Are my symptoms adrenal related?

[Annabel]

Hi! Those definitely could be related to the adrenals and HPA axis. It sounds like your cortisol cycle is messed up, and you are dependent on coffee and sleep aids.

First of all, stay away from the Ativan. Prolonged use can mess up your memory in the long run.

You need to try to get off this cycle of drinking coffee during the day and using sleep aids at night. Try switching to green tea or matcha instead – it gives a much milder buzz and will help you to reduce your caffeine. Try something like Passion flower extract at night instead of sleep aids – it will help calm you down without creating dependency.

And of course, combine that with light exercise and a really healthy diet!

[Lauriso]

Thanks for your reply!

To clarify, I’m off Ativan for a year already.

Thanks for the recommendations, I’ll look into them.

Is there a point to doing a blood or saliva test (cortisol or other chemicals/hormones)?

[Lauriso]

I’m planning to do a 24 hour urine cortisol test.

[Annabel]

A 24 hour saliva test is usually considered best for cortisol. There should be 4 separate test points, i.e. you get a value for 4 different times of day instead of just a daily average.

[Lauriso]

Thanks for the recommendation.

24h cortisol seems to be within the norm: 40.8 (norm being 4.3-176, seems petty wide though).

I’ll inure about the saliva test.

[Lauriso]

Can you tell me what hours should I take the saliva test? I can’t get in touch with my doc until Monday and want to do the test over the weekend.

[Annabel]

[quote quote=13969]Can you tell me what hours should I take the saliva test? I can’t get in touch with my doc until Monday and want to do the test over the weekend.[/quote]

Usually the test instructions would tell you the times. But typically the times are 8am, 12noon, 4pm and 8pm. Or something like that!

[Lauriso]

Alright, I got my results from SALIVA test. I’m seeing the doc tomorrow, but will post here just in case.

Time of day – cortisol levels in nmol/L.

09.30 – 9
14.00 – 6
17.00 – <1.57
23.00 – <1.57

[Lauriso]

Same results in ng/ml:

09.30 – 2.83
14.00 – 1.88
17.00 – <0.49
23.00 – <0.49

[Author]

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