Hunting around on the web today, I came across a great comparison of the different symptoms for the different adrenal imbalances. Its a very helpful chart that you can find here.
Symptoms of Cushing’s syndrome (high cortisol):
- Profound fatigue
- Weak muscles
- High blood pressure
- High blood sugar
- Increased thirst
- Frequent urination
- Irritability, anxiety, or depression
- A rounded face
- Fatty hump at back of neck/between the shoulders
- Upper body obesity
- Skin fragility and thinness, including easy bruising and stretch marks
- Increased hair in “unwanted” places
- Irregular periods
Adrenaline dominance/cortisol dominance:
- Persistent anxiety
- Always on the go (“high-adrenaline” lifestyle)
- Difficulty winding down to get to sleep
- Difficulty staying asleep
- Feeling “tired but wired”
- Abdominal weight gain
- Worsening PMS symptoms (irritability, anxiety)
- Panic attacks
- Easily fly off the handle
- “If you want anything done right, do it yourself!”
- “I can never do enough!”
Normal!
- Wake refreshed from sleep
- Maintain energy levels throughout the day
- Pleasant tiredness toward evening, looking forward to turning in after a full day
- Ability to reframe, adapt and respond with flexibility to life stressors (and opportunities)
- Clear thinking, with steady productivity
- Good immunity to “what’s going around”
- Healthy libido
- Minimal to nil cravings for salt, sugar, and caffeine
- Positive attitudes and beliefs
Adrenal Fatigue
- Difficulty getting out of bed in the morning
- Nonrefreshing sleep
- Ongoing fatigue not relieved by sleep
- Weariness, lack of energy, lethargy
- Lightheadedness
- Increased cravings for salt
- Low libido
- Inability to handle everyday stress
- Feeling overwhelmed
- Longer recovery times from illness, injury, or trauma
- Mild depression
- Easily startled
- Mental fogginess/fuzzy thinking
- Struggling to get through the day
- Frequent infections
- Start to feel better after an evening meal
Addison’s disease (low cortisol, aka adrenal insufficiency)
- Chronic worsening fatigue
- Weak muscles
- Loss of appetite
- Weight loss
- Abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea
- Low blood pressure that drops further upon standing from a prone or seated position
- Cravings for salt
- Patches of dark skin, especially on scars, skin folds, elbows, knees, and knuckles
This is the best info I’ve seen thus far. It would have been helpful to me if your search criteria, or whatever it is called in website lingo, were to have “low cortisol.” That’s what I’ve been searching for. I only found you because I finally, after weeks of searching, decided that low cortisol, as my MD said, is adrenal fatigue. Hmmm, maybe I should just Google adreanal fatigue.
Thanks!
David
Comment by David — November 10, 2010 @ 2:54 am
How do you get a doctor to test you? I have had so many doctors ignore me when I tell them how I feel, and then they diagnose me with depression or something else. How do you get them to listen?
Comment by Tiffany — November 18, 2010 @ 7:45 am
Is there a blood test for all the before diseases????? Is there a possibility that somebody can jump from Adrenal Fatigue to Addison’s or Cushin’s diseases? Porcentage?
Comment by Esteban — December 8, 2010 @ 1:11 pm
I did not see any answers to the above posts and wanted to say to Tiffany that I got diagnosed by a CHIROPRACTOR! I too was told I needed depression medication, went to a recommended chiro in my neighborhood and daignosed me with adrenal fatigue the first 30minutes. I have 21 of the 23 symptoms on this site. I just started taking a supplement for this and am excited to hopefully get my energy/life back!!
Comment by Theresa — January 6, 2011 @ 10:04 am
I know this can be diagnosed by a chiropractor !
Comment by Theresa — January 6, 2011 @ 10:05 am
There are blood tests but they are expensive and less accurate. It’s better to take a saliva test. taking saliva test over the course of the day filling viles with saliva. The lab will test your levels of different hormones depending on the specific saliva test. at different points during the day and compare this to national standards.
Try an endocrine doctor I guess or just talk to your GP with information in hand. Show the list of symptoms and say you think this is what you have and you want them to help you determine, scientifically, the likeliness of this being your ailment. You can order these tests yourself in some cases and if you pay out of pocket they will do almost any test you ask for…insurance just may not pay for “unnecessary tests”
might also want to get your vit d tested. A more expensive test of the two i believe.
Comment by sarah — January 12, 2011 @ 9:55 pm