ACTH cortisol stimulation test

[matt321]

Yes, there is a lot more to curing CFS. Its not a fundamentally different situation though. As you know, people all present differently, and to make things even more difficult..they describe their situation differently. One of the most effective approaches I used to calm my CNS was originally found in the well known books on recovery. I then dug into the elite athlete circles to get advanced science and ideas that would help understand the process of HPA axis disfunction in overtraining, low carbing, and despite what you believe...CFS. This is why looking only at CFS science is so limiting.

 

[soxfan]

I am not sure what the cause of my fatigue is and even though CFS and Adrenal Fatigue have many of the same symptoms I am more inclined to think it’s my low morning cortisol. I have many of the random adrenal symptoms.
I don’t care that it’s in the normal range at the low end. The morning level should be right up there a time least close to the higher end of the range.

I have low normal vitamin D and B12 and the doctor has me taking supplements for both of those...so why is cortisol different.
Taking 5 mg in the morning to see if it helps will not shut down my adrenal function...

I was on 20mg during Lyme treatment and it didn’t harm me at all and that was 7 years ago.

I can’t for the life of me understand these endocrinologists...she has me on the vitamins! I think they need to listen to the patients symptoms and how it impacts my life.

I only know I struggle from the moment I get up in the morning with fatigue...tiredness. Even after a good night sleep...

 

[matt321]

I would look at the Cortene article on this site. Its describes the exact process we've talked about here. Funny thing, is that it validates what those of us who are recovered have been exhaustively trying to explain to sufferers. On one hand, I hope it works as discussed, on the other, taking a pill to skip over development in life is usually only a deferment in self evolution.

 

[oision27]

So this morning I had he ACTH Stim test. My starting cortisol was 8.0 at 8am . Range is 4-24. Then they injected the stimulation and in an hour it raised to 31.0. She said my adrenals were able to react to stress. My question is when you have a chronic illness and your body is stressed everyday how are the adrenals able to keep up?

They inject this stuff and you get a one time dose of stimulation. I even felt like the walking dead a few hours later. Was that from my adrenals being drained or just because I have CFS.

I am so upset right now because I feel that a morning level of 8 is on the low side and my former endo wanted it 15-20 in the morning and had me on 5mg Cortef in the morning.

Maybe I am just overreacting because I was certain the levels would not double ...

Anybody have this test before and what was your starting level. I am not sure if I should get another opinion or just accept it...

please read this

I also had the same test and was considered "normal". I was passing out during the test and the nurses and office staff kept telling me how much i must need coffee in the am because i was falling asleep. I think i crashed later that day too. I can't remember now. every time i try to tell the Drs that that happened they shrug it off saying i was expecting the results to be different. I kept asking if it was possible to have an autoimmune reaction to cortisol and the Drs keep saying no. Garbage.

I wish they would just open their eyes for a minute and see that the reaction was a problem.

You may be interested in this.

 

[oision27]

Good grief! I think you need to find another doctor. It is unethical not to help a patient, no matter what the piece of paper in front of her says.

My first number on the ACTH stim test was 12. I posted my full results here and was advised to stay on my hydrocortisone pills. My ME/CFS doc looked at my results and said they weren't normal and advised me to stay on the hydrocortisone, too.

The only one who thought my results were normal was the endocrinologist, even when I told him I was asleep for the whole thing and didn't wake up until 45 minutes after taking my hydrocortisone... I quit seeing him after that.

Have you done a 24 hour saliva cortisol test? If that shows you below the curve, you might very well benefit from replacement dose hydrocortisone, under 25mg a day, in divided doses. You may also have issues with when you're making cortisol throughout the day, which you can manipulate with dosing and supplements.

Have you had a full thyroid panel run, too? FT3, FT4, rT3, antibodies, and TSH? It may be part of the picture, too, though working on your adrenals first is a good idea.

 

[oision27]

I also had the same test and was considered "normal". I was passing out during the test and the nurses and office staff kept telling me how much i must need coffee in the am because i was falling asleep. I think i crashed later that day too. I can't remember now. every time i try to tell the Drs that that happened they shrug it off saying i was expecting the results to be different. I kept asking if it was possible to have an autoimmune reaction to cortisol and the Drs keep saying no. Garbage.

I wish they would just open their eyes for a minute and see that the reaction was a problem.

We have the same condition