Cortisol Test result

[Cassav]

Hi all,

I just received my cortisol test results. This isn't a suprise really as I do feel low energy throughout the day. And cold showers used to make me feel so fantastic and full of energy in the mornings but I read on here it can be stressful to the adrenals so I stopped. I do adrenal cocktails once or twice a day. Any thoughts? And implications for my plan to introduce T3?

[SlowDragon Administrator]

many members see cortisol levels improve slowly after adding T3

[Cassav in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you, I hope so.

[J972]

Hi Cassav,

Whilst I don’t feel qualified to give you any particularly useful advice, I am able to share a link to my fairly recent post concerning my cortisol test results which, I should add, were nowhere near as bad as yours. There’s some really good responses and humanbean very kindly gave some extremely detailed feedback, some of which will be relevant to you.

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Are you planning to follow this up with your GP, ie request a 9am serum cortisol test?

With regards to introducing T3, you might find it helpful to go really low and slow. I personally couldn’t tolerate any dose greater than 3mcg at a time.

All the best 🙌🏼

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to J972]

Great advice to take it low and slow with adding T3, it should help to raise cortisol levels but if you go in too hard you are going to stress your adrenals, so allow time for your body to adjust 🤗

[Cassav in reply to TiggerMe]

Thank you. Do you think that I need to add in any more adrenal support beyond the adrenal cocktails? Or wait and see if T3 raises my cortisol.

[TiggerMe Ambassador in reply to Cassav]

I think it's Dr Peatfield and Dr Myhill's books that suggest we should all have been supporting our adrenals before starting any thyroid hormone.... so we all know the NHS are ignorant to this, much like vits and min levels.

Personally I did start taking some adrenal cortex, though this was after I'd added in T3 and then found that my cortisol was low, I've since swapped onto 5mg hydrocortisone....

I think initially my cortisol level did improve with T3 but after having to reduce my dose to appease an NHS Endo when I then increased back to the previous dose my cortisol levels dropped

[Cassav in reply to TiggerMe]

Thank you. I will consider whether to add in some adrenal support before I start the T3.

[Cassav in reply to J972]

Thank you for the link to the very detailed feedback that you received😊. So does that mean the 9am serum cortisol test would be to test for adrenal insufficiency as per below? "Adrenal insufficiency : Suppose cortisol measured in the blood at 9am gives a result of 100 with a reference range of 180 - 500. This is well below range. This could be caused by autoimmune destruction of the adrenals. No amount of optimal nutrients or optimal anything else is going to regrow or repair the adrenals. Cortisol levels will drop and drop and drop until the patient has levels which are so low they could cause an adrenal crisis and possible death. Surprise, surprise, doctors believe in this."

And thank you for the advice and encouragement 🙏🏾

[Cassav in reply to Cassav]

Just realised that I forgot to tag you J972

[seveneleven]

With that pattern of cortisol, you might benefit from CT3M, which seems to be useful for a lot of people who have low morning cortisol as the main problem. Worth looking into Paul Robinson's website and books to see if it might be an option. I've just started it while weaning off hydrocortisone (terrible cortisol levels) and so far no issues.

[Cassav in reply to seveneleven]

Thank you so much for the advice😊. I'll look into it now. There is really so much to learn on this thyroid journey!