I'm brand new and know nothing about adrenal function. I would appreciate any feedback on my adrenal panel.
7 am-7.4
12pm-4.2
5pm-3.2
10pm-3.8
DHEA-66.2
It's no wonder I have trouble falling asleep. I also wake up a lot from "toxic" dreams.
Hello, I'll start off and I'm sure others will chip in afterwards.
Firstly I am not a doctor, and always ask a doctor before asking on the Internet, including a patient forum. I ask questions myself, but this is as I can't see a doctor. If you can see a doctor, definitely arrange an appointment as a doctor is medically qualified and can
safely answer your questions.
Having said that, as a non qualified person, I will continue:
Unfortunately, no one can even begin to answer your question until you state what
units your cortisol is measured in (E.g 7.1 ug/dl, or is it nmol/L?). Please amend then results to show this by editing your post with the additional information.
In addition what may be helpful is to let us know: the sample type. Is it saliva or blood? I'm presuming it's saliva (cotton wool in mouth test) due to repeat measurements that looks rather familiar to myself and many of us as patients who resort to these tests, due to the complex nature of ME & CFS, making us dysfunctional in about every body system, hormones being just one part of the puzzle.
It would also be helpful to state if your overnight section of the test was performed fasting (no food for 9hrs+) or did you wake up from sleep and eat a snack or have some soda? Glucose and cortisol are directly linked, hence a fasting morning cortisol test maximizes your cortisol result. (Stress or anxiety also 'falsely' increase cortisol, including any fear of blood tests or travelling to a doctors office for the blood draw), again, I am guessing your test was measured using saliva, so that's not relevant, but worth remembering in the future if you do have a blood draw and are puzzled by any huge swings in the result.
Although salivary cortisol levels tested at home are 'OK' a proficient hormone doctor (endocrinologist) will always prefer a blood sample to saliva, adding in a whole host of pituitary hormone measurements to cross reference with your cortisol results: (Prolactin, LH, FSH, Testosterone, Estradiol E2, SHBG, GH, IGF-1 etc). In addition, a Urine 24HR Free cortisol test, can be useful to assess you over a whole day. Some internet companies over these urine collection tests online, and as it's non invasive (no risk/damage to you), a doctor shouldn't mind if you arrange a urine test yourself, not a random cortisol urine, a 24hr Free cortisol.
Salivary tests although useful and cost effective, don't really 'cut it' in medical practice in my opinion, unless followed up by
repeat cortisol blood tests. I would do this first, before coming to any established conclusions on the results.
Hope that helps a bit.
