The 12noon salivary cortisol level is slightly high.
The other five levels are within normal limits. Cortisol levels will rise briefly after eating,
and also rise response to stress and in those taking steroids (even as creams or asthma inhalers).
As only one level is elevated, it is probable that the rise is an isolated phenomenon,
and may well represent a stress response or recent food intake.
Persistently raised cortisol levels may indicate underlying Cushing's disease, but further testing would be required to diagnose (or rule out) this condition.
Salivary cortisol levels correlate well with serum (blood) levels.
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Suin
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Unfortunately you have chosen to do your test with one of the labs whose tests aren't very helpful for a few reasons which include:
* It tests only cortisol and for a full picture cortisol plus DHEA should be tested
* 4 of the 6 ranges have 0 as the bottom of the range which makes you think they didn't base their ranges on people who are well, if anyone did actually have a result of 0 I imagine they would be extremely unwell.
The most useful tests are done by Regenerus and Genova Diagnostics.
• Morning at the top of the range - yours is at the top of the range so that is where it should be.
• Noon approximately 75% of the range - yours doesn't show a result, only a range so it's not possible to comment.
• Evening close to 50% of the range - A 4 point saliva test would use "Before evening meal" for this level so even using these useless ranges taking the 4pm one you're 48% through range and the 6pm one you are 62% through range.
• Nighttime at the bottom of the range - it's impossible to know where your level lies when they don't give a result. Just saying <1.5 means that your level could be anywhere between 0 and 1.4. If it was 1.4 then obviously it would be far too high.
So really the only thing that can be gleaned from this test with the results shown is that your morning level is where it should be.
Whenever anyone puts BH or Medichecks cortisol tests on for interpretation, when I reply I always mention what I have said in your post. I'm afraid I can't start a thread of my own criticising them and advising people to go for a better test, I think that would lead to a lot of trouble I just have to hope that people see these replies or maybe do a search before ordering a test and come across these posts.
I'm sorry your test doesn't give you the useful information that you need. What you can take from your results is that
* you don't have Addisons or Cushings;
* your morning cortisol is good;
* something is making your noon cortisol rise slightly (without a result I can only go by the doctor's comments) so that could be stress of some sort (unless you had coffee or ate before doing the sample);
* your 4pm one is OK;
* the 6pm one should be lower than the 4pm one so again maybe a bit of stress there;
* but unfortunately the bedtime one will remain a complete mystery.
Was there an actual result for the noon sample, I don't understand why that's blank in the picture.
Was there no actual result then, just the range? If that's the case you need to get in touch with BH and point this out to them, ask them why there is no result and how come they can make a comment about it being over range. If they have missed off a result, could they have made any other mistakes?
The range is quoted as ‘from 0’ as the test becomes increasingly inaccurate the closer the level is to zero.
Therefore a value of 0.05 could actually be 0.01 or 0.1, for example.
Trying to produce a reliable figure at very low levels is fairly pointless because of the unreliability of any level recorded,
and also because clinically it is of little relevance
– the levels are expected to be very low, at or near zero, at those times of day.
Of more interest would be a high level at these times (above the quoted reference) – that would be abnormal.
A healthy person will in fact have negligible amounts of cortisol in the blood stream, quite possibly none at a recordable level, for significant periods of the day.
Any laboratory that claims accuracy for recording very low levels of cortisol will be making a false claim, which surely is more misleading?
The range is quoted as ‘from 0’ as the test becomes increasingly inaccurate the closer the level is to zero.
Therefore a value of 0.05 could actually be 0.01 or 0.1, for example.
Well, I'm not a scientist nor involved in testing so I can't comment on how accurate a result can be at low levels, but to me it would seem more sensible to set the lower limit at where they know it's accurate and anything lower than that be expressed as <xxx (but I'm just a simple soul!).
It makes you wonder how Regenerus and Genova Diagnostics can have ranges with actual proper levels
the levels are expected to be very low, at or near zero, at those times of day.
A healthy person will in fact have negligible amounts of cortisol in the blood stream, quite possibly none at a recordable level, for significant periods of the day.
Er.... I wouldn't have thought so, the quote from the website I gave in my original reply above says otherwise.
Of course they ignored the fact that they just gave a range for one of the results.
Because I'm a bit like a dog with a bone, I would keep asking them why the result is missing until I got an answer.
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I just have to hope that people see these replies or maybe do a search before ordering a test and come across these posts.
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