Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) treats the adrenal glands as part of the vital force of the kidneys, stored in the “lower burner.” The kidneys store the body’s vital energy (Qi). The kidneys are almost always affected in chronic disease.
There are many factors that can weaken this energy source of the body including:
- Hereditary weakness,
- strong emotions (especially anxiety and fear)
- chronic illness
- old age
Similar factors can lead to exhaustion of the adrenal gland, to use Western medical terminology.
TCM explains that people who work too much and are stressed too much can suffer exhaustion by becoming deficient in yang energy. Symptoms of kidney conditions in TCM include:
pale, swollen, and wet tongue
- deep yet weak pulse.
If the kidneys were deficient in yin, other symptoms would arise, such as:
- dizziness
- poor memory,
- sore back.
Patients suffering from a kidney deficiency in TCM terms have symptoms in adrenal insufficiency in Western terms – low back pain, fatigue, poor memory, and dizziness upon rising.
Dizziness upon standing is a sign that the adrenal gland is not able to produce enough aldosterone and thus not able to compensate by increasing the blood pressure when standing.
In TCM, stress is a main cause for kidney dysfunction, whether in hypo- or hyperfunction. TCM has excellent results for these conditions. The main treatments in TCM are acupuncture and herbs.
