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Very very very low cortisol, less than 1 in the morning, what does this mean?

I have had symptoms for two years of severe fatigue, headaches, muscle pain, muscle weakness, very thirsty all the time, etc. Exercise makes it worse, not better. My endo just tested my cortisol and it is less than 1 when tested in the morning. She said normal is at least a minimum of 6. What does this mean? She thinks I could have hypopituitarism. My pituitary is a little enlarged on an MRI. She just had me go friday for an ATCH stimulation test. What does this low cortisol mean? Please help!
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9197017 tn?1429016816
Hi there,
I didn't see you create a new post, so I'll reply here.
I had high cholesterol for years, no idea why.
I addressed my low Vit D and my cholesterol dropped a lot.
I also have read that  low thyroid can contribute to high cholesterol.

I'll watch for you to create a separate thread / topic
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Avatar universal
Hopefully she will post back but that was 2 years ago...

I hope you can get tests or a better endo. It would help to start a new thread so it is only about you.
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Avatar universal
As I'm reading this, I'm wondering if it was ME that wrote it!  Darn endo said menopause (btw, I had period at the time) then told me my diet stunk (I eat about 98% natural organic food) and yet my cholesterol is still high, BP is high (it fluctuates from low to high). Nothing wrong with heart, lungs, liver etc. I had to have a crying fit in his office 2 weeks ago just to get him to "humor me" and test cortisol. This was AFTER he shrugged off the pituitary MRI I was asked to get by my nurse line at ins and the PTH test. He said "it's NOT your parathyroid" as he blew that one off...
So now I'M taking charge of my blood work!  Either he does the tests or I file a complaint...
J
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Avatar universal
That is on the late side for a stimulation test IMHO. They are supposed to be at 8am, as is the baseline and regular testing.

Your test appears normal. You may be on the verge of failure - or it may be a renin/aldosterone issue if you have high potassium or low sodium?
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Avatar universal
My cortisol was measured at 6.3 at 1057am. I subsequently had the ACTH test:

baseline = 6.7
30min = 17.8
60min = 21.4

My baseline reading for the ACTH test was done at 1036am (same time of day as the original test).

The endo checked my TSH and it was 0.92. And the Free T4 = 0.8….I wanted him to check the T3/T4 ratio but the endo refused since the TSH and T4 were within normal range…I still have low cortisol and don't know why.
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Avatar universal
Piper - I am so glad you finally found a competent doctor who took you seriously and did not see one disorder only but knows you can have multiple things going on. 20mg is a hefty dose! Normal replacement is 5mg. BTW if you have empty sella, they actually cannot see what is going on there, the CSF is blocking the view. I have partial empty sella syndrome.

Slash... I am pretty sure you had an adenoma but it is super duper important to get copies of everything. 1mm change is actually not... much. MRI's have 3-5mm slices and tumors show up differently in all of them. Surgery is not even indicated in all tumors many are treated with meds so you have to know the start size (you did not indicate) and the type. 7.5 as a replacement is a smallish side replacement. You may need other hormones or florinef or something else. Other hormones can go after surgery. I slowly lost a couple others and heck, I had so many other things removed I replace almost everything (but one). If you take replacement cortef, you are AI.
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