Re: Cortisol - saliva test or blood test ?

[Guest guest]

In frequent-dose-chelation djur1 wrote:

Hi,

I read whole article:

http://www.livingnetwork.co.za/healingnetwork/adrenals_thyroid.html

and there is written:

" The only reliable test is the cortisol saliva test. "

Could you tell me why blood test is not reliable?

I thought blood test is better.

----------A one time blood test is just a snapshot in time, at the moment of

the blood draw. If you are a little nervous or stressed about the blood draw or

getting there for example, that could cause a rise in your blood cortisol levels

quite quickly, and thus give a higher level than you would have in a normal

unstressed state. And cortisol levels can fluctuate alot during the day, just

naturally. Also, my understanding is that saliva shows what actually gets into

the cells, so is a better reflection of what is going on on a cellular level.

Most mainstream doctors don't believe in saliva testing, it's something new, and

just not widely accepted yet.---------Jackie

I am asking, because my cortisol saliva test results from

http://www.aeron.com were :

-----------I have never heard of this company before. Are you in the US, or

somewhere else?----------Jackie

8 am - 0.77 ng/ml (range 1.0 - 8.0)

12pm - 0.84 ng/ml (range 0.4 - 2.5)

4 pm - 0.73 ng/ml (range 0.2 - 1.3)

10pm - 0.13 ng/ml (range 0.1 - 0.6)

So - my resul at 8 am was below range.

Saliva was delivered very quickly to the lab.

---------Many people have results like this, so the lab is probably accurate.

Do you have symptoms of adrenal fatigue? Are you tired in the morning and have

a hard time getting going? If you are having symptoms, you will probably

benefit from adrenal support.---------Jackie

Then - I have done cortisol blood test at 8am and I was surprised as

my result was in normal range:

19.5 ug/dl (range 5 - 25)

-----------Was this test done on the same day as the saliva test? And I kind

of explained this above already, that your blood cortisol levels can fluctuate

very fast, and if you were anxious about the blood draw and/or stressed about

getting there, this would be enough to raise your cortisol

levels.-----------Jackie

Any ideas which result is reliable ?

------------For trying to identify adrenal problems, the 4X/day saliva test is

much more informative, because it shows what happens over the span of a day.

The blood test is probably accurate, but only for that moment in time for when

the blood was drawn, so not very likely to be useful. I think blood tests would

only identify extremely severe adrenal problems.

Another test which I have just done, and haven't gotten the results yet, is a

24 hour urine hormone test, so this will also measure a full days worth of

cortisol output, instead of just a snapshot in time. I will let the group know

what I think of this test, when I get the results back.---------Jackie

Thank's!

djur1

[Guest guest]

>

>

> I am asking, because my cortisol saliva test results from

> http://www.aeron.com were :

>

> -----------I have never heard of this company before. Are you in

the US, or somewhere else?----------Jackie

djur1: Hello Jackie, thank's for your opinion.

No I am not from US, but I have my doctor in New York area and I

visited him in July. I will have follow-up phone consult with him soon

and I must ask him why does he choose saliva cortisol test rather than

blood test.

>

> 8 am - 0.77 ng/ml (range 1.0 - 8.0)

> 12pm - 0.84 ng/ml (range 0.4 - 2.5)

> 4 pm - 0.73 ng/ml (range 0.2 - 1.3)

> 10pm - 0.13 ng/ml (range 0.1 - 0.6)

>

> So - my resul at 8 am was below range.

> Saliva was delivered very quickly to the lab.

>

> ---------Many people have results like this, so the lab is

probably accurate. Do you have symptoms of adrenal fatigue? Are you

tired in the morning and have a hard time getting going? If you are

having symptoms, you will probably benefit from adrenal

support.---------Jackie

djur1: Yes, I am totally tired in the morning. But it may be also my

Lyme symptom, so it's hard to distinguish.

I guess that trial with very low dose Cortef (2,5mg) may be beneficial.

Thank's,

djur1