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| the thyroid, adrenal and sex glands. The adrenals (situated over the kidneys) release several hormones in response to physical and emotional stress, including adrenaline, cortisol and the closely related cortisone (which is converted into cortisol so the body can use it.). Cortisol reduces inflammation and is important in the body's use of fats, carbohydrates, sodium, potassium and protein. |
| The role of the HPA axis is becoming more apparent in CFS as our understanding of the disease evolves. In fact, Dr. Mark Demitrack and colleagues at the University of Michigan Medical Center thinks the HPA axis may be the core problem in the disease. A 1991 study found most people with CFS are extremely low in adrenal hormones. This and the impact of stress on CFS convinced Demitrack to further investigate the role of this axis. It turns out that when constant stress overworks the adrenal glands, the pituitary and hypothalamus are impacted. Consequences can be far-reaching since there is hardly a system in the body that these glands do not influence. Defects in the axis, especially low cortisol levels, are seen in rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune conditions, chronic inflammation and fibromyalgia, as well in as CFS. One consumer advocate group, the CDS Foundation, even wants the name of the disease changed from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to Cortisol Deficiency Syndrome. |
| Some viruses apparently disrupt the HPA axis. Dr. William Jeffries, a Case Western Reserve University endocrinologist, thinks that ongoing suppression of the hypothalamus is to blame whenever a person remains chronically ill after an infection. It is Dr. Cheney's guess that problems with erratic RNA messages, the same scenario that suppresses the immune |
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