My Endo is currently testing my Cortisol levels to see if there is an issue with the Adrenal glands. I have high blood pressure, weight gain around the mid-section, underactive Thyroid, low testosterone, sleep issues (never seem rested even in the morning after waking up. I've had heart palps, high triglycerides and depression. I've had a MRI of the Pituitary and was normal. Can anyone comment on these symptoms, could there be an Adrenal gland problem?
Yes, this could be adrenal fatigue. Are you currently getting treatment for your hypothyroid? If so it might not be effective if you have adrenal fatigue going on. AF needs to be treated first.
How is your doc testing you for AF? A serum cortisol won't likely be too helpful as you need to test at least four times in a 24 hour period to see a more complete picture of adrenal function. We ususally use a saliva cortisol test for this instead, as it's far more sensitive than a single serum or a urine cortisol.
Yes, I'm being treated for an underactive thyroid and you're correct I still feel lousy. I believe it was a blood test that had to be drawn at 8:00am. I haven't got the results yet. It's been so long and with so many symptoms, I just want to know what the root cause of the illness is.
Often adrenal fatigue and hypothyroidism can go together. AF can happen from several different things but mostly it's from undue amounts of stress on the body for too long a period of time. When we are hypo for a long time this will stress the adrenals as they try to overcompensate for the low metabolism and eventually they don't produce enough cortisol to move T3 into the cells as needed.
Hypothyroidism can either be from an autoimmune source, low iodine in diet, or idiopathic (possibly from environmental toxins) and has a strong genetic factor.
Besides your serum cortisol (which may very well come back normal even with AF) have you any other recent labs concerning your thyroid? Another thing to look at besides cortisol is reverse T3, which can also interfere with thyroid hormone replacement. Are you taking T4 or a T3/T4 replacement? How are your free T3 and free T4 levels?
