I was wondering if someone could enlighten me about low cortisol.
My boyfriend had 2 synachten tests done recently and was discharged from the endocrinologist saying that he'd like to reassure him that there's no evidence of anyandterior or posterior pituitary hormone disfunction and happy to discharge him from the endocrine clinic.
His cortisol level was at 90, the other time it was 70nmol/L. NHS website states that at this rate it shows adrenal insufficiancy and needs hydrocortisone.
He also has raised prolactin 311MU/L, low testosterone of 14 (no range has been given, sorry)
Any advice would be grately appreciated.
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snowmoon1
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Yes, very low but doctors just want to perform the synachten test over and over again. Do you think asking for a 24hr urine test would be a good one to ask for?
He's taking Mercury Pharma levothyroxine. T3 is sourced from Greece, it is not prescribed. However, the endrocrinologist recently said that he would start him on a T3 trial but then lied about it and backtracked on it.
Yes, antibodies were negative.
He's taking D3K2, fish oil, magnesium. I think that's all.
I will post the new test results as soon as I got them, thank you.
Note that hospitals will often test for Primary Adrenal Insufficiency but rarely test for Secondary or Tertiary, on the stupid grounds that "Oh, it's very rare". And of course the less they test for it, the more rare it appears to be!
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Use the links as evidence that your boyfriend needs to be taken more seriously.
hyperpigmentation , (skin looking darker than usual or dark bands of pigment under his toe nails or possibly finger nails), craving of salty foods, unusual tiredness especially as the day progresses or after psychological or physical exertion, aches and pains in muscles/joints, dizziness, low blood pressure, nausea/vomiting ache around the kidney area or abdomen? All are signs of the autoimmune condition Addison's disease. In this disease ( in simple terms) the outside layer of the adrenals does not function properly and it is normally a gradual deterioration until it leads to quite a drastic impact and crisis for the person. As it is an autoimmune condition it can be present along with autoimmune hypothyroidism. Addison's is classed as a rare disease but is likely under diagnosed especially in younger people and boys/men because it is regarded to be more common in 50yr and over women. The syncathen test checks whether the adrenals produce more cortisol when more ACTH is provided to the system, if the adrenals don't produce more I believe that could suggest Addison's /autoimmune adrenalitis should be considered by the endo as it is not a fault of the pituitary gland. I'm not a medic so this is only a thought from me.
hyperpigmentation , (skin looking darker than usual or dark bands of pigment under his toe nails or possibly finger nails) - yes, it comes and goes though.Does the darker skin meant to be dark for a long period of time like weeks/months?
craving of salty foods - not sure about that, he definitely craved salt in the past
unusual tiredness especially as the day progresses or after psychological or physical exertion, aches and pains in muscles/joints - yes, trying to do anything simple other than sitting he gets extrememly exhausted and it comes with shortness of breath
dizziness - yes, he says that he feels like a drunk sailor on a ship most of the time
low blood pressure - yes, lost consiouness in hospital multiple times
nausea/vomiting - yes, nauseas all the time, finds it hard to eat, no appetite and recently he's been vomiting here and there which didn't happen before
ache around the kidney area or abdomen - not sure about the kidney but def pain in the abdomen, he struggles with constipation too
Whenever he had the synachten test done cortisol rises so I am not too sure what to make of this.
Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post 🙂
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