Blog 1: Adrenal Fatigue — From Skeptic to Believer

How the adrenals fit into menopause care

I’ll be honest. For most of my 16 years in practice, whenever I heard the term “adrenal fatigue,” I nearly rolled my eyes. My training taught me to look for Addison’s disease or Cushing’s syndrome — but anything in between? I dismissed it.

Then I started digging into functional and personalized medicine. Suddenly, I realized how much I was missing. Looking at the adrenal glands with fresh eyes has changed how I care for women in perimenopause and beyond.

And here’s the best part: this October, I’ll be formally starting training in personalized medicine with a focus on hormones. I cannot wait to bring this into my clinic. I’m ready to help my patients in ways I’ve never been able to before. The ability to look deeper, connect the dots, and go beyond “diagnosis → prescription” medicine feels like a whole new world opening up.

Here’s why the adrenals matter so much: when your adrenals are struggling, every hormone struggles. Cortisol and DHEA sit at the center of the hormonal web. If cortisol runs high (think: chronic stress), DHEA goes low, and so do progesterone, testosterone, and estrogen. If cortisol eventually “crashes,” epinephrine takes over — cue palpitations, insomnia, and that wired-but-tired feeling.

For midlife women, this matters because:

• Progesterone drops naturally in perimenopause, making it harder for the adrenals to back you up.

• Stress accelerates the decline of sex hormones, affecting sleep, libido, bone density, and weight.

• Symptoms overlap: fatigue, anxiety, night wakings, afternoon crashes, and salt cravings may be adrenal, not just menopausal.

  
  

This perspective has opened doors in my clinic. Instead of only asking, “What medication do I prescribe?” I’m asking, “What’s at the root of this imbalance — and how do we restore it?”

✨ I’ll be sharing more of what I learn through my training, so stay tuned for upcoming posts in this adrenal and menopause series. My goal is to help women feel like themselves again — with more energy, balance, and confidence in midlife and beyond.