How to interpret Blood Cortisal results

[julia35]

Hi all,

I understand the blood cortisal test is not the best test but I only found this out after my doctor had already done the test. My results were:

D.H.E.A. Sulphate4.1umol/L0.26 - 11.0

CORTISOL220nmol/l

Note method change to Roche Gen II assay 21/09/15

Results >200 nmol/L average 26% lower.

New reference range: 6-10am: 172 to 497 nmol/L

Midnight: <150 nmol/L

Time of sample.16.00

Are these results normal?

I started Armour some time ago and was feeling shakiness on a 30mg dose, that went away when I increased dose to 60mg which Ive been on for a week but yesterday I felt so hungry out of nowhere. I suspect this is linked to the adrenal issues I may have.

Thank you

[Heloise]

stopthethyroidmadness.com/a...

There is a link in this article to the saliva test which is more definitive.

[julia35 in reply to Heloise]

Thank you

[SilverAvocado]

As far as I know (but I don't know much about it, trying to figure out my own adrenals) these types of tests really only detect whether you're in total adrenal collapse, and don't give any other information.

When I had a one-off test, it showed I had slightly high out of range cortisol. When I then did the saliva test, I found I was very high for one of the 4 measures, and low for all the others. So by the Stop The Thyroid Madness criteria I had low cortisol, and looking pretty serious at that, even tho the big test said it was high! They just aren't detailed enough.

Although something to remember about adrenal fatigue and its treatment is that its not acknowledged by conventional medicine or the NHS. So their testing regimes don't really support it.

[julia35 in reply to SilverAvocado]

Thank you.

[Sci-fi_girl]

Have you had a Short Synacthen Test? I had this first then the Insulin Stress Test, which showed my cortisol levels were low. The Short Synacthen is an easy test to get through, unfortunately, if this comes back abnormal the Insulin Stress Test is nasty! It is the gold standard though and much more accurate if an endocrinologist thinks your adrenals are affected. You can read about both on patient.co.uk Might be worth asking your GP about? Happy to answer more questions about the tests

[julia35]

Thank you.