Book Review

Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st-Century Stress Syndrome

James L. Wilson
Smart Publications

This self-help guide supplies a very good overview of the diagnosis and treatment of adrenal fatigue. The author includes case reports of patients treated for that disorder and explains its causes, signs, and symptoms. Based on a solid foundation of scientific references, this book is written in simple terms for those with no medical background. It includes a questionnaire that patients can use to determine the causes of their condition, and it provides a comprehensive guide to recovery.

Treatment plans include comprehensive and explicit information about lifestyle changes, dietary influences, nutritional supplements, herbs, and food allergies. The author provides an informative description of hormone testing, including the importance of understanding the limitations and appropriate use of current laboratory tests and the problems of interpreting test results. The hypothalamic-pituitary- adrenal axis and the function of the adrenal glands are explained clearly, simply, and without exhaustive descriptions of complex interactions.

Compounding pharmacists are mentioned only as a source of pure hydrocortisone compounded without the unnecessary and specific ingredients to which a patient with adrenal fatigue may be allergic, but the author mentions his Website (http://www. adrenalfatigue.org) several times as a source of more information on adrenal fatigue. That Website might also be useful to compounding pharmacists.

Dr. Wilson supplies the resources and basic knowledge that can empower patients to take charge of their own health care, especially with respect to good adrenal health. A compounding pharmacist armed with that information should be a part of the patient’s healthcare team so that the many problems associated with adrenal fatigue (as well as its effects on successful hormone replacement therapy), can be resolved or managed.