Cortisol testing

[Aminaalam]

Hi, Im looking to get all my bloods and cortisol checked.

I have one lingering question, as i work nights.. would i still do the saliva testing from 7am onwards? Or can i do it from when my day starts for me, which would be 6pm?

I know it maybe a bit of a silly question, as its unnatural to be awake when i am.. but thought i would double check?

Thanks in advance x

[Serendipitious]

Do you work nights every single day of the week? Can you do the test on a non working day? If you do a saliva cortisol test and you’ve been awake all night your results are going to be anything but normal. Your cortisol levels are probably going to be high during the night.

Are you doing this test of your own accord or was it recommended by a practitioner? Probably best checking what to do with the testing company if you’re doing the test by yourself as shift workers will have abnormal cortisol patterns.

[FallingInReverse]

I would call the testing company. I’ve had responsive support (as I’ve seen others have to) from these various types of private blood test companies.

I had the same question… you see charts for the cortisol awakening response always around 7-9 am… presumably being “upon waking” or “an hour after waking”.

I wondered too about similar - what about my teenage daughter who sleeps in … do I wake her early? What impact does an alarm clock have? I also struggled a lot finding a typical day without any unusual stress… considering how our hypo ups n downs can interrupt so much!

I found myself starting and rinsing & restarting three times before I just said “good enough.”

Last tip - making enough spit was way harder than I thought. I later learned it’s pretty individual, since my daughter filled the vial in about 20 seconds… I needed a full 10 minutes or more as the day went on.

I recco trying to collect the right amount of spit before you do the real thing. So you can avoid the start-stop-rinse-restart hassle I had : )