The adrenal glands are two small glands lying on top of the kidneys.
These glands produce cortisol, DHEA and also some of the body’s sex steroid hormones.
Adequate amounts of cortisol are important for well-being and to maintain the body in a state of physiological balance.The Adrenal Glands are critical to health and well-being
If the adrenal glands become completely defunct we die.
If the adrenal glands become so weak that they can produce hardly any cortisol a condition which is described as Addison’s disease.
There is also (in my opinion) a group of patients whose condition is not severe enough to satisfy the diagnostic criteria for Addison’s disease, nevertheless cannot produce adequate amounts of cortisol.
What Symptoms might Suggest an Adrenal Gland problemSome brief information an Adrenal Gland problem?
These people may have cold hands and feet , postural hypotension, general weakness and may need to eat very frequently etc. ‘Low’ adrenal function may also be a cause of low basal body temperature.
How can adrenal gland function be tested?
There is a reasonable correlation between the amount of cortisol in the saliva and the blood cortisol. This test is useful as an adjunct alongside the standard medical tests for adrenal function. Salivary cortisol is measured by the patient using a home kit at 8AM, midday, 4PM and midnight. Many individuals who have low adrenal function may be very tired in the morning (as may be a lot of hypothyroid patients) and take a long time to ‘get going’.
Patients with co-existent low thyroid function and low adrenal function
Patients who have both low thyroid function and low adrenal function may actually feel a lot worse when they are commenced on thyroid replacement therapy.
I have certainly experienced this with one or two patients over the years These patients may remark something along the lines of : ‘I was started on thyroxine / armour thyroid / and I immediately felt worse and began to have palpitations and feel weak and so I stopped the thyroid medication.
There is currently a vogue among a small group of doctors for routinely giving adrenal hormones along with thyroid hormones. How sensible is this?
As a general rule it is probably not medically sensible to decide too quickly that a patient should have cortisol replacement. It is important to at least check salivary cortisol levels if a diagnosis of hypoadrenalism is being seriously entertained.