Lab help - low cortisol

[juicin]

Guys, I’m mid way through a heavy cut and had a bunch of blood work done. A couple things to note was serum iodine was low but urine iodine was in range, but my cortisol seems way too low.
I’ve been feeling run-down and low energy/motivation/ brain fog for the last year or so.
@Black Beard has helped to get my thyroid levels in range (still working on this).

What do you all make of these cortisol results ?

 

[hogan87]

Major adrenal fatigue. You must really feel like crap! Stop the cut, TRT only and get this. I have seen this product reverse what you have in about 3 months.

Adrenal Complex - Adrenal Support Supplements - N-Acetyl Tyrosine

Designs for Health's extensive line of nutritional products are created after extensive product research.

www.designsforhealth.com

 

[bbxtreme]

Guys, I’m mid way through a heavy cut and had a bunch of blood work done. A couple things to note was serum iodine was low but urine iodine was in range, but my cortisol seems way too low.
I’ve been feeling run-down and low energy/motivation/ brain fog for the last year or so.
@Black Beard has helped to get my thyroid levels in range (still working on this).

What do you all make of these cortisol results ?

Are you in a prep or just cutting?

Sleep is your biggest priority IMO to get this back up.

If you’re not in an active prep I would consider a de-load this week and pull stims back.

Designs by health is good as mentioned above, but would also add in Humanofort daily first thing AM.

Also make sure you doing high carb re-feed days.

These may seem like small things, but they keep cortisol and all balanced during a hard cut and prep.

 

[juicin]

Are you in a prep or just cutting?

Sleep is your biggest priority IMO to get this back up.

If you’re not in an active prep I would consider a de-load this week and pull stims back.

Designs by health is good as mentioned above, but would also add in Humanofort daily first thing AM.

Also make sure you doing high carb re-feed days.

These may seem like small things, but they keep cortisol and all balanced during a hard cut and prep.

Just in a hard cut. I’m probably 5% bf right now. And I’ve worked way too hard to get here, probably because I’ve been dieting for the past year or more with little to no results. I don’t know if the adrenal fatigue is behind that.

Finally cut calories way down, fasted cardio AM , weights PM and steadily lowered calories. And of course clen. And I finally leaned out. But again, it was never this hard before.

Not sure if adrenal fatigue had to do with the difficulty in leaning up. Thought it was my thyroid.

Unfortunately sleep is my worst enemy, even that night before the cortisol testing I was up 3-4 times for half hour intervals walking around. Not sure if this skewed the waking results.

On another note, I’m glad you responded. I read your posts often, and they always have cut-to-the chase good information.

 

[juicin]

Are you in a prep or just cutting?

Sleep is your biggest priority IMO to get this back up.

If you’re not in an active prep I would consider a de-load this week and pull stims back.

Designs by health is good as mentioned above, but would also add in Humanofort daily first thing AM.

Also make sure you doing high carb re-feed days.

These may seem like small things, but they keep cortisol and all balanced during a hard cut and prep.

Meant to ask your opinion on the low cortisol thing and difficulty with fat loss… related?

 

[bbxtreme]

Meant to ask your opinion on the low cortisol thing and difficulty with fat loss… related?

It’s your lack of sleep and over-stim use. Every cut is different and as we get older it’s much tougher.

Fix the sleep as it’s your most important element in a cut and will regulate this. Supplements, magnesium, glycine etc. even if it means cycling the clen back. Ketofin each night can help some as well.

Ensure you’re using injectable carnitine, humanofort and doing clean re-feeds as this should all get it up and help you keep progressing forward.

Happy to help as always.

 

[luki7788]

Guys, I’m mid way through a heavy cut and had a bunch of blood work done. A couple things to note was serum iodine was low but urine iodine was in range, but my cortisol seems way too low.
I’ve been feeling run-down and low energy/motivation/ brain fog for the last year or so.
@Black Beard has helped to get my thyroid levels in range (still working on this).

What do you all make of these cortisol results ?

are you on trenbolone?

 

[juicin]

are you on trenbolone?

No. I’m probably the only one on here that blows up with water retention on it

Made some adjustments recently but currently
600 test/w
100 primo/w (E2 tested at 33)
100 mg mast EOD (this used to work like a miracle drying me out before the past year, now it does not work nearly as well- possible overuse the past year is all I can guess)
100 mg winny ED (split what I can between inj and oral)
100mcg clen
.25mcg prami at night (for restless legs)

150mcg t4 and just added 10mg t3 to it

 

[juicin]

It’s your lack of sleep and over-stim use. Every cut is different and as we get older it’s much tougher.

Fix the sleep as it’s your most important element in a cut and will regulate this. Supplements, magnesium, glycine etc. even if it means cycling the clen back. Ketofin each night can help some as well.

Ensure you’re using injectable carnitine, humanofort and doing clean re-feeds as this should all get it up and help you keep progressing forward.

Happy to help as always.

I just ordered the humanofort and the designs by health. I think I have some inj l carntine laying around.

I did test a plethora of vitamins including magnesium, everything came back in range other than the serum iodine. So I did start supplementing with iodine.

And an off topic question - do you still do fasted cardio the morning after a refeed?

 

[bbxtreme]

I just ordered the humanofort and the designs by health. I think I have some inj l carntine laying around.

