General Adaptation Syndrome
- Adrenal Fatigue is really the
General Adaptation Syndrome
If you went into your doctors office and said I think I am suffering from the General
Adaptation Syndrome
... your
doctor could look it up in his/her text book from school .... and the book would describe how any source of chronic stress
will lead to exhaustion.
The name Adrenal Fatigue
was coined by Dr James Wilson, a naturopathic doctor.
Dr Wilson first published his book,
Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome
It is unfortunate he created a new name for a syndrome that is still in medical text books.
However, if you did convince your doctor that you may be suffering from the General Adaptation Syndrome, it is unlikely he/she would know how to treat it. You would end up on various prescription drugs that don't really get to the root cause.
Dr. Hans Selye - Discovers Stress Damage
Dr. Hans Selye was a Canadian endocrinologist, who discovered that regardless of the source of stress, the effects of stress was the same.
Regardless of the source of stress, the animals went through the same 3 stages.
The following article describes the work of Dr Selye. It is from the Journal of Neuropsychiatry, which is the Official Journal of the American Neuropsychiatric Association.
Hans Selye and the Field of Stress Research (pdf)
Dr Selye exposed rats to various stressful stimuli and observed a pattern in response to continued stress, which is illustrated in the chart below.
- Stage 1: Alarm, which is an initial drop in stress resistance
- Stage 2: Resistance, where there is an above average resistance to stress.
- Stage 3 : Exhaustion, where resistance to stress is lost.
General Adaptation Syndrome
When you hear about the Stages of Adrenal Fatigue, they are exactly the same as the stages of the General Adaptation Syndrome.
If more doctors knew about and understood the research of Dr Selye, they would understand Adrenal Fatigue.
In reality, more than just the adrenal glands are affected by chronic stress, which is why there are so many symptoms (see List of Symptoms).
Summary
Is adrenal fatigue real?
Dr Hans Selye showed that regardless of the source of stress, chronic stress eventually leads to exhaustion. He called it the General Adaptation Syndrome.
Adrenal Fatigue
is simply an alternative name. Your adrenal glands bear the brunt of dealing with stress.
In fact, during Stage 2, the adrenal glands actually grow from being asked to produce a high level of stress hormones1.
But his research showed that, eventually, chronic stress leads to Stage 3 ... exhaustion.
