"Adrenal Fatigue" Poll

[Beyond]

Hey there people. I thought about making this poll about cortisol in saliva or urine. Mine is low, always, more so in saliva. Blood is high. Super strange uh? Now, I don´t even know the validity of salivary/urinary cortisol as a biomarker as opposed to serum, but lets see what you guys got and see if a pattern develops. You can choose more than one option.

I know there is a thread for the adrenals already but I thought I could reach more people here. If needed, change the location of the thread.

There are as you know strong indications that CFS is related with some sort of "HPA axis" dysfunction, but that is no wonder since so many systems are affected. Nevertheless I am trying to conduct my little study, as usual... So many hours spent in google scholar took their toll...

 

[helen1]

How about an option for people like me with low-average salivary cortisol?

 

[Beyond]

How about an option for people like me with low-average salivary cortisol?

Darn it! I always put too scarce options in polls.

Hmm what is low average? Like lingering the lower limit?

 

[Effi]

@Beyond mine came out normal in both blood test and urine test (so I marked 'high' in your poll, I hope that's correct?)

I got the blood test via my GP. Then I went to a clinical biologist with loads of experience in biomarker testing, and he said cortisol via blood test is not reliable at all. He gave this example: you're in your GP's waiting room and another patient in the room is extremely annoying. Then your blood is drawn and your cortisol will be high (if you're usually normal) or normal (if you're usually low), just because someone got on your nerves right before. So he did another test on a 24h urine sample, which is supposed to be pretty reliable. Both came out completely normal.

Btw I'm doubtful about that HPA-axis theory. It doesn't seem to add up for my particular situation... A doctor has used it to try to push pills on me, although nothing that was ever tested points out that I have a problem in that area.

 

[Beyond]

@Beyond mine came out normal in both blood test and urine test (so I marked 'high' in your poll, I hope that's correct?)
I

Yeah, my bad, now there is an option for those that got normal ranges. @helen1

With high, I mean off the high chart.

It is significant having someone with totally normal cortisol. My adrenals are totally screwed lol

 

[Effi]

@Beyond, ok I changed my answer to 'normal'. I didn't know I was an exception... But then again, I usually am when it comes to anything medical so I guess it's not that exceptional

 

[AaroninOregon]

Are saliva tests considered reliable?

 

[drob31]

Mine has been all over the place. I believe adrenal fatigue, or more correctly, adrenal fatigue syndrome, which is a collection of symptoms, is a signaling issue from the hypothalamus, and could be caused by many things.

I've had normal saliva results, high saliva results when I was on t3, and low normal results.

 

[barbc56]

Are saliva tests considered reliable?

Unless it's changed, blood tests are more accurate but saliva is valid for night testing.

Barb

 

[AaroninOregon]

Unless it's changed, blood tests are more accurate but saliva is valid for night testing.

Barb

Thanks @barbc56

 

[drob31]

Unless it's changed, blood tests are more accurate but saliva is valid for night testing.

Barb

I have seen accounts of people doing multiple a day blood draws for serum cortisol. Like 4x a day. Not conventional, but highly accurate...

 

[Beyond]

Low in saliva was what I expected as the prominent pattern... Thanks to all that contributed!