Can adrenal fatigue cause hair loss?
Posted on December 30, 2019 by Ryan Johnston, One of Thousands of Health and Fitness Coaches on Noomii.
Yes. Adrenal fatigue causes hair loss through cortisol dysregulation. Read more to find out what is adrenal fatigue, HPA axis and improvement tips!
What is Adrenal Fatigue?
The term adrenal fatigue is a misnomer. The truth is the adrenal glands are often working perfectly fine — (unless you have Addisons, Cancer or another similar disease of the gland) However, for the way it is most commonly described — Adrenal Fatigue is more accurately described as cortisol dysregulation.
Cortisol is a stress hormone. It is responsible for giving you the ‘get-up-and-go.’ It helps regulate blood glucose levels and it works with melatonin to regulate the sleep/wake cycle. If your cortisol levels are chronically too high, it leads to ‘burn-out’ — suppressed immune system and susceptibility to stress, pain and fatigue.
The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) corrects this imbalance by shunting cortisol production. This leads to Hypocortisolemia. At this point you don’t have enough stress hormones to help you deal with life. It becomes difficult to wake in the morning; and you suffer from chronic fatigue and physical pain — AKA, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Fibromyalgia.
What Does this have to do with Hair Loss?Simply put — Imbalances of hormones disrupts the hair growth cycle.
Not so simple —The hair follicle can actually produce its own cortisol. When stress levels are chronically too high hair follicle cortisol production is reduced. Without cortisol the hair follicle is disrupted and so is hair growth.
Other hair growth problems are androgen specific. Testosterone is converted to DHT and switches the hair follicle from growth to rest.
How Do I Balance My Hormones?
If your hormone levels are dangerously out of balance, you can see an endocrinologist. This is the best route if you have a disease that harms the adrenal glands. However, if this is not the case, it will cause many long-term complications. If you give your body synthetic hormones it will contribute to ‘Adrenal Fatigue’ as your body will stop its own production. Furthermore, you are likely to create additional hormone imbalances as you are likely to receive too much. And, if you are not getting tested frequently to adjust the dosage, it will create more problems even permanently stopping natural hormone production.
Most people should support the hormone pathways through diet, lifestyle and supplementation.
However, the first thing you need to do is to find out which hormones are out of balance, and at what times of day. For that, you should take an advanced hormone test, like the DUTCH test.
Diet
You need to eat the precursors to hormones — cholesterol, healthy fats and B vitamins. Simply put, eat meat!
Quit eating junks that increases cortisol production — simple sugars and caffeine.
Eat insoluble fiber to provide fuel to the beneficial bacteria in your GI tract. A healthy gut is key to healthy hormone production. Furthermore, you need plenty of minerals and antioxidants.
Make sure you are not eating any foods that you are sensitive to by taking a sensitivity test. There are many available through functionallabtesting including IgG, IgE, Mediator Release and Zoomer Tests.
Supplements
You can support hormone production through over the counter supplements. You can buy:
DHEA
Progesterone
Melatonin
You can’t buy cortisol, but you can increase the length of time it is in your system with…
Licorice Root
MEN
Hair loss is often from too little testosterone or too high of estrogen.
You can’t buy testosterone, but you can support its production with..
D-Aspartic Acid
Ashwagandha
Vitamin D
DHEA
Zinc
Ginger
And many more!
Make sure to eliminate foods and toxins from your diet that increase estrogen production: BPAs, toxins and soy products.
WOMEN
Often women will suffer from hormonal imbalances that are the opposite of men — too high testosterone and low estrogen.You need to eat a diet that is filled with ANTI-androgens — (anti-male hormones) — nuts and omega-3s.
Anti-Androgen Herbs
Saw palmetto
Chaste tree
Black cohosh
Spearmint tea
Lavender and tea tree oils
Lifestyle Choices
Supplements simply support you while you get rid of the root problems.You need to work on the following:
Sleep habits
Toxic relationships
Toxic air, water and food
Chronic mental stress
Chronic physical stress — infections or over-exercising
Summary
I have shown you how ‘adrenal fatigue’ can cause hair loss through cortisol dysregulation. And I have offered the steps you need to take to rebalance the HPA-axis: diet, lifestyle changes and supplementation. However, the article is not conclusive about how to stimulate hair growth directly. There are many other options available for those seeking an allopathic approach to hair growth.
Best wishes,
Ryan
