Adrenal Fatigue: TikTok Fiction Disorder? Fact vs. Fiction.
In the olden days when they removed a kidney, they also took the adrenal gland that sits on top.
I had read that this can cause many health issues down the road, since the remaining adrenal gland may not “pick” up all the action it’s supposed to.
When I was diagnosed with kidney cancer and had to have a nephrectomy, at the time, “standard of care” was to not do partial nephrectomies.
They refused my idea of that.
But I definitively wanted my adrenal gland left in.
My best friend went with me to the pre-surgery visit at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale.
The surgeon promised to take more time to tease apart the adrenal blood vessels and save my adrenal gland (which btw way, saving the adrenal gland, is now standard of care).
During the next few weeks I could not get out of bed.
I got more and more horizontal.
The fatigue was so powerful, it “hurt”. All throughout my body.
When I saw my endocrinologist he said, “Well you lost an adrenal gland. Takes time.”
I thought he was crazy. The surgeon had promised to leave it in.
I read my surgical notes that the endocrinologist had gotten, and was shocked to see that indeed, a healthy adrenal gland had been removed.
I have learned, it takes less surgical (billable) time to leave an adrenal gland in than to tease out the arteries, while cutting away the rest of kidney.
Surgeons are not paid more money for the necessary more 20 minutes of time.
For months, I was so fatigued. I was horizontal. Completely in bed. Couldn’t face any daily details.
Until I met Dr. Brownstein. Who heard my story and immediately recommended we do a urine test for adrenal hormones.