Cortisol and DHEAs Results -- Help

[Hypoguy]

Hi All,

I just received my Cortisol and DHEAs saliva results. I could use a little help interpreting them. I'm a 30 year old man with Hypothyroidism:

DHEAS (Saliva)

6.9 ng/mL 2 – 23 (Age Dependent)

Cortisol (Saliva)

7.4 ng/mL 3.7 – 9.5 (morning)

4.8 ng/mL 1.2 – 3.0 (noon)

2.1 ng/mL 0.6 – 1.9 (evening)

0.3 ng/mL 0.4 – 1.0 (night)

Looks like my noon and evening levels might be a little high? Also, is that DHEA result too low?

Thanks in advance!

[Eddie83]

The DHEA-S range is about 280-640 mcg/dl for 20-29 year-old males. 6.9 ng/ml converts to 69 mcg/dl (check me), so yes you are low. BTW normalizing thyroid, and supplementing DHEA, is a whole lot easier and cheaper than using T.

Obviously your cortisol rhythm is reasonably good. But interpreting them should be done with the information sheet you should have received with the results, and/or the doctor you used should have interpreted them.

[Hypoguy in reply to Eddie83]

Thank you for the response! Is there a resource where I could look into supplementing DHEA on my own? My doctor didn't order these tests, I did. He wouldn't. He says that the saliva tests are useless and a waste. A couple of my Cortisol results were high -- but not unreasonably so.

[Eddie83 in reply to Hypoguy]

There are lots of places that discuss DHEA supplementation, such as Life Extension. Google is your friend. However, I've never found any place which suggests, with scientific authority, how high you should drive DHEA-S at any given age. I've just taken the attitude that, regardless of age, I should supplement enough to get my DHEA-S about in the middle of the range for 20-29 year-old males. The other tack you could take, is that your DHEA-S should be at the top of the range for your age group. I find one pill of the Douglas DHEA 25mg daily, puts me somewhere between 400 and 500 mcg/dl DHEA-S (while my thyroid is well corrected). If you want to use the age-specific ranges, they are at nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/enc... . As far as cortisol, DHEA-S tends to counter the catabolic effects of cortisol, so given that you already have decent cortisol rhythm, I think you'll be fine if you get your thyroid normalized and your DHEA-S up into that 280-640 mcg/dl range for 20-29 year-old males. I suspect you will find that just normalizing thyroid, will improve DHEA-S. BTW, I have tried dosing DHEA at levels as high as 50mg, and I have found it feels uncomfortable; it makes me feel somewhat hyper. So, I don't understand the maniacs out there who suggest large doses of 50-100 mg daily.

[Xanthe]

Just reading this post - which isn't especially relevant to me - I was seriously impressed by the information and support Eddie has provided. Three cheers for Eddie!

[Hypoguy in reply to Xanthe]

I agree! Eddie's post was extremely helpful with a lot of information. I'm looking into all of it, and I'm going to respond with some other info. Hopefully it can help others as well.