10/22/2025
When a woman goes through menopause, her ovaries stop making most of the hormones that once helped her body feel balanced — mainly estrogen and progesterone. Some people think the adrenal glands can “take over,” but that’s not really true, and here’s why.
What the adrenals do
Your adrenal glands sit on top of your kidneys. Their main jobs are to help handle stress, keep your blood pressure and blood sugar balanced, and make small amounts of s*x hormones — mostly weak androgens like DHEA that can be turned into estrogen or testosterone later in the body.
Why they can’t replace the ovaries
The ovaries are powerful hormone makers that produce large amounts of estrogen and progesterone every month during a woman’s reproductive years. After menopause, that production drops sharply. The adrenals make only tiny amounts of estrogen-like hormones — not nearly enough to take over what the ovaries did.
Think of it like this: your ovaries were a big “factory” making estrogen, while the adrenals are just a “tiny workshop.” When the big factory closes, the workshop can’t keep up with the full demand.
How this affects your kidneys, adrenals, and thyroid
When the adrenals try to do too much, they can become overworked or “stressed out.” Because they sit right on top of the kidneys and share close chemical connections — through hormones like aldosterone that regulate salt and water balance — stress on the adrenals can also affect kidney function and blood pressure control.
Your thyroid, which helps control energy and metabolism, is also connected through shared hormone signals. When the adrenals are under strain (for example, making extra cortisol for stress), thyroid hormone activity can slow down to conserve energy. This can make you feel tired, gain weight more easily, or have mood changes.
