Abstract

Clinical Roundup Selected Treatment Options for Adrenal Exhaustion Academic Integrative Physician Perspective ease or decreased production of adrenal hormones caused by glandular destruction. The concept of adrenal fatigue is well-known within the in- My personal perspective—and the way I explain adrenal fa- tegrative and layperson communities but is often disparaged tigue to patients—is to underscore the immense research on by proponents of conventional medicine. An essential part of the impact of chronic, unrelenting stress on human physiol- being an integrative physician in an academic medical center ogy. In addition to psychologic issues, such as anxiety and de- is being able to find common language, using an evidence- pression, chronic stress is a direct contributor to high blood 3,4 based approach, when explaining to colleagues and patients pressure, heart disease, and obesity. The field of psychoneu- terms such as “adrenal fatigue” that are not taught in medical roimmunology explores the direct effect of chronic stress on school or found among the 13,000 International Classification the human immune system and inflammation. of Diseases (ICD)-9 (or even the 68,000 ICD-10) codes. Impressive research over the past decade has tied chronic In the century after Thomas Addison’s (DM; 1793–1860) stress definitively to decreases