I am wondering if anybody knows much about Cortisol and if T3 helps with high Cortisol. I am shortly going to test my Cortisol with a saliva test however due to suffering bad sugar lows and funny turns mostly in the mornings and just before lunch I am worried my Cortisol is the culprit.
I am only on half a 5mg T3 pill and 62.5mg of T4 which is two 25mg pills and one half a 25mg = my total dose is 75mg of thyroid Meds. Due to retest bloods next Monday and have only been on this dose of T3 nearly 4 weeks. Would it be worthwhile adding the other half of my T3 and when? I take T3 currently around 330pm and T4 in morning.
Would I need to lower my T4 in morning to compensate for the extra T3 half pill?
Any advice much appreciated
Thanks
Feb thyroid results
T4 - 16 ranges 9-21
T3 - 1.5 ranges 0.9-2.4
TSH - 1.3 ranges 0.2-4.5T
Written by
mistygrey
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I don't think taking T3 will make your cortisol worse. What is more likely to happen is that high cortisol will make it hard to tolerate thyroid hormones in doses that you need.
In some people their bodies will naturally reduce production of stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) when their thyroid hormone levels rise.
But it is also possible that the body gets stuck making high levels of stress hormones and won't decrease production when thyroid hormones are increased. In this case other measures are required to try and reduce stress hormones before higher doses of thyroid hormones can be tolerated.
I had high cortisol and couldn't tolerate enough thyroid meds to get me well. I tried all sorts of things to reduce my cortisol. It took me a long time but I eventually found that taking Holy Basil capsules worked for me. I did have to take more than it said on the bottle for it to work, and it took months for me to be able to reduce my dose, but I was able to double my dose of T3 when my cortisol dropped.
Did you use the Saliva tests? If I get one of these online as mentioned by Seaside Susie who can interpret the results? As my Gp wouldn'tZumA have a clue.
I am looking to order one today. That's good that the Holy Basil worked for you I can see what my results are and then take it from there it's all a long waiting game
I've done a couple of saliva tests and both showed high cortisol levels. I really need to do another one sometime, but I'm hoping to be able to come off Holy Basil first.
As for interpreting the results, you might want to read the posts I wrote in these threads :
I've given a way of interpreting the results in the first link, and lots of useful links in the second one. I'd offer to help interpret your results but I have other health problems besides hypothyroidism and my health has been declining for ages, so I rarely have the energy to do anything these days.
There are all sorts of things that help lower cortisol, and everyone has to find out what works for them.
You are absolutely right humanbean, I have just been through that same experience.
My thyroid levels had become too low and I tried many times to increase my dose but it made me feel worse. It wasn't until I thought to check out my adrenals that I discovered my cortisol was over range, which was not totally surprising as I had been through an extended period of stress caring for my husband who subsequently died.
It is now 6 months on and for the first time I am able to tolerate an increase, I did read somewhere that increasing thyroid meds when your cortisol levels are high puts an extra strain on the adrenals, so it becomes a catch 22 - part of the body's survival strategy I suspect.
I can’t answer your question regarding T3 and cortisol levels but have you actually been shown to have high levels? I only as because they are some of the symptoms I had with low cortisol levels especially the shaking in the morning x
As well as the shaking which was that bad it actually woke me in the morning I had constant nausea, zero appetite, I was exhausted permanently, doing the simplest things wiped me out, my bp was low (95/65 at 1 point) felt incredibly ill and lost a huge amount of weight over 6 months which was the only good part of the whole experience because I needed to! I felt like a walking zombie and apparently looked like 1 too.
I now take low dose steroids, feel a whole lot more human and have gone back to work after 7 months off.
If you have symptoms ask your gp for an am cortisol test as endocrinologist won’t use saliva testing but will look at other testing such as a short synacthen test if your serum cortisol is low or high x
That sounds terrible for you and alot to have gone through. I am glad you are feeling better slightly!
I have shakes sometimes but put that down to being hypo, I haven't lost any weight infact I have put weight on annoyingly and I definitely have an appetite I am having to eat quite frequent to stop myself feeling faint. So maybe it could be high Cortisol I might have as apposed to low? I will ask Gp for the Cortisol blood test I am due to get some thyroid bloods next Monday so will get her to add it into them, I ordered the Saliva Cortisol test today so will have that anyway even though the doctors don't really use it.
I had the sst test when I was first diagnosed with thyroid issues around 3 years ago and it came back normal but I guess it might have changed.
Hi, I've literally just posted an audio interview with Paul Robinson, who wrote 'Recovering with T3' and 'The CT3M Handbook; Recovering Adrenal Health using the Circadian T3 Method'. I've not listened to the whole interview yet, but Paul had problems with his cortisol, so it might be worth a listen
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