03/07/2024
This lady is a long term sufferer of anxiety, and has also been diagnosed with an underactive thyroid. Her bloodwork was all showing ‘normal’ on her thyroid and cortisol panels, so in order to prove a hunch that i had, we decided to order a Saliva Adrenocortex panel. As you can see, her daily test points for Cortisol are comfortably within range- nothing to see here?? Well now lets marry that up with her reserves of the other main adrenal hormone, DHEA. Almost nothing. Zip.
What does this mean in English? Well, think of your DHEA as your ‘mother hormone’ from which all other hormones are made. Think of it like your fuel tank.. These results are explaining that her body is going straight for the cortisol production, to keep her in fight or flight, at the expense of her other hormones. She is quite literally at the bottom of the tank and her body is still insisting it makes cortisol to keep her vigilant and ready for that emergency. (hello anxiety).
The sad reality is that its very difficult to find a medical doctor who will test your DHEA for you. ‘We only test this in pregnant women’ is the common reply i get back. But testing cortisol only has (and did) throw everyone off the adrenal theory, because both her bloods and her saliva panels are showing ‘ok’ range. Now that we have this information, we have a very clear pathway out, with both the need to reduce cortisol ‘stealing’ from other hormones, likely the creation of some familiar daily routines, and also some quality adapotgens to help support that DHEA production.
