• Weight gain and water retention

Adrenal Fatigue Symptoms... Taking Action

Check out my article that has ideas for getting better sleep, to see if you are able to make changes that may help you.

Once you begin to sleep better this will help you to start getting better.

If you are suffering from any of the above adrenal fatigue symptoms, take action to make changes.

There are a number of excellent remedies that may help you, but they do need to be combined with changes to your lifestyle.

Check out my list of herbs for adrenal exhaustion below, if you'd like to know more about herbal remedies that can help.

It is common for many people who have adrenal fatigue syndrome to have to make changes due to an inability to keep going. 

Look at natural adrenal fatigue treatment options, including using adaptogenic herbs.

If you have been having trouble sleeping it is important that you look at whether the way you are living is responsible for part of the problem. 

Try cutting back on the amount of coffee you drink.

Each time you drink coffee, or caffeine energy drinks, the caffeine is stimulating the release of cortisol... one of the adrenal hormones, which is part of the problem.

It may also be beneficial to add more foods that contain higher amounts of potassium to your diet as well.

Potassium deficiency symptoms can be related to a lack of potassium in your diet, which can cause adrenal fatigue.

Many adaptogens are powerful to aid stress, as well as being very helpful to ease the adrenal fatigue symptoms.

Adrenal fatigue supplements commonly contain a mixture of these herbs along with vitamin and mineral supplements.

List Of Herbs For Adrenal Exhaustion...

See the list of some of the herbal adaptogens that are helpful for adrenal gland fatigue include:

• Rhodiola rosea root ... see image above
• Holy basil also known as Tulsi
• Cordyceps
• Panax ginseng, which includes Asian ginseng and American ginseng

• Licorice root
• Dang shen also known as Codonopsis root
• Withania somnifera also known as Ashwagandha

• Eleuthero also known as Siberian Ginseng
• Schizandra
• Astragalus

Take a look below, where there are links to in-depth pages on some of these herbs...

Read in-depth pages about adaptogenic herbs

• Do you know the benefits of withania somnifera root commonly known as Ashwagandha?
• Learn how Eleuthero Root is beneficial to aid adrenal fatigue.
• Read about how using Codonopsis or dang shen root will help issues such as tiredness, chronic fatigue, stress, adrenal fatigue and more...

• Did you know that remedies containing Schizandra Berries can help stress and fatigue, as well as being anti-aging.
• Herb images... courtesy Wikimedia.com cc-sa 

Other related pages that may interest you...

• Adaptogenic herbs may also be immune system herbs, and many adaptogens are combined with other herbs in remedies for the immune system. 

• Discover the ways that Astragalus aids immune health and helps tiredness.

• Many people associate licorice with sweets. But did you know that an excellent herbal remedy for adrenal gland fatigue and many other health problems is made from licorice root?

• Discover a range of ideas and tips you may not have thought of, that may help boost your immune system naturally.