Need help with results..

[toots_jwu]

I have results from a saliva cortisol test a year ago and I was wondering if someone can tell me what I might have according to my results:

6:00-8:00am    10   depressed   range:13-24 nM
11:00-noon        15 elevated        range: 5-10 nM
4:00-5:00pm      13 elevated        range 3-8 nM
10:00-midnight    8  elevated       range  1-4 nM

Cortisol Burden  46      range   23-42

Elevated  DHEA

My doctor tried to treat my adrenals a year ago by using supplements such as Phosphorylated Serine, Ashwagandha, zinc and so on.  When it didn't help we thought we would treat my thyroid as I was low in T3...and even though I started to feel better, I also started to feel worse or have the same symptoms as before.  Here are my thyroid results.

Free triiodothyronine  4.5    RANGE 3.5-6.5
Senstitve TSH   1.37   RANGE 0.35-5.00
Free T4  16     RANGE 9-23

ANTI -PO   48 HI   RANGE <35
ANTI-TG    <20   RANGE <40

ANTINUCLEAR ANTIBODY   POSITIVE
TITRE      1:320  HI
ANA PATTERN   Speckled and homogeneous pattern


Can someone please point me in the right direction??

[rumpled]

Cortisol will go up temporarily with stress - but if it stays up that is a disease process usually unless you are taking corticosteroids.

To treat it you have to find the source - as in the pituitary tumor, adrenal tumor or other - and remove it. It takes testing and imaging.

[toots_jwu]

what is the treatment for high cortisol?? I have eliminated stress from my life but it still won't go down...

[rumpled]

High cortisol can cause depression - but from experience all I know is that some antidepressants interfere with testing causing them to be lower. But I don't know any that cause high cortisol.

It is more likely a symptom of high cortisol.

A lot of my friends, including me - are diagnosed with depression - and some were diagnosed even with bi-polar! It was all hormones.

[toots_jwu]

Do you think antidepressants cause high cortisol?  I have been on AD's for 10 years and I read something about them effecting the HPA axis.  I want to quit the AD's so bad but the doctor doesn't want me to do that till I have my thyroid/adrenals in check but I fear that if the AD's are causing the results then I'll never know until I try to get off them.  I am also afraid of cortisol spiking when I try to get off.  I tried weaning off in two months last time and withdrawal was hell.  This time I will take about a year to wean off but that doesn't mean I won't experience withdrawal or high stress.

[rumpled]

Those tests show hypercortisolism - Cushing's disease. Alas, it cannot be treated with herbs. You have to locate the source of the cortisol - be it taking steroids, a tumor on the pituitary, adrenals or elsewhere, and remove it.

Cushing's can cause inflammation - and that can raise ANA or you can have another issue as one auto-immune disease does usually mean you are prone to others and you have Hashimoto's as well.

You need to see an endo - like a pituitary endo.

[toots_jwu]

also should i have renin, aldosterone and potassium tested???