Saliva test results?

[Estidman]

Here are the results of my saliva test. Not sure what to do next. Can someone please tell me if taking supplements would help my levels?

[Comorbidity]

Hello, have you looked at the "Adrenal Stress Profile test result - What does it mean?" page on Dr Myhill's website? At drmyhill.co.uk.

[humanbean]

Your neurotransmitter results are diabolical and shocking - only one of them actually made it into the range. I've never seen test results for neurotransmitters before and I don't know anything much about them, so really don't have any knowledge to pass on.

For anyone reading this thread later, PEA stands for Beta-phenylethylamine. I had to look it up.

But I do have an awful lot of questions...

1) How do you feel, and what are your symptoms?

2) Which company carried out the testing?

3) Was it done with blood or saliva or urine?

4) Do you have a link for the testing?

5) Did you get a doctor's report on your results?

6) What kind of diet do you eat?

7) Are you constantly trying to lose weight and eating very little?

8) Do you take any supplements at all?

9) What physical medical conditions have you been diagnosed with?

9) Have you tested your levels of the basic nutrients? Vitamin B12, folate, vitamin D, ferritin. If ferritin is low or high or out of range have you tested a full iron panel?

10) Do you have gut problems? For example, are you suffering from gluten intolerance or coeliac disease? What about lactose? Are you intolerant of it?

11) How old are you?

Regarding your cortisol & DHEA results I'll post about those in a separate reply.

[Estidman in reply to humanbean]

Hi Humanbean,

1. In the morning I usually feel the most alert and active, then later in the afternoon I feel super spaced out and unfocused, usually around 3:00. My symptoms are headaches, dry eyes, I fall asleep each night between 9 and 10:30 and usually wake up around 2:30 or 3am and stay awake for a few hours, I feel revved up. It’s hard for me to focus on assignments at work, forgetfulness, lethargic, unmotivated. I was never like this before. My energy comes and goes.

2. The testing company was NeuroLab/ Sanesco

3. A Saliva test

4. I don’t have a link for the testing

5. The only report I received was the picture I attached. The doctor went over the results in the office with me. She said that I’m stressed out and need to take 5htp at night to settle my cortisol levels down. And the 5htp will also help raise my serotonin levels over time. She also mentioned that I could take DHEA or Pregnelonone. I am also considering taking Sam e.

6. I usually eat eggs or a small muffin or cereal for breakfast, a sandwich with soup or salad for lunch, and dinner can vary, chicken with vegetables or enchiladas or another salad or pasta. I sometimes eat ice cream after dinner. I do sometimes snack on chips, crackers or almonds.

7. I’m not trying to lose weight as I’m already thin and want to maintain and even add a few pounds. I eat normally and have a good appetite.

8. I take the following supplements each day, vitamin B complex, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D 10,000, b12 5000, selenium, omega 3 1200mg, magnesium, adrenotone-just started this after dr’s visit.

9. I was recently told I have mild Hashimoto’s. I was hyperthyroid about 2 or 3 years ago and took medication for a few months and it resolved the problem. My thyroid was tested again this January and there was no hyperthyroidism but my antibodies were a little high so they said mild Hashimoto’s. I put those results and ranges in a previous post of mine that you can see. My vitamin D was low so I immediately started taking it a few months ago. I don’t believe my b12 or ferritin was tested. I have not tested for a full iron panel yet. I am due to retest my blood again in June and have asked to have my iron and b12 tested then.

10. I don’t seem to have an intolerance to gluten or lactose. Although I can’t eat heavy or greasy meals as they will wreck my stomach. I have to eat small portions, my stomach seems have a hard time digesting certain foods. My rheumatologist did want me to get tested for coeliac disease with my regular doctor but I haven’t done that yet.

11. I’m a 43 year old female.

I just want to feel better and increase my levels. My doctor did say I could go on an antidepressant instead of the 5htp but I would rather go the natural route.

[humanbean in reply to Estidman]

She said that I’m stressed out and need to take 5htp at night to settle my cortisol levels down.

There is a problem with this - your doctor is wrong. 5-HTP actually raises cortisol, it doesn't lower it. If you do a web search for "effect of 5-HTP on cortisol" you'll get quite a few links returned. Some of the research involved is old, but lots of people have written articles about it and all the ones I've read have agreed that it raises cortisol.

But 5-HTP also raises serotonin, which can be very helpful in improving mood quite quickly.

I take 5-HTP. Apart from improving my mood it helped a bit with my chronic insomnia but that effect was rather slower than the effect on my mood.

The good news is that, it may be worth trying 5-HTP at a small dose anyway. I've actually been taking it without any problems for about 10 years, and my cortisol was about as high as yours is now when I first started taking it. The one thing I can't do is take a high dose, because if I do I get high cortisol symptoms - like internal vibration or trembling, and my life-long insomnia gets a lot worse. So, as long as I keep my dose low, I get benefits from it but without any obvious problems from my cortisol getting higher.

I only take 50mg per dose. For many years I took a dose every evening before bed, but in recent years I've cut it down to taking it 3 or 4 times a week. I prefer it to any of the SSRIs (like Prozac or Seroxat, for example) that doctors kept prescribing before I started 5-HTP. (I've tried four different SSRIs, and would never take one ever again.) A major thing that 5-HTP has going for it for me is that it has no side effects or withdrawal effects. I would never drop my dose of 5-HTP quickly, but at least I can do it.

...

One thing I have found useful for reducing cortisol is Holy Basil. Specifically this product :

swansonvitamins.com/swanson...

