Cortisol blood test due and adrenal gland supplements... advice gratefully received

[TiggerMe]

Just had a call from the Endo's office, they would like to add cortisol to my blood test booked for 14th April...

Presently I take 530mg cortex and 150mg whole adrenal...

Should I just stop tomorrow?

Should I wean myself off.... how quickly?

Should I just keep on taking to see if it has helped with my levels?... as they are unlikely to do anything useful if they see they are below range anyway?

Previously 296 at 9am (before the addition of T3 or adrenal glands)

I have sent them my cortisol saliva results (which we all know are more useful)

Not sure which route to take... I could stall the test for another month as they have just pushed my early May appointment out till end of month...

[tattybogle]

mm ...dunno. hopefully someone else will have more idea than i, so i'll move it up the list.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to tattybogle]

Thanks Tatty... yeah I'm in several minds...

[tattybogle in reply to TiggerMe]

That one you posted a couple of months ago . healthunlocked.com/thyroidu... (the saliva one ) said you had stopped for a week before , and it had a normal looking 9 am result ...

but before you ever took any adrenal supp the 9 am was low ( below range ?) on blood test (NHS?)....

so if stopping for a week didn't allow 9 am to go back to below range , then is 2 weeks likely to do so ? no idea ... just musing out loud

What could/ would GP actually do if 9 am was below range again ?.. and do you want 'whatever it is' done ?

off to talk to the bin men now .. i know much more about bins and alleys than cortisol in donkeys .

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to tattybogle]

Yeah, my mind is working in a similar way... It's an Endo request but like you say little good would come of it either way....

Bins are about where my brain is at today... there has been a gas banger bird scarer going off for the past 2 weeks which I might just have to go and kick 😏(smirking donkey face)

Previous to the saliva test I was only taking 150mg whole adrenal and 80mg cortex, once I had the results I've bumped it up based on core temperature to get to the current dose... which tbf has worked rather well and I planned to do this for 6 months and then reduce, loathed to mess up my plan... the addition of adrenals has certainly lessened the crashes.

I think the cortisol blood test might be more use to me if I stick with what I am doing and compare what if any difference the glandular has made to serum cortisol

I use   radd rather excellent guide... I'd say I've gone from 13 to 6

Adrenal Fatigue

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to tattybogle]

It was a Medichecks low test back in May 2021 when I found my T4 44% & T3 16%, this is the first time the NHS has shown any interest and from what others have said unless you then go on to fail the short synacthen test which might lead on to steroids (would rather avoid them!) there isn't much point to it

[tattybogle in reply to TiggerMe]

yes that's what i thought... bugger all chance of any interest, unless you have actual Addison's .. anything less is just likely to get poo poo'd and just gives em an excuse to write "donkey has been on the internet ( clever donkey) and read all about adrenal "fatigue" and as a result has now got health anxiety" on your notes.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to tattybogle]

I'll proceed as I am... offer my arm up for a dismissive blood test and keep schtum!

Thanks for mulling it over with me Tatty 🤗(big donkey hug)

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to TiggerMe]

Well, I finally got my serum cortisol result 271nmol/L which is 25 lower than the last time (2 years ago before starting T3 or any adrenal supplements)

So the question is how much lower or not would I be without the adrenal supplements or do they have no effect??

   radd    Hidden   humanbean there were others I said I'd share the result with but 🤯🤷‍♀️🙃

I suppose the next test is to gradually drop the glandular and see if I collapse in a heap?!

Or do I wait until Endo review on the 22nd....