Believe it or not, yes, you can. But not from simple, everyday stress, like you might imagine.
Here is what happens. When you are in a stressful situation, your adrenal glands produce hormones. They produce adrenaline, which gets you through your immediate situation (fight or flight; norepinephrine, which works as a backup to keep you alert; and cortisol, which helps your body to regulate your blood pressure, fluid balance, and other functions and the bodily functions you’ll actually need to draw on in a stressful situation.
Those immediate yet seriously stressful situations are generally dealt with, and then your body calms down. But what about people who live stressful lives – who are constantly working hard and work more hours than they should; or who spend all of their time feeling anxious and worrying about situations that are out of their control? Those people stimulating the adrenal glands to create cortisol on a consistent basis; and that’s a bad thing.
The more stress you put on your adrenal glands, the less efficient they become, especially over the long-term. Eventually, your cortisol levels are lowered, which means you can’t respond to stress; and your body is constantly trying to keep up. Over time, you begin to experience symptoms of decreased immune function. When your cortisol levels go down, your glucose levels can also rise, which will help to feed any Candida running rampant in your body.
There is also a major correlation between Candida yeast infections and adrenal fatigue. According to Dr. Eric Bakker, just about everyone he has treated for a chronic yeast infection either already has or develops adrenal fatigue. While that low level of adrenal function can contribute to the development of a yeast infection, the decreased immune function associated with a rampant yeast infection can also lead to more adrenal issues.
In these cases, it’s incredibly important to talk to a doctor or naturopath for proper treatment. The sooner you treat your candida yeast infection, your adrenal fatigue, or both, the easier it will be to bring your body back into proper balance so you can get back to living a normal life.