I took this for years - perhaps at least 5 years, although I don't remember with any certainty. The standard dose is 2 capsules per day of the product I bought, but to get any effect I took a lot more and then gradually over the years I reduced my dose. I actually stopped taking it completely earlier this year. I obviously can't recommend doing what I did to anyone else!

...

Regarding your diet, it does seem to be reasonably varied, but possibly a bit low in healthy fats and saturated fats, and could possibly have a bit more protein. Can I suggest that you look at the Diet Doctor website.

dietdoctor.com/

It has a lot of recipes available for free, and if you want to maintain or increase weight you might want to eat larger portions than they suggest. The recipes include healthy fats, good levels of protein, and they do not include large quantities of carbs.

...

Regarding intolerance to gluten...

I was told about 10 years ago after testing that I did not have coeliac disease. So I kept eating gluten until 2015. In the end I decided to try out a gluten-free diet just as an experiment, and to my surprise I got lots of benefits from it. It would be worth trying for 3 or 4 months. If you get no benefit then you can go back to eating gluten again.

It's the middle of the night and I need to go to bed. I will write more tomorrow.

[Estidman in reply to humanbean]

The 5 htp that my doctor told me to take is in a supplement called Neurocalm and it has 50mg of htp. At first she told me to take one in the morning and one at night but then she changed her mind and said to take 2 at night instead. I’ve been taking it for a couple days before bedtime and it does help me sleep longer. I’ve been waking up between 6:30 and 7:30am instead of 2:30 or 3am. I can feel that my cortisol is high in the early morning because it’s hard for me to fall back asleep, my heart beats fast. Maybe that’s why the doctor initially said to take one at night and one in the morning. I feel more alert in the morning (higher cortisol) and foggy/lethargic after lunch. That’s why I’m also thinking of taking Sam e during the day, it’s supposed to help with depression, energy and fatigue. I’m hoping it snaps me out of my zombie fog during the day. But I’ve read that taking both 5htp and Sam e together can be risky and create serotonin syndrome (too much serotonin).

I’ll check out the holy basil supplement and the recipe website.

I’m hesitant to try gluten free because I feel like it limits my calorie and food choices and I don’t want to lose weight with limited gluten options.

Are you in England? I’m in the US. My daughters grandma lives in Bournemouth England. I know you’re 8 hours ahead of me. It’s a little after 9:00pm here, almost my bedtime too🙂.

[humanbean]

Optimal results for cortisol can be found here - see example 1 :

rt3-adrenals.org/cortisol_t...

Using the ranges from your results this gives the following optimal results

• Morning at the top of the range --- 11.6

• Noon approximately 75% of the range --- 4.55

• Evening close to 50% of the range --- 1.7

• Nighttime at the bottom of the range --- 0.4

Your results :

Sample 1 : 17.9 (5.1 - 11.6)

Sample 2 : 3.8 (2.3 - 5.3)

Sample 3 : 2.8 (1 - 2.4)

Sample 4 : 2.6 (0.4 - 2.1)

Compare the optimal results and your results ...

Sample 1 : Optimal = 11.6 --- Yours = 17.9 --- You produce 154% of optimal

Sample 2 : Optimal = 4.55 --- Yours = 3.8 --- You produce 83% of optimal

Sample 3 : Optimal = 1.7 --- Yours = 2.8 --- You produce 165% of optimal

Sample 4 : Optimal = 0.4 --- Yours = 2.6 --- You produce 650% of optimal

Totals : Optimal = 18.25 --- Yours = 27.1 --- You produce 148% of optimal

You are producing roughly 50% more cortisol per day than you should, and this is common in people with long-term non-treatment or under-treatment of thyroid disease.

The distribution of your cortisol shows that your results are worse later in the day than they are earlier in the day, although they are quite bad most of the day. This is fairly typical of what happens as the adrenals start to get worse. First of all the body produces more and more and more cortisol to keep the body going when the thyroid is working poorly or not at all, then eventually it can't keep up the production and cortisol starts to drop.

I would guess that your cortisol was actually higher a year ago than it is now. But note that really is just a guess. Your cortisol is probably in the "dropping" phase now.

DHEA (Result 1) : 1.4 (1 - 6) --- 8% of the way through the range

DHEA (Result 2) : 1.9 (1 - 6) --- 18% of the way through the range

Both your DHEA results are low in range, and this is usually a signal that your cortisol results are getting worse and are likely to get worse still. Your DHEA may end up below range fairly soon.

---------------------------------

I wrote a reply to another member months ago that has a lot of information of relevance to you. Bear in mind that trying to improve adrenal function has a lot of similarity whether you are suffering from low or high cortisol. It can be difficult to guess what cortisol levels are without testing because telling low and high cortisol apart on the basis of symptoms is almost impossible.

One thing that is very important for someone with high cortisol is to avoid adrenal glandulars, particularly those which might contain adrenaline. But in other ways, care and feeding of the adrenals is the same whether cortisol is low or high.

The reply I wrote for another member some time ago can be found here - but please ignore the info on glandulars :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

If you can answer the questions I asked earlier that would be helpful. I'm going to look up info on neurotransmitters. If I find something helpful I'll pass it on, but I'm making no promises.

[Estidman in reply to humanbean]

So if my cortisol is too high would I want to bring it down by increasing my serotonin and dopamine levels? Would decreasing my cortisol be beneficial or harmful? Also should I take a DHEA supplement to increase my levels?

Sorry for all the questions. I am following up with my doctor in a few weeks and I can ask her some of these questions but I wanted someone else’s input on this.