Cortisol Blood Levels

[Teletubbie21]

Hello! I’m after some advice. My daughter is currently under an endocrinologist who asked for a number of bloods to be taken.

She requested a blood cortisol as part of these bloods but as she is needle phobic, getting a 9am result wasn’t going to happen!

As we were due to have an appointment at GOSH, we agreed that we would test there at whatever time it was taken and just use the results informally.

Her bloods were taken at 12.10pm and have come back at 185. It hasn’t given me a range - not sure whether that because they were taken at 12pm and not the usual 9am.

It has been suggested to me (via another help forum) that her cortisol level is low for that time of day. If I understand correctly, cortisol is supposed to be around 400-500 at 9am and then drops down during the day, with it being the lowest at night??

I know that her results of 185 at that time of day is good in one sense because it’s not really high (like over 500) so that can help rule out certain disorders. However, she always tends to complain of feeling ill around lunchtime or just after so am wondering if her level is contributing to this. Also do we just assume that her 9am morning cortisol would have been higher than 185? Would it be reasonable to assume that perhaps it was lower at 9am??

A friend has suggested asking for a 24 hour urine cortisol test which would help to give a more accurate picture of her cortisol levels during the day. I don’t think I will be able to get her to have another blood test because of how traumatic it is for her!

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[radd]

Teletubbie21,

The serum blood is taken at 9am because it is suppose to be the adrenals highest levels so gives an idea of maximum output. Apart from your daughter not liking it, the serum blood test only offers a snap shot of cortisol levels in that moment & who knows what is going on for the rest of the day & night!

The endo might agree to a 24hour cortisol urine test which offers a total amount of the 'frees' over 24 hours. I have had to do several over the years, but for a much more comprehensive look at your daughters cortisol levels and circadian pattern she could perform a saliva adrenal stress profile. If you do a saliva stress test that also measures DHEA, it is possible to gauge at what stage of compromise (fatigue) the adrenals are functioning at.

Four saliva samples given at certain times will measure the ‘free’ cortisol (& DHEA) secreted over a 24 hours period. The results will allow you to see any imbalances in the daily circadian pattern so enabling use of correcting supplements to aid adrenal health. Unfortunately this test is not generally used or recognised by GP's/endos.

.

regeneruslabs.com/products/...

.

camnutri.com/products/adren...

[Teletubbie21 in reply to radd]

Hi and thank you for your reply. I will look into the saliva test you have mentioned as this seems like a good idea. She seems to have highs and lows during the day so this might be useful in helping to establishing a daily picture.