Cortisol

[Laundretta]

Anybody got any advice on how to raise cortisol levels? 9 am cortisol levels lower than ideal (393) but Levo dose up, TSH down, t4 up but no discernible change in t3. Supplements all covered (full list and bloods in profile) Thoughts?

[Kacey12]

What supplements are you taking?

[Laundretta in reply to Kacey12]

Hi, sorry I should’ve said - they’re all listed in my profile. Thorne b, selenium, vit d, k2, magnesium, b12 injections. Thanks!

[molliemdz]

Licorice root will prolong the half life of cortisol, but you can’t take it if you have high blood pressure. However, it’s really a matter of healing your whole body in order for your adrenals to recover and your steroidal hormones (of which cortisol is one) to rebalance.

[molliemdz in reply to molliemdz]

Pukka makes a delicious licorice and cinnamon tea (& cinnamon helps balance blood sugar, so added bonus).

What are your other cortisols during the day? Are most of them below range? Morning cortisol should be your highest, as it controls your circadian rhythm (together with melatonin, which does the opposite of cortisol. Cortisol should be the highest in the morning, then decline during the day, while melatonin starts out low and increases toward evening).

[Laundretta in reply to molliemdz]

Hi thanks I’ll have a look at the liquorice tea

I’ve only ever had that one cortisol blood test done. Just feels like it might be the last piece of the puzzle

[molliemdz in reply to molliemdz]

You can also take some adaptogens to help give adrenal support, but really, it’s a better long-term strategy to work on your overall health (special focus on gut, liver, digestion, nutrition, structural alignment, & getting mild, light exercise) ... as well as STRESS REDUCTION of the mental/emotional kind.

[Cortisol is your main stress hormone. If your total daily cortisol is low, it is a sign that your body has been under chronic stress for so long that your adrenals can no longer make the quantity needed for normal function. Your body perceives not only mental/emotional stress as stress, but any illness, bodily dysfunction, nutritional deficiency, past injury or structural misalignment is also perceived as stress and produces a stress response — cortisol — from your adrenals the same way mental/emotional stress does. Also, excess cortisol inhibits Thyroid function, so many of us with hypothyroidism started out by having an issue with chronic stress first. If you want to improve your condition over all, it really does help to investigate root causes and to reduce every kind of stress — physical, chemical/biochemical, and mental/emotional.]

[Laundretta in reply to molliemdz]

Ok

These days I’m pretty de- stressed, healthy, fit and nutritionally balanced. I shall investigate adaptogens and liquorice root. Thanks for your help! X

[Angelic69 in reply to molliemdz]

Hi, in your opinion what causes the multiple organ disfunction, multiple stress factors.

About the cortisol response to stress would cortisol run out over prolonged periods of multiple stress responses and then inflammation would be felt.

Does stress then cause extra hydrogen to be lost from cells and alter the ph ? and would this increase free radicals.

How does cortisol work?? Does it bond to the lost hydrogen and lessen free radical decay??

Or as cortisol is a steroidal hormone and I've heard that steroidal hormones can have a thinning effect to tissues does this result in the inflammation, what does cortisol do to the surfactant that protects our internal organs from sticking together.