Can Adrenal Fatigue Affect The Heart?

When your heart starts to feel strange sometimes the cause isn’t the heart itself. It can be a scary feeling to have heart palpitations, mood swings, or feel shaky or weak. If your adrenal glands are overworked they may end up unable to create cortisol and you may overreact to stress compared to how you would handle it normally.

Adrenal Insufficiency can present as:

• ongoing fatigue
• hypoglycemia
• abdominal pain
• nausea and diarrhea
• muscle weakness
• loss of appetite and weight
• low blood pressure
• depression and irritability
• salt cravings

Having ongoing untreated adrenal insufficiency is one of the lead causes of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Having too little cortisol can be fatal if not treated. One of the biggest risks for adrenal insufficiency is already having an autoimmune deficiency. This is where the body malfunctions and mistakenly attacks itself damaging your body and in this case the adrenal glands.

The most common form of this presenting today is Addison’s Disease. The symptoms of an Addison’s crisis are as follows: dizziness, nausea, extreme tiredness, weakness, confusion, psychosis, and slurred speech. Please seek medical help immediately should these symptoms present.

Symptoms usually begin gradually, chronic worsening fatigue and muscle weakness along with loss of weight due to appetite. In half of patients nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea also occur.

Helping Addison’s and Adrenal fatigue naturally:

• Get the Right Amount of Sleep
• Exercise, but Not Too Much
• Learn to Recognize Stressful Thinking
• Learn to Relax
• Have Fun
• Maintain Healthy Relationships
• Take Care of a Pet
• Be Your Best Self

What to eat:

• lean meats
• fish
• eggs
• legumes
• nuts
• leafy greens and colorful vegetables
• whole grains
• dairy

These tips will help regulate your cortisol levels and get you back in balance. If you do suffer from Addisons Disease or Adrenal fatigue it would be in your best interest to see one of our knowledgable physicians at Tampa Cardiovascular Associates. Just call 813-975-2800 or visit www.tampacardio.com to learn more.

We look forward to being a part of your journey to health!