How to Check for Adrenal Dysfunction

The adrenal glands, located in the body just above the kidneys, produce and release certain regulatory hormones. These hormones control the "fight or flight" reactions of the body's central nervous system and respond to highly charged emotional situations. The other function of the adrenals is to manufacture steroids and sex hormones for the body. Along with helping manage stress, the various hormones produced help manage blood pressure, blood sugar, fluid balance and myriad metabolic functions. The main cause of adrenal dysfunction, also called adrenal fatigue, is stress of all kinds, including emotional reactions, life's challenges, and responses by the body to illnesses and nutritional deficiencies. Testing for adrenal dysfunction is necessary to help avoid the more serious adrenal failure, whose onset can arise from long-term, unchecked stress that creates adrenal dysfunction. Checking the health of your adrenal glands can be done on your own with a few self-tests and with the help of a trained health care practitioner.

Things You'll Need

• Home blood pressure monitor
• Flashlight
• Mirror

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Instructions

• 1

  Seek a practitioner who has been trained to recognize and treat adrenal fatigue. Many conventional doctors are not familiar with testing for adrenal fatigue, being able only to administer blood tests that indicate adrenal failure, known as Addison's disease.

• 2

  Ask your holistic practitioner to administer blood, urine and saliva tests to determine the condition of your adrenal glands.

• 3

  Use a saliva test that can be ordered by your healthcare practitioner several times during the day to check for cortisol levels as well as DHEA, epinephrine and norepinephrine, whose levels can help determine the health of your adrenals and appropriate treatments.

• 4

  Self-screen for adrenal fatigue using the blood pressure test known as Ragland's sign. You need a home blood pressure monitor to do this test.

  Take blood pressure when sitting down. Then stand up and immediately repeat taking your blood pressure. They first number, which indicates systolic pressure, should rise at least 8mm. If it drops, this is an indicator of adrenal dysfunction.

• 5

  While looking in a mirror, shine a flashlight into one eye. The pupil should contract. If after 30 seconds with the light shining in your eye, the pupil dilates, this likely indicates adrenal fatigue.

• 6

  Check for tenderness in the mid-back where the ribs attach to the spine in the region of the kidneys. Pain in this region is another indicator of dysfunction of the adrenal glands.

• 7

  Notice other aspects of your health and how you are feeling. Some other common symptoms of adrenal gland fatigue are low blood sugar and low blood pressure, extreme fatigue and reduced mental alertness, chilliness, depression, weight loss, hair loss, digestive disorders, craving salty foods, muscle and joint pain, chronic fatigue syndrome, and the list goes on.

  Because the symptoms for adrenal fatigue mimic symptoms of other disorders and conditions, especially those of thyroid disease and menopause, it is important to have medical assistance to confirm a proper diagnosis.