Several of us are stressed these days, which often has a negative effect on our body and the brain. This can cause quick brain degeneration and chronic diseases. If you are worried about how stress can affect your body and if you can manage it, adrenal salivary test can be of great help. It helps in showing if the stress hormone released is cortisol and if it is too low or high. It also helps to know, if it has any affect on your circadian rhythm and on the sleep-wake cycle.
Low Adrenal Hormones Symptoms:
- Tiredness
- Slow start in mornings
- Crash in the noon
- Cravings for nicotine, caffeine, sweets
- Shifts in moods
- Irritability, light-headedness and shaky in case of no food for a long-time.
- Waking up at 3 or 4 am in the morning. Not able to sleep
- Feeling dizzy when moving from sitting to a standing position
- Difficulty in falling asleep
- Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS).
High Adrenal Hormone Symptoms:
- Belly fat in excess
- Waking up with a feeling of tiredness
- Facial hair in women, Men growing breasts
- Insulin resistance or high blood sugar
The Adrenal Salivary Test – How to do it?
For this test, a small vial of the saliva is collected through the day with the help of vials in test kit. This is then analysed in the lab to find the cortisol levels and to find how much cortisol is produced throughout the day which includes the morning, afternoon and evening. You should not do anything unusual or stressful during the day.
It is crucial to know that high or low adrenal hormones do not usually mean a problem with the adrenal glands. There are two glands which are right on top of the kidney and can create or secrete adrenal hormones. If there is chronic stress, it can have an affect on the stress pathways in brain which tend to dysfunction as the stress gets chronic.
It is not just being too busy or about a bad relationship or a bad job which can cause a lot of stress. There are many other factors which cause chronic stress which include an autoimmune disease, leaky gut, a chronic infection and unstable blood sugar which might be due to different carbs. In such a situation a second or a third adrenal salivary test can be quite effective in tracking the condition and managing it. The adrenal health needs to improve as the conditions slowly resolve. In case, there is no improvement, further test might be carried out to know what is causing the stress.
Measurement of Circadian Rhythm or Sleep-Wake Cycle
The circadian rhythm or the sleep-wake cycle is one symptom of adrenal stress. In case this circadian rhythm is normal, then the cortisol level is highest in morning and it is lowest at night. This is what keeps us alert as we wake early in the morning and makes us feel sleepy as we go to bed. There are many people who face altered circadian rhythms. If this happens, they stay awake at night. There might also be an energy crash during noon and the person might be wide awake at night.
Different Stages of Stress
The specific adrenal salivary test helps to measure circadian rhythm. This is the cortisol precursor hormones DHEA and also 17 hydroxyprogesterone, along with cortisol levels. This helps to understand when the person falls on the spectrum of the typical adrenal fatigue due to high levels of adrenal hormone. People usually do not move from high adrenal hormone level to a low level. In fact, adrenal function can easily jump back and move ahead in different phases. It might also stay stuck at just one phase.
The adrenal salivary test helps in measuring the total lg antibodies or (SIgA). In case of low SIgA levels it is known to reflect dysfunctional immunity.
In case the SIgA levels are low, there might be problems related to food intolerances or chemical sensitivities, risk of autoimmune disease and infections which attack the immune system.
Ask my office if you need to know anything about functional medicine protocols which can influence the adrenal health. We can search and also manage the cause of adrenal stress.