My Cortisol results. Any advice appointment.

[joey82]

Hi, these are my cortisol saliva test from last week. This was after being on 0.5mls of LDN for 4 weeks and 12.5mcg of T3 at 0300hrs (Paul Robinsons CT3M). Blood cortisol was also measure last week, 0730hrs, 350 nmol/L. Range: 73 - 507

My Dr has prescribed DHEA & Pregenonlone as well, but I have not taken this yet.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Kr

Joe

[joey82]

Apologies, the screen shoots didn't load how I wanted them too. I will try again...

[AKatieD]

I will tag people who know more about cortisol than I do TiggerMe and radd .

I have successfully used DHEA to reduce high cortisol and know it regulates cortisol in general, so should work for increasing low levels (if that is what your results from later in the day show too). As you say Paul Robinson has a lot on CT3M.

I can't read the text as its a bit fuzzy on my phone (but get the idea of the graph of the cortisol awakening part), did they test your DHEA levels?

What are your thyroid results like, how tested ( fasting, early morning, before meds etc) and what do you take apart from the small 12.5 T3 dose?

[joey82 in reply to AKatieD]

Hi, Apologies I didn't get notification of your reply. My Cortisol/DHEA ratio was under ref range, DHEA was 60% and Cortisol was 40% so I think taking more DHEA would not do me any favours...?

My last bloods showed over range FT3 as I took it keeping my 3am dose. I wanted to see how much it impacted my blood cortisol.

I've ordered a new test for next week, and I'll do that next week, fasting next week etc.

My FT4 is 7.2, it seems to have dropped since late last year. This is another reason I'm testing again next week.

I take 12.5 t3 at 0300hrs, 17.5mcg t3 at 0730 and 17.5 at 1400hrs. + 75t4.

DHEA ratio

[andyjs2]

Just a note from what I found when my son took 25mg DHEA while on 75mcg T3 only…..his FT3 consistently dropped from 4.1 (2.0-4.8) to 3.7. Not sure why but it did each time he started DHEA. We had to up his T3 dose to 85mcg when on 25mg DHEA. We ultimately decided not to take the DHEA even though it did raise his DHEAS becaue it wasn’t clear he had a DHEAS problem in the first place even though it was under range.

We had read that the cortisol to DHEAS ratio is more important than the actual DHEAS level, and his ratio was midrange.

[joey82 in reply to andyjs2]

Sorry I didn't get a notification you has replied.

My DHEA seems good, but it's out of balance with my cortisol. 60 / 40 DEHA to cortisol. I'm glad I didn't supplement with DHEA as I don't want my cortisol suppressed any more. I'm assuming it would do this if I supplemented with it....

I really need to raise my cortisol as it's awfully low. I think it's the main reason I remain hypo.

I've upped my LDN to 1.0mls per day, I done this on Sunday just gone.

Since Monday afternoon I've had some unpleasant MH problems. Anxiety, depression, self harming thoughts. It might be a bad reaction to the LDN. I'll see how it goes over the next week or so. Might have to knock it back down to 0.5mls per day.

I'm going to up my 0300hrs T3 dose to 15mcg tomorrow. Hopefully it will bring about an improvement

[andyjs2 in reply to joey82]

Also, every time my son’s FT3 went too high (for him that was over about 4.5 (2.0-4.8), his cortisol would tank.

[joey82 in reply to andyjs2]

That's interesting. I've never heard that before

[andyjs2 in reply to joey82]

Check out Paul Robinson’s book “The Thyroid Patient’s Manuel”, where he explains that either cortisol or FT3 being too low or too high can affect the other. He says high FT3 can “burn up” / lower cortisol and low cortisol can reduce effectiveness of FT3. I think the easiest (or at least one way) to find out what is happening in your case is to lower your FT3 and see if your cortisol improves (assuming it doesn’t make you more hypo).