Cortisol levels

[Smutharath]

Hi all

Taking 125 of levothyroxin.still very tired cold and can feel my brain scrambled.went to gp again who wrote to endocrinologist.and he asked me to do cortisol level at 9am and result was 161 range is 150-600. Any ideas what this means could this be anything to do with my symptoms.i heard that if cortisol is high will affect t4-t3 conversion.i am confused .pls help.b12 vit D iorn everything normal and I take multivitamin regularly.also my gp advised me to take antidepressant regularly but I am vorried to take it that I may become dependent to it.pls reply

[greygoose]

You're right to worry about antidepressants. You not suffering from an antidepressant deficiency, what you want is a decent dose of thyroid hormone.

Your cortisol is a bit on the low side. How well do you sleep? If you're sleeping badly, could be that your cortisol is high in the evening, as the adrenals struggle to produce enough. What you need to do is support your adrenals with plenty of vit C, B vits and salt. Also, have a high protein breakfast, as soon as you get up - which, of course, would mean taking your thyroid hormone at some other time - at night is good, 2 to 3 hours after eating.

There's no such thing as 'normal', when talking about these things. So, do you have the actual numbers for your vit D, vit B12, folate and ferritin? Taking a multivit is not going to do anything for you, you won't even absorb most of it, just a waste of money. Let's have a look at your results - thyroid and nutrients, and see what's going on.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Are you on strictly gluten free diet as you have Hashimoto's

Multivitamin likely to contain iodine which is terrible for anyone with Hashimoto's

Vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 need specific supplements if they are too low. Post your results and ranges

Do you take selenium and also vitamin C good FIFA adrenals

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

[judburke]

The main things to affect your overall health and your thyroid function are optimal levels of Thyroxine, D3, B12 and Ferritin. Being low in key vitamins and minerals give symptoms of tiredness, muscle aches, brain fog etc. As the others have said you must ask for copies of your results and post them on here and someone will advise you if the levels are optimal. Drs will say results are good even if you are right at the bottom of the range! For B12, D3 and ferritin you need to be higher up the range. For TSH most of us feel better when it's nearer to "1"

Do a search for the symptoms of low B12 - this can cause anxiety and I think depression symptoms for some people if B12 is low

If you are in UK you are entitled to request a copy of your test results