EP 22: Stress and Testing Your Adrenal Glands

In this episode, Dr. Agolli and Dr. Burdette continue the series on the Adrenal Glands:

  1. Why it’s important to determine the adrenals from a functional perspective.
  2. Why do Doctors focus on saliva and urine for adrenal testing?
  3. What is hypoadrenalism?
  4. Symptoms of adrenal inefficiency.
  5. The questions to ask if you have adrenal fatigue. 
  6. An overview of the 24-hour saliva test for your adrenals. 
  7. Why it’s important to handle stress well.
  8. The impact stress can have on your health. 
  9. How environmental pollution and toxins impact our adrenals.

 

Testing adrenal function is best done with urine and saliva rather than with blood because blood cortisol can be bound in a protein, making the amount able to be used inaccurate in the blood1Saliva and urine cortisol together are considered the best for measuring optimal adrenal function1.

Functional medicine testing is a form of medicine that helps to resolve complex and chronic health issues. It is surging into the mainstream as patients and practitioners seek a better way to approach healthcare. Functional medicine practitioners use functional labs alongside patient history and symptom review to evaluate body system imbalances holistically. The labs are a vital piece to a thorough functional health assessment2.

Functional medicine testing has several advantages over conventional testing. Functional medicine practitioners recognize that test results within standard lab ranges may be insufficient information to understand a patient’s condition. Many patients are told that their labs are “within normal range,” yet they still experience symptoms. Instead, functional medicine practitioners order more in-depth functional labs to get a better look. However, even on routine blood work, functional medicine practitioners evaluate results in a narrower range known as the optimal range to catch certain markers early on. This way of practicing allows practitioners to reverse or stop disease progression altogether,