Adrenal Insufficiency Support Group

I know that you're supposed to get ACTH and Cortisol tested at around 7am, but I am thinking that guideline might be meant for people that are on a more normal sleep schedule.

I'm just not sure when to get the blood drawn. Should I do it when I normally wake up in the afternoon? Or should I just stay up later than I normally do and go in at 7am? Or maybe I should try to get to sleep at my normal time (4am), and wake up a couple hours later to get it done?

I'm thinking about going in tomorrow, so any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

edit: Guess I should mention that I have never had these tests done before, and have never been diagnosed with adrenal issues. But a lot of problems I'm having seem to point to a possible adrenal issue. So that's why I'm doing this.

Post edited by: beejan, at: 06/22/2012 07:43 PM

Post edited by: beejan, at: 06/22/2012 07:46 PM

You could also do it by concurrently getting a cortisol saliva test (that you can get online cheaper etc) to establish if your diurnal cycle is mangled. ie you use the data from both tests to establish the right result.

Bob (Australia)

Had my cortisol test done last tuesday.....190 am cortisol......150 pm cortisol.....are these numbers close enough to "normal" to say I don't have an adrena issue? or is this enough to be considered flat lined?

thanks

They are in normal range.. Normal range is not a perfect indication of good health.

I have seen cases on MDJ where 300nmol/L AM blood serum cortisol has been DX'd as AI and is being treated as such. It boils down to what the most likely root cause is for the symptoms you have.

7AM to 4PM change on average is around a half. Your 190-150 would seem to be a flag to check into. I can't remember your case state though without lots of re-reading. It may be indicative as primary for example with you not having enough morning capacity.

I'll have a look at some notes and see if I can draw any best guess conclusions!

Because you are taking progesterone, your cortisol test results cannot use the same scores as people who are not taking such meds. Same for people on birthcontrol or ANY HRT for menopause, among other meds.

I hope your Dr KNOWS this, unfortuneately many do not.

My endo either has patients stop for months (3-6 months to get system back to baseline for accurate testing), or does other types of extensive testing in addition, in order to get an accurate picture of what's going on. Yes, you read it--right--3-6 months, it's not one of those meds you can just skip for a short time & get accurate cortisol readings.

Hopefully other women on the site can help with addition info on this topic.

I have never taken progresterone, but have read others who've seen my endo have been taken off to get peoper results, especially if it's their 1st work-up. After Dr has put them back on.

Just my 2 cents.

Post edited by: Catia, at: 06/24/2012 09:23 AM

Is there any medical reports that I can take to the endro?