Saliva cortisol test

Member Stories Lab Tests
#1

morning: 9.1 range: (12-22)
lunch: 4.5 range: (5-9)
afternoon: 1.5 range: (3-7)
night time: 1.1 range: (1-3)

Total cortisol: l6.2 range: (21-41)

I also did an acth stimulation test in the past that showed a very low response.

All of my symptoms could be eplained by adrenal fatigue.

-food intolerance / allergies and ibs
-low energy
-cant handle stress (get really exhausted and get all kind of symptoms)
-bad sleep
-trouble falling asleep
-low sexdrive

I would say im almost 90% recovered by myself but the last 10% wont come on its own. I think my adrenals are that final 10% and im tired of waiting for them to recover on its own. Ive been okay for almost 2 years now and i think they may not recover more on their own unless i move in to the woods and im not ready to do that just yet :slight_smile:

Thinkin bout trying isocort for a short test period to c if my symptoms improve.

Anyone have similar results for cortisol and tried isocort?

Cheers
B

#2

troubledfinuser2,

Is the saliva test more reliable than the blood test for cortisol? I just had a blood test done this morning. I will know next week where I stand.

Let me know how you make out with the isocort & cortisol if you try them. If I end up being diagnosed with adrenal fatigue, I and going to discuss the isocort with my endo dr. Mitch swears that armour thyroid and isocort helped him recover. The endo I have now is very open minded and he doesn’t get offended when I discuss possible recovery options with him, unlike most of the pricks I have dealt with the past year.

I am convinced that we have live like strange human beings eating the strictest of diets and wait many years just hoping that we recover. I am trying to run a company and just can’t live like that or maybe just not willing to.

#3

Dont know if they are more accurate boston but they are deffinetly more convenient as you need to test your cortisol through out the day in order to fully evaluate the adrenal condition.

My hospital endo only checked blood in the morning wich at that time was okay and the next time was low. Thats why we did the stim test that came out okay in his mind… He claimed that since my cortisol was so high that morning it did not need to elavate more than 120 from 470 to 590 after acth injection. Then i read the medical guidelines for this test and found out it needed to rise to or above 500 but also should elevate from baseline with more than >200. Cant belive i almost let him talk me into them beeing normal after i had severe lower backpain the same evening and the day after and felt terrible. A few hour after the acth injection i felt really good btw. Dont know if it was the increase in cortisol or not but definetly felt better b4 the evening came and the backpain started.

So dident belive him and i went ahead and orderd the full saliva panel from UK even tho i live in sweden.

So 1 morning blood test would prolly detect real severe hypoadrenal function like addison but might not detect weak adrenals. Even if adrenal fatigue is not a medical condition, beeing below range 4x throughout the day surely is cause for concearn even for a hospital endo. Thats what im counting on anyways.

Will report back if i go on treatment!

Btw: werent you with dr chrisler?

Cheers
B

#4

troubledfinuser2,

WHat is the acth injection?

Interesting that you said you had back pain. I posted a new thread a couple of days ago about 18 overlooked signs of adreanal Fatigue and Back Pain is listed as one of the symtoms.

I’m not currently going to Chrisler. I may in the future if my current endo can’t help. I do think I finally found a good endo dr.

#5

Acth is to adrenals what LH is for testicles. It tells the adrenals to increase prodution.

Acth stimulation test is therefor a test to c how the adrenals react to the increased demand in production, can they meet the required demands in a stress situation. Blood could reveal normal levels of cortisol yet they could be fatigued or failing under stress. Thats what you are looking for with a stress test (acth injection).

Yeah backpain is a common symptom of adrenal failure and possibly fatigue but its also a common symptom of most hormonal problems and alot of non hormonal causes aswell. Id say you know when you have adrenal backpain and just normal backpain. To me it feels very different. Cant explain it but you just know its not your normal tired back ache feeling kind of pain.