Test Results

[Joshua_B]

I am having severe symptoms. I have severe intolerance to stress and very low blood pressure along with hyper pigmentation and a lot of other symptoms. I have to get infusions three days a week for my low blood pressure and dehydration.

I just got my results back from my test yesterday and am confused about them. My doctor called me yesterday and told me my cortisol is low. My cortisol blood test shows my level to be 3.4. I had a midnight saliva test that was high. I also had a diurnal test and my results were as follows.

8 a.m. 1.37

12 p.m. 0.11

5 p.m. 0.22

12 a.m. 1.65

I have an ACTH test scheduled for next week. I look like I have Cushing's disease I have all of the symptoms except stretch marks. My doctor says I have low cortisol. My 24 hour urine test was 54.5 and I had a 5HIAA test that was high and the value was 7.2

I also just had a glucose tolerance test which showed reactive hypoglycemia. I am falling apart.

If someone could help me understand these results I would be very grateful.

[galathea]

Sorry but without the reference ranges....  ( the numbers in brackets after the result). Its impossible to say if your figures are good or bad.

Your symptoms do sound like low cortisone though

Xx. 

G.

[Margo]

What do you have infusions of Joshua_B?

[sulamaye]

All your symptoms fit with addisons, the pigmentation of the skin is a big clue as is reactive hypoglycaemia. The body can struggle to shoot up odd high cortisol throughout the day as it struggles to force the body to make the cortisol it lacks, if you are having an acth ur dr suspect addisons. It is hard to get a diagnosis many doctors don't administer the test correctly, time of day and interpretation are key. Find some Addison groups online and get their advice about the test. If u r lucky the test will pick it up and supplement  you with hydrocortisone which will help.

[Joshua_B]

This post is actually for my mother by the way. It was easier to post it in her words. She gets infusions three times a week for POTS. They are just normal IV, Sodium Chloride. I will post an update after we get the ACTH results back. Thank you everyone.

[Eddie83]

With a 24-hour urine result of 54, I question whether you really have Cushing's.   Assuming the same units, the range on the 24-hour test is 4-50 mcg/24-hours.  I went off HC when my 24-hour test had risen to 58.

There are two issues with cortisol.   Insufficiency and arrhythmia.  I am wondering if arrhythmia isn't the real description of your problem.

What are your thyroid results?   If your thyroid is tanking, it's going to confuse the hell out of your adrenals.  When I was at my sickest point, I also had high nighttime cortisol.

Aside from fixing hypothyroidism, there are many naturopathic remedies for this, most frequently involving adrenal glandulars, HC,  and adaptogens like rhodiola and ashwaghanda.  In my case, none of those standard remedies did anything.  What is not generally appreciated is that the adrenals, in addition to T3, also require a healthy level of amino acids.  (If you have been a celiac like me, you can have low total blood protein.)  Once I got onto a preparation containing the 9 free essential amino acids, my adrenals stopped keeping me up at night.