Adrenal Shutdown: The Silent Crisis Behind Long-Term Steroid Use - AI Podcast
Dr. Joseph Mercola - Take Control of Your Health
Briana Mercola
4.6 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 14 June 2025
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Story at-a-glance
- Corticosteroids shut down natural cortisol production; even short-term use as brief as 14 days suppresses adrenal function, creating dangerous dependency on synthetic hormones
- A European study reveals widespread risk; over 500,000 patients showed six times higher adrenal insufficiency rates with oral steroids; even "safe" inhaled versions increased risk by 55%
- Sudden steroid withdrawal triggers emergency situations requiring immediate medical care due to collapsed fluid and electrolyte balance
- Nearly half (48.7%) of oral steroid patients develop adrenal suppression, yet most aren’t warned about or tested for this serious condition
- Recovery requires metabolic repair; focus on reducing inflammation, fixing insulin resistance, optimizing sleep cycles and supporting natural cortisol rhythms rather than more medications
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular wisdom. Stay informed with quick, easy-to-listen |
| 0:06.1 | summaries of our latest articles, perfect for when you're on the go. No reading required. Subscribe |
| 0:11.2 | for free at Mercola.com for the latest health insights. |
| 0:14.2 | Did you know that a single two-week course of steroids can shut down your adrenal glands |
| 0:19.9 | and leave you without the stress |
| 0:21.2 | hormone you need to survive a sudden crisis. Hello and welcome to Dr. Mercola's cellular |
| 0:26.7 | wisdom. I'm Ethan Foster, here with Alara Sky, and today we're examining the hidden dangers |
| 0:32.4 | of common corticosteroid drugs. Thanks, Ethan. Whether you reach for steroids to ease asthma, calm eczema, or manage autoimmune pain, |
| 0:42.2 | the mechanism is identical. |
| 0:44.3 | Synthetic cortisol tells your brain to switch off its own supply. |
| 0:47.5 | The longer that switch stays off, the harder it is to flip back on when stress or illness |
| 0:52.3 | strikes. |
| 0:53.3 | A European study followed more than half a million people who use steroids for three |
| 0:58.3 | months to five years. |
| 1:01.0 | Compared with those taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, steroid users were over six |
| 1:06.6 | times more likely to be diagnosed with adrenal insufficiency, and three times more likely to |
| 1:11.8 | land in the hospital with a full adrenal crisis. Even inhaled steroids, often labeled safe, |
| 1:18.3 | by default, raised adrenal insufficiency risk by 55%. That surprised many clinicians, |
| 1:24.7 | because inhalers were thought to stay mostly in your lungs. The new data show |
| 1:28.8 | systemic hormone suppression, even at low doses, especially when inhaled, oral, or topical |
| 1:34.6 | forms are combined. Let's talk about short-term exposure. The research found that suppression |
| 1:40.1 | begins after only 14 days of continuous steroid use. Why is that early cutoff so important |
... |
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