A muscle cramp is a strong, painful contraction or tightening of a muscle that comes on suddenly and lasts from a few seconds to several minutes. It often occurs in the legs. A muscle cramp is also called a charley horse. Nighttime leg cramps are usually sudden spasms, or tightening, of muscles in the calf. The muscle cramps can sometimes happen in the thigh or the foot.
When the adrenal glands begin to act âdysfunctionalâ due to prolonged stress, they first go into a hyper (overactive, stressed) state. As they are pushed further and not given the opportunity to recover they go into an âextremeâ stressed/overactive state and eventually reach the hypo (under active, exhausted) mode.
The adrenal gland has a center gland (medulla) that produces adrenaline and an outer gland (the cortex) that produces several hormones, such as cortisol an aldosterone. This page is about cortisol overproduction by the adrenal cortex.Causes of Cushing's Syndrome.t is now known that these symptoms characterize Cushing's syndrome, which is the result of excess production of cortisol by the adrenal glands. Cortisol is a powerful steroid hormone, and excess cortisol has detrimental effects on many cells throughout the body.