Without going into the history too much, in 1895, a physiologist named Brown-Sequard showed that removal of both adrenal glands from any mammal is fatal. Since this rudimentary look into physiology, we have come a long way in understanding why. Moreover, we have come to learn what function adrenal glands have in the body as part of the endocrine system, a system that speaks to the body via moving chemicals from organs like the adrenal, into the roadmap that it the blood, and finally to the destination of tissues around the body.

For a short science lesson, the adrenal medulla manufactures adrenaline, noradrenaline, and enkephalin. Most of you know what an adrenaline rush is, and I am sure most of you can imagine that the rush you get from adrenaline is a concert of responses from the attachment of these biochemicals to your body's cells in various locations. To give you a brief example, an epipen, which is epinephrine, also known as noradrenaline, is the standard medicine for getting a person out of trouble when there is a severe allergic reaction. Every place where there is trouble (breathing, swelling, heart palpating, etc) there are receptors that respond to that "adrenaline rush" and save the person. On a lighter note, when you exercise you release enkephalins, which aid in painkilling activity (thank goodness!). A side note: that is why it is good to exercise when you are in chronic pain unless injury prevents you from doing so.

Okay, so the adrenal cortex secretes "cortical steroids" which are divided by action into the glucocorticoids, mineral corticoids, and androgens. The most important thing I would like to say about these cortical steroids are that they are made from cholesterol which is obtained from circulating plasma as LDL. Yes, the same "bad cholesterol" that we all know and love. I will speak to that in further issues of this newsletter, as it is an important point to make. The most famous of glucocorticoids is cortisol, also known as the "fight or flight" reaction hormone.

Due to our overstressed lives, we often feel like we are in fight or flight mode, and chronically use up our cortisol, and the reserves or building blocks that make it.

Also, as cholesterol is the main ingredient, we diverge that cortisol that is needed for other hormones like male and female hormones such as estrogen, progesterone,and testosterone, we also bring more cholesterol into the circulation, putting us at risk for arterial damage, and heart attacks. The hormone aldosterone, our mineralcorticoid, is responsible for water balance by our kidneys. What happens when our fluid is diverted into urine or into the tissue space outside or our cells…our hearts have to work harder because the blood volume is lower (makes you think about diuretics differently now, doesn't it?). Before getting totally depleted, our cortisol is high, and leads us to feel invincible (remember all nighters in college?), and this is telling our body cells not to listen to itself…I mean, if you have to stay up all night, why not keep your blood sugar high! Yes, invincibility can come with Diabetes Mellitus Type II, after years of insulin secretion that knocks on the doors of your cellular castle, and the the guard says "no, go away".

So, after my long time ramblings, what is the point of this article? We have salivary hormone testing for adrenal health which includes four samples throughout the day. The nature of secretion, and the level of secretion from your adrenal glands of cortisol, coupled with your symptom picture, can guide us on the proper treatment to get you up and running when you need to be, and safe from harm in the long run.

Come in today, and learn more about our our web page. Also offering hormonal testing for women in pre- and post- menopause, men worried about age-related declines in energy and vitality, and those who seek bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.