Re: Cortisol level

[Guest guest]

....i feel really worried about the cortisol level one.Serum cortisol level 547 ref range 110 to 530This was a blood sample taken at my gps last week at 8.15am was told by gp it has to be taken between 8am-9am in the morning.

Hello Manda,

Good luck with seeing Dr P. tomorrow. He is lovely

Not sure why you are worried about your cortisol result. A morning cortisol level of 547 is a very healthy looking figure. It does not mean that your adrenals necessarily work "normally", but it does mean that they are capable of working normally. The relatively high looking level (in relation to the ref range, which, btw. looks pretty low) has most likely been caused by anxiety.

So even if there were a steep drop in your cortisol level later on in the day that would be down to tired adrenals as opposed to damaged adrenals – which is reassuring!

I hope Dr. P. will put your mind at rest at least about the cortisol aspect. Most of us hypos suffer from some degree of adrenal fatigue, but taking adrenal support in form of supplements will in most cases deal with that.

Best wishes,

[Guest guest]

Hi Manda

Was the test done by the GP or did they just take the blood at the surgery for a

private test?

I think it needs following up on - if it's not a test done by the GP, then

please make them aware of it, they may order a 24hr urinary free cortisol test

to see how much free cortisol your body produces over 24 hours. I would ask

for this test if the GP doesn't volunteer it, I would also ask for ACTH to be

tested (this tells the adrenals to produce cortisol etc), as well as CBG -

cortisol binding globulin. I think it's CBG that at least partly influences

how much cortisol is free - i think it might be possible for you to have a

higher serum cortisol level but a high CBG too leaving you with cortisol levels

that aren't too high but I may be *completely* wrong on that.

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

They need to test you to see how much cortisol you are producing over the course

of a day in case of cushing's or pseudo cushing's . Do you have any cushing's

symptoms? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cushing%27s

have you had an adrenal saliva test done, too? (i would place more value on the

serum cortisol test with urinary free cortisol test than the saliva test, but

it's still valuable to see what happens to cortisol over the course of a day).

did you have a saliva test, too?

>>Is this level anything to worry about and could it be this thats been causing

me to suffer really bad panic/anxiety and a very far away feeling.

Too much cortisol is strongly linked to depression etc. Do things feel unreal

at times? or just like you are far away, disconnected?

Are you very stressed about anything, or very depressed, other than having

health issues?

I would push to get it investigated; at the very least get a 24hr urinary free

cortisol test -- if you can get other tests like DHEA, adrenal antibodies etc,

then that'd be good.

chris

>

>

> Serum cortisol level 547 ref range 110 to 530

> This was a blood sample taken at my gps last week at 8.15am was told by gp it

has to be taken between 8am-9am in the morning.

>

> Is this level anything to worry about and could it be this thats been

causing me to suffer really bad panic/anxiety and a very far away feeling.

>