You are here>> Home >> Understanding AF >> Women & Adrenal Fatigue

Women and Adrenal Fatigue

Women seem more prone to adrenal fatigue
There are a few possible reasons

If you spend enough time on adrenal fatigue forums and support groups, you may notice:

More woman participate on these forums
Women tend to have the most serious cases of adrenal fatigue
Women tend to have a harder time improving

Page Contents:

Most Website Visitors are Female

Estrogen and Fear Conditioning

Adrenal Hormones during Menstrual Cycle

The Stress of Mood Changes

The Stress of Pregnancy

Zinc / Copper Imbalance

More prone to under eating?

Most Site Visitors are Female

A survey on this site asked people if they were male or female.

Out of 372 site visitors surveyed, 81.1% said they were female. These are people researching adrenal fatigue.

And Google also estimates that about 80% of visitors to this site are women (Goggle uses things you search for to guess your gender..... I know... a little creepy).

But Why ???

Below are a few possible reasons that adrenal fatigue is more common in women.

Estrogen and Fear Conditioning

This could be the main reason women are more prone to adrenal fatigue.

It seems that due to estrogen, women may be more prone to Fear Conditioning.

An example of fear conditioning is how once someone might be terrified of all dogs if they have been attacked by a dog. They would tend to be jumpy, or have an exagerated startle response.

Estrogens exert important actions on fear and anxiety-like behavior both in humans and non-human animals....
...evidence suggests that estrogens may exert their influence on fear within the amygdala.
..These data raise the possibility that estrogens could influence fear responses in females through their actions in the amygdala. ³⁹

So it seems that women may be more prone to becoming stuck in a state of stress (fear conditioning) after being exposed to stressors.

Menstrual Cycle: Hormone Changes

Adrenal hormones increase during your menstrual cycle

Your adrenal glands are involved in the menstrual cycle.

Compared to men, your adrenals seem to have some extra work to do every month during the menstrual cycle.

One study showed changes in cortisol and ACTH level¹. ACTH is a produced by your pituitary gland, which stimulates the adrenal glands.

These results suggest that pituitary hormones other than gonadotropins may be involved in the ovulatory mechanism, and reveal a degree of stimulation of the pituitary-adrenal axis....¹

Your progesterone levels (adrenal hormone) greatly increase during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. ²

Another adrenal hormone, 11-Deoxycorticosterone (DOC), has been show to have large changes during the menstrual cycle⁸.

....during the ovarian cycle of women, significant changes in the plasma levels of DOC occur that are coupled to fluctuations in plasma progesterone concentrations.⁸

So ... your menstrual cycle results in your adrenal glands having to produce increased hormones due to stimulation from the pituitary gland. This makes it a stressor.

Women with adrenal fatigue often mention that they have menstrual issues. It might be because they have trouble producing the hormones and energy needed for a regular menstrual cycle

In female athletes for example, an energy deficit is the suspected reason for reproductive issues²¹.

This is possibly why women with adrenal fatigue report symptoms related to their menstrual cycle ^{13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20}, including:

Irregular cycles
No menstrual cycles
Increased moodiness and cramping
Premenstrual Fatigue

If you are interested in what other women experience, see the article:
Adrenal Fatigue Symptoms in Women.

Menstrual Cycle: Mood Changes

Negative emotions are a source of stress.

Extreme emotions are a source of stress, even positive ones^11,12. But negative emotion are more damaging.

The emotions that are most damaging are rage, unforgiveness, depression, anger, worry, frustration, fear, grief, and guilt.¹²

Even healthy women tend towards more negative emotions during the luteal phase (pre-mense) of the menstrual cycle²². Therefore, even healthy women experience a little stress every month due to negative emotions.

However, women stuck in state of stress experience more severe PMS symptoms²³.

Also, women with more PMS symptoms tend to have lower levels of saliva cortisol⁷ (adrenal hormone), which is common with advanced adrenal fatigue. The women in this study were also more depressed.

For more info on Adrenal Fatigue and PMS symptom, see the article:
Adrenal Fatigue Symptoms in Women

Stress of Pregnancy

The adrenal hormone cortisol increases during pregnancy.
Your adrenal glands actually grow during pregnancy⁴

One study found that both blood levels and saliva levels of the adrenal hormone cortisol increase during pregnancy³.

Serum cortisol and sAA levels are increased during pregnancy ³

Organs grow (hypertrophy) from increased activity⁹. Another study found that a woman's adrenal glands grow during pregnancy⁴, indicating they are doing more work than normal.

If your adrenal glands grow, and cortisol levels increase, pregnancy is a stressor.

Pregnancy is one more stressor women may need to deal with, which would make them more prone to adrenal fatigue.

Zinc/Copper imbalance in Women

Zinc is lost at a high rate during stress
Women are more prone to Zinc / Copper imbalance.

Great book on Copper Toxicity

Why Am I Always So Tired?

A great book to learn about stress, copper toxicity, and adrenal fatigue is:
Why Am I Always So Tired , by Ann-Louise Giddleman.

This book will connect a lot of dots for you.

Copper is an essential mineral. However, at high levels, it acts as a toxic metal^{25, 32}.

With stress, removal of all toxins slows down. Your Vitamin C levels and Glutathione (anti-oxidant) levels become lower during stress. Both of these are used to remove toxins.

Zinc is also lost at a very high rate during stress²⁸.

The combination of accumulated copper and zinc deficiency will cause your zinc/copper to become unbalanced.

However, women may be more prone for a few reasons. For more info, see the article:
Copper Toxicity in Women.

More prone to under eating?

Under eating is a source of stress
Women may more prone to under eating

A 2010 study of 122 women found that dieting (restricting calories) increases total output of the stress hormone cortisol³⁶.

this study found that monitoring one's diet increased perceived psychological stress, and restricting one's caloric intake increased total daily cortisol ³⁶

Due to cultural pressures, women are more concerned about being thin, and spend more time worrying about body image, body checking, etc.^{35, 38}.

Worry about body image, and the actual dieting, are both sources of stress that women are more prone to.

Summary

Women are definitely more prone to developing adrenal fatigue. And the constant hormone swings from your menstrual cycle are a continuing source of stress that make recovery more difficult.

Copper toxicity is also a big factor for women.

I have been on various adrenal fatigue forums and support groups for years. A lot of women have been making good progress with protocol:
Nutritional Balancing

It is not an easy protocol, and it takes time. But it seems to have a higher success rate than other adrenal fatigue treatment methods.

Good luck to you. This is frustrating to live with, but people do get better.

If you are Female, please answer .... 3 quick Questions about
Your Symptoms