Dear Subscriber,
I got so many messages about my post on low dose cortisol that I decided to expand on it front and center for the Premium section. If you are one who suffers from fatigue, unexplained inflammation, malaise, intolerance to missing a meal, joint pains, rheumatism, muscle pains, lack of robust immune system, and much more, this post could provide good information to spare you needless suffering. THANK YOU for being a Premium section subscriber. We are very grateful for your support!
Your endocrine system is a collection of glands that secrete hormones directly into the blood stream. An exocrine gland is one that puts its product(s) into a duct. The pancreas is both. It makes insulin and pushes it into your blood stream. It also makes digestive enzymes and sends them via a duct into your small intestine. Your main endocrine glands include the ovaries/testicles (sex hormones), adranals, pancreas, thyroid, pituitary gland (master gland for all your other glands), and even the pineal (melatonin). Diabetes is a great example of the spectrum of lack of hormone. Type one is a total lack of insulin. Pancreas simply doesn’t make it, or whatever it does make is quickly neutralized. Type one is life threatening. However, there is type 2 as well. Here there is insulin being produced. Either not enough, or not fully received by target cells (insulin resistance). These people will have high blood sugar and develop some of the complications of the same. But they can function quite well. You might not know they have issues as there is enough insulin or insulin function for their bodies to function, but of course, not at an ideal level of function.
Most everyone knows about thyroid. So, let’s move there. If you are hypothyroid, you will be slow, sluggish, slow mentation, lack of energy, feel cold (as your thyroid regulates your temperature through combustion of calories), etc. There is a term for a really serious condition of low thyroid called myxedema, a life-threatening condition of hypothyroidism. The latter is uncommon. I’ve only seen a few cases in my life. Most of us are well familiar with people needing some thyroid support. They may complain of feeling cold and lack of energy. But are otherwise largely functional. Most doctors are well aware of thyroid conditions. And they don’t hesitate to provide thyroid hormone to those they believe need it. (Few conventional doctors treat hypothyroidism properly in my opinion, as they prescribe man made synthetic hormones rather than bioidentical hormones which are a proper balance of T4 and T3. But this report is not about treatment of hypothyroid, but adrenal).
So, we’ve discussed low thyroid, low pancreas. How about gonads? That’s easy to understand. Low testosterone can lead to low sex drive, performance, weak muscles in men, or in women – hair loss, dry vagina, period dysfunction, dry skin, moodiness, etc. These are often addressed with the administration of the appropriate sex hormone.
The final gland to discuss is the adrenal. The adrenal is actually two organs in one, the cortex, maker of cortisol and DHEA and a few other steroid hormones, and the medulla, where adrenergic hormones are made (adrenalin, noradrenalin, dopamine, etc) and were you get for “flight of fight” emotional response. This Substack is about the functioning of the adrenal cortex. Hence the term for its hormones – glucocorticoids, as the key hormone of the adrenal cortex, “cortisol”, greatly regulates blood sugar.
Most doctors think if you don’t have “Addison’s disease” that your adrenal is OK and doesn’t need attention. Addison’s disease is to the adrenal like myxedema is to thyroid. It is a life-threatening condition of lack of this important steroid hormone, which is considered the stress hormone, and regulator of glucose and so many other functions. Hopkins medical website lists the following for adrenal insufficiency:
· Weakness
Fatigue
Dizziness
Dark skin (Addison's disease only)
Bluish-black color around the nipples, mouth, rectum, scrotum, or vagina (Addison's disease only)
Weight loss
Fluid loss (dehydration)
Lack of appetite
Muscle aches
Upset stomach (nausea)
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Low blood pressure
Low sugar levels
In women, irregular or no menstrual periods
If not treated, adrenal insufficiency may lead to:
Severe belly (abdominal) pain
Extreme weakness
Low blood pressure
Kidney failure
Shock
It is emphasizing the far end of the spectrum of adrenal insufficiency which is uncommon. I often wonder why doctors cannot see glandular insufficiency as a “spectrum” as they do with heart failure. For example, a normal heart ejection fraction (amount of blood pumped out in one stroke) is 70%. 60% is more than acceptable. When you get to 50%, you are still overwhelmingly functional.