Cortisol and Stress
 

I'd welcome any information regrading cortisol. A friend of mine, a psychologist, has an idea that some of my problems may be related to stress, which can dump high levels of cortisol into the blood stream. In addition, I found this:

http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/cortisol.htm

Interestingly, it says that high cortisol can induce symptoms of hypothyroidism, or symptoms that mimic hypothyroidism.

Thanks.

I know that stress raises my fasting blood sugars. I've seen that connection for the past few months that I have been testing.

There is a connection between the thyroid and adrenals.

If you Google this you will find many sites explaining it.

Prolonged stress - chronic pain in particular, can also deplete/suppress cortisol in the long term. Your adrenal gland keeps pumping it until it's... well, pooped. Some sources call this adrenal fatigue (or exhaustion), but much of the medical community doesn't recognize this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrenal_fatigue

What they will recognize is abnormal levels, whether high or low.

A first step might be to have your adrenal hormone levels tested (simple blood draw w/ 8 hr. fast) to find out exactly what, if anything you're dealing with - which hormones, and whether they're elevated or depressed.

Doc

Hello Nervous,

An Endocrinologist would be able to do the testing, it's really quite simple. I have had testing done on my cortisol level and even though I am diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety/panic attacks as a result of the PTSD my Cortisol level came out normal.

There are articles on the net about l-theanine lowering cortisol levels. My morning fasting sugars have been lower since I started taking it!

I don't know if this will last however, or there will be a tolerance or adjustment factor that will raise the readings again.

I wonder if that is because it is addressing an underlying anxiety issue?

I typically have a very low cortisol level despite extreme physical stress of disabling illness for many years, multiple surgeries, and injuries. Then this year cortisol level very abn. high with no unusual stress. At the same time my RT3 level high( I am hypothyroid as well as PCOS). Then body crashed weak as can be. Then fevers and glucose all over the place. It took 9 months of me pushing the Drs and a week in the hospital for them to find blood infection causing this. As soon as treated then I had to change thyroid medication to reduce the RT3 caused by the situation. This was making me just as sick no improvement till I did .I had to go on a T3 only medication to get it out of my system but then the cortisol level started to normalize finally.
If your cortisol is really high, look for an illness that could be causing the reaction. I would hate for you to go through what I have. And realize one thing will get something else out of whack. I had been through as much stress as possible and cortisol never went up to high level till an underlying condition caused it.
Friendly Input from one who just went through this and still working on. It has been a struggle but I have had to be the Dr in this one to lead them to the answers because my health so complicated. It could just be be emotional stress- but it never did for me. GOOD LUCK TO YOU!

These are exactly the kinds of things that can cause a very low cortisol level over the long term, which is sometimes called adrenal fatigue.

Google: adrenal fatigue

Doc