Daily Crash, Cortisol Related?

General Discussion
#1

Everyday around the same time in the evening I notice that I feel a small crash. For about 3 hours or so everyday in the late afternoon/evening I notice a sudden drop in mood as well as feelings of fatigue and just feeling pretty terrible overall. This goes away after a few hours and I feel a bit better at night and also in the morning.

I am really not sure what could be the cause of this and was wondering if anybody experiences anything similar?

I was thinking that it might have to do with cortisol levels crashing or something because of the cyclical nature of it and how it occurs every single day for the past few years.

I would really appreciate it if anybody could share any experiences or comments.

Thanks.

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#2

Very similar here, my Saw Palmetto brother. I would take a 24 Hour Urinary Cortisol test as well as E2 Senstive and Prolactin. You sound EXACTLY like me. My doctors are currently zeroing in on a Pituitary Tumor or Pseudo-Pituitary Tumor. Best of luck and please keep us posted!

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#3

Thank you for your response bro. It’s comforting to know I’m not alone. I did have a 24 hour urinary cortisol test done almost 2 years ago but maybe I should have another one done. The result for that one was 37 (range: 3.5 - 45). Prolactin was at 13.3 when the range said it should be under 13 for men. As for E2, the endocrinologists I saw said it would not be necessary because my testosterone is “normal” at 478 ng/dL but I don’t think that’s very normal for a 22 year old. I had cortisol taken about 3 weeks ago and it was at 26.7 when the morning range tops at 22.0. I also have highly elevated DHEAS at 881ug/dL (range tops at 600).

Do the doctors think the pituitary tumor is a prolactinoma or something else? Is your prolactin very high? Best of luck to you as well.

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#4

Absolutely buddy and believe me your testosterone is very low. They are wrong. I just tested at 654 and I’m 29. I should be way higher myself. Check out my story for details. I was 395 a few months ago, so at least moving up. I was hypersexual pre-saw (and currently right now, see my story as to why and give it a shot). My Prolactin is 40.4. So, yes, very high. I believe Prolactinoma was mentioned, but don’t quote me on that yet. Have MRI on Dec. 1. Although, it’s being discussed if I should move that up. Best of luck and let’s stay in touch. Have a feeling we can help each other. Really sorry you are going thru this at 22 (and younger by story). Hang on pal, we’re going to beat this :+1:

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#5

I’d get a 24 hour saliva test over a urinary ones.

With saliva you get an accurate curve of your levels throughout the day. It should spike in the morning and fall all the way until midnight.

Sometimes peoples curve is wrong, often due to deregulation of their circadian rhythm and that will make you feel weird.

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#6

I’ll ask to get one, hope my endocrinologist agrees. I do have a pretty terrible sleeping schedule. I’ve been sleeping at around 5AM and waking up around 11AM or Noon. Do you think that might be causing this?

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#7

I thought that too, but was then told the Saliva tests are not that accurate. What has been your personal experience?

#8

Yes, I had the same problem and that’s what my doctors told me. You seem early in as well (joined in August), so might be stress response.

#9

This is pretty much what I was told re: saliva testing vs urine testing: Blood or Salivary Testing - which is more accurate?

#10

I have these same problems and found that food is a big player in this, in us any change to hormone levels up/down causes mini crashes (as I call them too) elimination of known bad boys did reduce the severity however I continue to suffer drops throughout the day. My fasting day is the most stable of the week. Most guys have low T after finding they have this condition it generally takes 3 months for levels to return to baseline which is why new members are told to wait before claiming to be part of this unlucky group. However it can take 2 years for levels to properly come back/stabilise (from my endo) which is why it’s important to hang fire before playing Dr on yourself. If you don’t recover you know that your receptors have been damaged via the epigenetic changes I guess the degree of over expression correlates with symptom severity. Further use of inhibitors etc after the switch has been flicked can often worsen sufferers situations, me being one example of this. But I wasn’t aware of pfs when I was playing with fire. Learn from these mistakes.

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#11

For sure.

Having a bad circadian rhythm is bound to take a toll on your entire system. Even for a healthy person they take damage in the long run, and the older you get the worse the impact gets.

Fixing sleep should be #1 prio in my opinion. It might not cure PFS, but it will make you feel better and give your body the optimal conditions to recover / set a homeostasis.

I don’t have any personal experience as the only cortisol tests I’ve got so far are morning blood.

I did some digging about it now after your post and it seems like saliva, blood and urine is about the same when it comes to quality. The lab who is analyzing the sample probably have a bigger impact than what kind of test you use.

Here’s a pretty good graph that compare different methods.

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#12

Try eating small meals throughout the day with protein, to balance your sugar levels. You likely have an infection in gi tract that is feeding on your reserves and starving you of nutrients throwing you off

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#13

Its most likely cortisol. Since going on cortef and eventually improving my adrenals, I do not get that crash anymore or as often.

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#14

Unfortunately I’m not early at all. I’ve had PFS since around 16 or 17. It got really bad when I crashed again at 18. I only understood it was PFS about 2 years ago. Haven’t been a normal human being in many years now.

#15

I haven’t taken any saw palmetto supplements since around March 2020. I unfortunately was not aware of the bad effects of minoxidil/rogaine so I continued using that and only just recently quit in July so maybe I still need to wait a while and could get some natural improvements.

I think you are correct in that it’s related food. I did realize that it happens after eating, especially after dinner. I really wonder why that is and what the hell I’ve done to my body.

I also fast occasionally and noticed even then that I’d have those crashes they’d just happen later after I broke my fast.

#16

I definitely should work on fixing that. I’ve been sleeping really late for a long time now. I thought that at 22 it wouldn’t affect me much but with PFS it seems like it could be very damaging. Do you know what times are best to sleep and wake up at?

#17

I did have high glucose of 105 (range tops at 100) last time I checked. It’s a sign of HPA axis imbalance.

#18

Did you have low cortisol levels? Mine seem to already be pretty high in the morning, I’m guessing maybe they crash in the evening or something which causes me to feel bad.

#19

Generally speaking, you kind of want to follow the sun as it’s the sunlight hitting your eyes that set your circadian rhythm. If you live very far north it can be hard though as the sun almost never comes forth.

If we instead go by the clock, I’d say you want to be asleep at least between 11 PM to 5 AM. You should aim for 7-9 hours, but whether you go to bed earlier or wake up later isn’t as important as long as you get those core hours.

It’s important to get sun into the eyes when you wake up, this is the que to your cells that it’s morning, and dim the light at night as to tell the cells that it’s night.

Now this is a perfect scenario and something to have as a goal, it’s by no means easy as a PFS sufferer to get that kind of sleep.

As an anecdote, I used to work night shifts before I ever tried fin and after a few months it took a toll on my mental health.

I’d get really lethargic, sleeping 14 hours a day. Became less social and had a slight brain fog. Often had a headache.

Many of my co workers put on weight really fast (but I didn’t because I never ate during the nights).

However I did not get any of the physical changes that accompany PFS. No penis sensitivity loss, skin changes etc. But it can have a big impact on mood and energy.

And it also resolved as soon as I went back to working during the day.

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#20

Thank you very much for the information and the graph.

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