Hi Goldenaquila, if your sleep patterns have been out of step it can mess with morning cortisol results, night shift workers get reversed cortisol results, however If you have had saliva cortisol levels and they were also low, because these are done throughout the day these test show that you have a problem with low cortisol, there is probably no point in repeating these tests, as you will most likely get similar results, which will only tell you your cortisol is low and won’t help with diagnosis, I think it would be a good idea to talk to your doctor about getting serum ACTH and serum Aldosterone done and get a ACTH stimulation test done as soon as possible! Because these tests will help to diagnose which of the many illnesses that cause low cortisol production is causing your problems. As Ema say’s low Cortisol is not something to fool around with, it can be very serious!!!
It looks like you have got stuck in the trap with genetic testing for hemochromatosis, your test says you are a carrier for C282Y, but you may have other mutations that are not reported and never will be because they don’t test for them, leaving you with no clue as to whether you have it or not, What often happens is that people are what is called compound Heterozygous, which mean they have C282Y and one of the other untested genes and they act together to give the patient Hemochromatosis, the only way to get to the bottom of it is to do a trial of Phlebotomies to see if your iron levels will fall as recommended by the iron diseases association. Hemochromatosis can also affect thyroid function as well as causing cortisol problems; the iron can damage all the endocrine system as well as the heart, liver and many other organs.
Personally I would start with getting your cortisol problems properly investigated, because taking out pints of blood if there is a major undiagnosed cortisol reducing disease may cause problems.
Your folate levels are very much on the low side, there are lots of different reference ranges quoted on the web, some of which you are below some of which you aren’t, you blood results do not show signs of macrocytosis however this is a late sign of Folate and B12 deficiencies, and symptoms can occur before this happens. Folate deficiency symptoms can include fatigue, palpitations and brain fog, so it is possible that your low level of folate may be causing some symptoms for you, my personal preference is to be in the middle upper part of reference ranges for vitamins and minerals this takes away any chance that they may be causing any symptoms, If you end up having a trial of blood removal to see if you have hemochromatosis, because Folate is an essential part of making new blood your low levels of folate may rapidly become a problem, and you may rapidly become anaemic, so I think it would be a good idea to talk to your doctor about raising your folate levels.
Have you been taking supplements with high levels of B6, because your levels are very high, too much B6 can cause peripheral neuropathy see [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18754531]and [http://altmed.creighton.edu/pmdd/b6.htm]
It looks to me that you have had a lot of testing, but some very important results have not been followed up on, these results indicate that you possibly have increased iron storage problems and problems with cortisol production, you need further testing to find out what diseases are causing these failed test results, although due to a lack of research and funding exactly, what ME is, is open to debate, you say you had a gradual onset, some doctors like Dr Byron Hyde believe that ME always has an acute onset and that the gradual onset patients normally have another findable known disease if they can get the right tests done by someone who knows what they mean, Addison’s and most of the other diseases that cause low cortisol, there is over forty conditions that can cause this, are gradual onset diseases, hemochromatosis is also a gradual onset disease. The other thing is that researchers have for a long time found anomalies in immune function tests in ME patients, this is why the name CFIDS (chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome) has been used for the illness, however your Lymphocyte Immunophenotype tests are perfect! ME patient normally have problems with things like CD4and CD8 results etc. So can’t promise anything but it does look like there might be a chance that you are one of the lucky ones that doesn’t have it, and may have something treatable if you can get the right tests done.
Hope this helps
All the best
It looks like you have got stuck in the trap with genetic testing for hemochromatosis, your test says you are a carrier for C282Y, but you may have other mutations that are not reported and never will be because they don’t test for them, leaving you with no clue as to whether you have it or not, What often happens is that people are what is called compound Heterozygous, which mean they have C282Y and one of the other untested genes and they act together to give the patient Hemochromatosis, the only way to get to the bottom of it is to do a trial of Phlebotomies to see if your iron levels will fall as recommended by the iron diseases association. Hemochromatosis can also affect thyroid function as well as causing cortisol problems; the iron can damage all the endocrine system as well as the heart, liver and many other organs.
Personally I would start with getting your cortisol problems properly investigated, because taking out pints of blood if there is a major undiagnosed cortisol reducing disease may cause problems.
Your folate levels are very much on the low side, there are lots of different reference ranges quoted on the web, some of which you are below some of which you aren’t, you blood results do not show signs of macrocytosis however this is a late sign of Folate and B12 deficiencies, and symptoms can occur before this happens. Folate deficiency symptoms can include fatigue, palpitations and brain fog, so it is possible that your low level of folate may be causing some symptoms for you, my personal preference is to be in the middle upper part of reference ranges for vitamins and minerals this takes away any chance that they may be causing any symptoms, If you end up having a trial of blood removal to see if you have hemochromatosis, because Folate is an essential part of making new blood your low levels of folate may rapidly become a problem, and you may rapidly become anaemic, so I think it would be a good idea to talk to your doctor about raising your folate levels.
Have you been taking supplements with high levels of B6, because your levels are very high, too much B6 can cause peripheral neuropathy see [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18754531]and [http://altmed.creighton.edu/pmdd/b6.htm]
It looks to me that you have had a lot of testing, but some very important results have not been followed up on, these results indicate that you possibly have increased iron storage problems and problems with cortisol production, you need further testing to find out what diseases are causing these failed test results, although due to a lack of research and funding exactly, what ME is, is open to debate, you say you had a gradual onset, some doctors like Dr Byron Hyde believe that ME always has an acute onset and that the gradual onset patients normally have another findable known disease if they can get the right tests done by someone who knows what they mean, Addison’s and most of the other diseases that cause low cortisol, there is over forty conditions that can cause this, are gradual onset diseases, hemochromatosis is also a gradual onset disease. The other thing is that researchers have for a long time found anomalies in immune function tests in ME patients, this is why the name CFIDS (chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome) has been used for the illness, however your Lymphocyte Immunophenotype tests are perfect! ME patient normally have problems with things like CD4and CD8 results etc. So can’t promise anything but it does look like there might be a chance that you are one of the lucky ones that doesn’t have it, and may have something treatable if you can get the right tests done.
Hope this helps
All the best
Notepad is an easy alternative, like Nanonug mentioned. Another is to select everything you typed after you paste into the editor here, and click on the "Text color" button once or twice til it goes back to the default text color. If you set it to red or something then it's easy to see if you're on the default or not.