# 4 Sample Salivary Cortisol Test Results



## AlmostEasy (Sep 11, 2014)

Alright, results are in:

let it be known that I work 2nd shift so my sleep schedule is way different than the norm. I was unable to find any articles on this so I took it upon myself to measure upon my own personal waking and 2 times during they day, and then before my own personal bed time. I don't know if this ruins or tarnishes the results but i'm sure my circadian rhythm is way off.


1:30 PM (Awaken) - 0.59 mcg/dL
7:00 PM - .05 mcg/dL (error??? that's extremely low)
11:16 PM - .26 mcg/dL
3:20 AM (Bed) - .20 mc/dL

Here are the ranges provided by Quest:

Reference Range:

 8-10 AM: 0.04-0.56
 4-6 PM: < OR = 0.15
 10-11 PM: < OR = 0.09
So, upon rising I'm slightly high. My second reading is extremely low, not sure what to think about that (how much room for error is there in saliva testing?). And then my next two are absolutely too high.

From what I've read this is indicative of the beginning stages of adrenal fatigue (too high cortisol due to chronic stress), which honestly confuses me a bit because my symptoms time frame is way off from that idea. My problems started like 7 years ago and peaked around 5 years ago.

Since these results took so long to come in I got ancy and ordered and have been taking the following for adrenal fatigue:

Collagen Types 1&2 - 6g/day
Pregnenolone - 25mg/day
Milk Thistle - 150mg/day
Licorice Root (Non DGL) - 1-2g/day

Can't say if it's really helping or not. The licorice root definitely makes me feel strange, though it may be ending up slightly in the green. Although Licorice Root is supposed to prolong plasma cortisol levels so maybe that's not something I really want. I'll drop it if it starts to bother me.

So that's that!

I've a discussion on the broader topic of what I thought was hypothyroidism here

Thoughts?


----------



## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

I honestly don't know how to interpret your results since your waking times are so different from the lab times. I would check into the Facebook group for adrenal fatigue (there's a link to it on the Stop the Thyroid Madness site); they have some great members who could help you with this.


----------



## AlmostEasy (Sep 11, 2014)

jenny v said:


> I honestly don't know how to interpret your results since your waking times are so different from the lab times. I would check into the Facebook group for adrenal fatigue (there's a link to it on the Stop the Thyroid Madness site); they have some great members who could help you with this.


Alrighty, thanks for all your responses, they've helped significantly to keep me feeling like progress is happening.

I'm thinking even though my times are off it can't be denied that at the least the 11 pm is accurate and is showing high cortisol. I'm not sure exactly what that means but Cushings is possible I suppose. From some light reading I saw that cushings is associated with lower T and Estradiol dominance, which strangely enough is exactly what my tests show from a while ago and is what got me researching down this path in the first place. So that's a possibility.

I ordered some phosphatidly serine after doing a little research. My desiccated adrenal came in today also, since I had already ordered it semi-impulsively last week I'm going to take that for a trial run.

If I find any information I'll update my threads

Thanks!


----------

