Anyone have their Cortisol levels checked for their symptoms?

Just wondering if anyone has heard about the possibility of high cortisol levels being the underlining cause of depression/psychotic depression?

I've been doing research and this seems to be a possibility, but don't know just how possible it could be. I think I'm going to have it done this week being that so far meds haven't done anything.

High levels of cortisol apparently can take months or years to until you know the depressive symptoms.

Has anyone had their levels checked before?

I sincerely doubt the average doctor would think to check that [even a naturopath] unless you had other symptoms such as severe insomnia that would indicate a possible problem.

I had a test called an Adrenal Stress Index that included a 24 hour cortisol test where cortisol and a few other things were check at 6 a.m., 12 p.m., 4 p.m. and 11 p.m. Cortisol levels should be highest at 6 a.m. so you can wake up and get going, and the gradually decline the rest of the day until they're extremely low around midnight so you can get a good night of sleep.

Here's a link to the lab that does the test. The page listed depression as a symptom of high cortisol:

http://www.diagnostechs.com/Pages/AS...tOverview.aspx

Seriphos or phosphatidylserine is a nutrient that regulates cellular enzymes and blunts cortisol.

Here's an article on it from an athletic website describing why it's so popular with athletes.
http://www.allstarhealth.com/blog/pr...rtisol-levels/

Thanks for all the info. I do know that psychosis could be a symptom as well, so I'm getting it done this week. I was told one of my adrenals was "borderline" through a nutrionist... Not really sure what that means.

Was your cortisol level high and able to be tackled?

I'm just now able to start taking Seriphos due to some GI issues that interferred with it. It seems to be helping, although not perfectly. My main problem with high cortisol is horrific insomnia to the point I'll be up all night [going to bed at 7 a.m. for 1.5 hours and that's it for the day] for days on end. I also seem to be sensitive to things like full moon, wind, rain and fog during the night that disrupt my sleep. We've had some very unsettled weather the last few days, but unlike before taking the Seriphos, I've actually gotten to sleep at a decent hour, slept for about 3 hours and then been unable to get back to sleep for several hours. Bad as this is, if I wasn't on the Seriphos, chances are I would be getting to sleep around 5 a.m. if I was lucky, and being awake by 7:30. I have no clue what's going on with my body other than wondering if it could be electromagnetic type thing--who knows. Anyway, at least I'm sleeping which is a HUGE step forward in my life.

If you were told your adrenals were borderline, chances are you have some symptoms of adrenal fatigue. There are tons of great websites dealing with the subject. Here's a great matrix showing the signs and symptoms of low adrenal function vs. low thyroid function:

http://www.drrind.com/therapies/meta...ymptoms-matrix

Here's another interesting article I saved as I fit the 'signs of tallness' he talks about.

http://www.drkaslow.com/html/adrenal_insufficiency.html

Another thing you might research along with cortisol is other nutritional deficiencies associated with depression and/or psychosis. This is the first part of a lecture by Dr. Joel Wallach, an MD and DVM who has pioneered the use of nutrients to treat illness. I have no stake in this, and don't buy their products, I just find him very interesting to listen to as he knows so much. I did break down and buy a trace mineral supplement about 3 weeks ago, and already notice I feel better on it.

One other thing I wanted to share with you, and take it for what it's worth as it's strictly antidotal.

A few years ago I was on a huge health forum where I set up an alternative treatment group mostly for fibromyalgia, but the site promoted it on the home page so I had hundreds of members with all sorts of issues. One guy had been locked in a pysch ward with schziophrenia for some reason--I think he was hearing voices and the whole bit. I don't remember the whole story, but his father finally got him out, and got him off the meds and on a bunch of supplements along with cleaning up his diet as in getting the food dye and chemicals out. So long as he stuck to this regiment, he did fine. He posted about it so I sent him a message asking more about it because I was curious and he told me the whole story.

Lucy, thank you so much for these links! I definitely noticed certain symptoms that made think this could be the answer I was looking for. I took real notice of the cold hands/feet (people think I'm dead when I shake their hands lol), sensitivity to medication/supplements (I go nuts after an hour of ingesting the smallest dose of anything!), and the constant worry of doom and gloom which all of those were marked exceedingly high according to the chart you linked me to.

My confusion comes in with the fact that I thought psychosis could come into play if your adrenals were high, not low. I guess anything is possible though.

I was reading something on health yesterday that mentioned how vitamin B12 deficiency causes psychosis so I googled it and came across this article that might give you another avenue to pursue in figuring out what's going on:

http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articl...eficiency.html

Mine were checked. No abnormalities there.

Yes yes yes, glad to hear the discussion......I think there are more findings in this area daily! Mine are normal, but much more normal feelings and less depression/anxiety on Cortisol Manager

There was a very small study done on the effectiveness of the abortion pill RU486 (or 386, I get numbers mixed up sorry) on depression and anxiety. This study primarily measured the drug's effect on cortisol and demonstrated that it lowered cortisol levels significnalty as well as lessening depression and anxiety. Don't know if there have been more controlled, larger sample size studies done.

psych meds already cause birth defects.
an abortion pill for depression.... sounds like it's right in line with something stupid the pharmaceutical companies would come up with.