I did test a plethora of vitamins including magnesium, everything came back in range other than the serum iodine. So I did start supplementing with iodine.

And an off topic question - do you still do fasted cardio the morning after a refeed?

I personally don’t do cardio on high days. However, I do get in my 10k steps still.

The goal is to load glycogen so I would not do LISS cardio on those particular days.

 

[nothuman]

Guys, I’m mid way through a heavy cut and had a bunch of blood work done. A couple things to note was serum iodine was low but urine iodine was in range, but my cortisol seems way too low.
I’ve been feeling run-down and low energy/motivation/ brain fog for the last year or so.
@Black Beard has helped to get my thyroid levels in range (still working on this).

What do you all make of these cortisol results ?

Just in a hard cut. I’m probably 5% bf right now. And I’ve worked way too hard to get here, probably because I’ve been dieting for the past year or more with little to no results. I don’t know if the adrenal fatigue is behind that.

Finally cut calories way down, fasted cardio AM , weights PM and steadily lowered calories. And of course clen. And I finally leaned out. But again, it was never this hard before.

Not sure if adrenal fatigue had to do with the difficulty in leaning up. Thought it was my thyroid.

Unfortunately sleep is my worst enemy, even that night before the cortisol testing I was up 3-4 times for half hour intervals walking around. Not sure if this skewed the waking results.

On another note, I’m glad you responded. I read your posts often, and they always have cut-to-the chase good information.

The #1 biggest cause of low cortisol is a shitty night of sleep the evening before the test. I would disregard this. I know there are swarms of middle aged fat women who think these cortisol tests are of paramount importance and I was once convinced the same.

You’re in a deep cut right now. Once you get back to baseline and start sleeping better, I’m sure these numbers will improve. You could take a morning fasted cortisol blood test as well. Mine has bounced around all over the place. The only time I’d want to treat low cortisol directly is in the case of adrenal insufficiency, which you likely don’t have.

Here is a good article (he has an audio of this article too). I would not check cortisol unless you slept well the night before.

The REAL Causes Of Low Cortisol Levels and How To Fix It - The Energy Blueprint

https://youtu.be/JiV1HdMdBb0As we covered in Part 1 on debunking adrenal fatigue, it is clear that:Chronic stress does not "fatigue" our adrenals and cause low cortisol levels.Chronic disease (or really any measurement of poor health status or total body stress load) also does not "fatigue" our...

theenergyblueprint.com

 

[juicin]

The #1 biggest cause of low cortisol is a shitty night of sleep the evening before the test. I would disregard this. I know there are swarms of middle aged fat women who think these cortisol tests are of paramount importance and I was once convinced the same.

You’re in a deep cut right now. Once you get back to baseline and start sleeping better, I’m sure these numbers will improve. You could take a morning fasted cortisol blood test as well. Mine has bounced around all over the place. The only time I’d want to treat low cortisol directly is in the case of adrenal insufficiency, which you likely don’t have.

Here is a good article (he has an audio of this article too). I would not check cortisol unless you slept well the night before.

The REAL Causes Of Low Cortisol Levels and How To Fix It - The Energy Blueprint

https://youtu.be/JiV1HdMdBb0As we covered in Part 1 on debunking adrenal fatigue, it is clear that:Chronic stress does not "fatigue" our adrenals and cause low cortisol levels.Chronic disease (or really any measurement of poor health status or total body stress load) also does not "fatigue" our...

theenergyblueprint.com

How accurate are the blood tests?
I ask because the kit I did with the salvia collection kept underlying the importance of testing exactly 30 minutes after waking.

 

[nothuman]

How accurate are the blood tests?
I ask because the kit I did with the salvia collection kept underlying the importance of testing exactly 30 minutes after waking.

They're pretty accurate. I sometimes add it to my lab order when I get my blood taken and I usually get a result of 14 when taken in the morning. I did the same saliva test as you years ago and also got results on the low side. I really wouldn't try to chase cortisol. I used to do this years ago and it was a waste of time. I was deficient in T3 and that was my issue. The article I linked makes a strong case that fatigue probably isn't from low cortisol levels.

 

[hogan87]

They're pretty accurate. I sometimes add it to my lab order when I get my blood taken and I usually get a result of 14 when taken in the morning. I did the same saliva test as you years ago and also got results on the low side. I really wouldn't try to chase cortisol. I used to do this years ago and it was a waste of time. I was deficient in T3 and that was my issue. The article I linked makes a strong case that fatigue probably isn't from low cortisol levels.

But his cortisol levels are dog shit ALL day long! Tanked cortisol is the result of extended stress (or prednisone use) ... Like hard cutting with stims for a year with heavy kcal deficit. Let`s not over think this or try and come up with a way to continue the same path and dance around the stress on his body. BBX was spot on with starting with a de-load week.

 

[juicin]

But his cortisol levels are dog shit ALL day long! Tanked cortisol is the result of extended stress (or prednisone use) ... Like hard cutting with stims for a year with heavy kcal deficit. Let`s not over think this or try and come up with a way to continue the same path and dance around the stress on his body. BBX was spot on with starting with a de-load week.

Here are the rest of the results. I had so many vitamins tested because of the extremely low calorie/low carb diet.

The past week, I have been like a human garbage disposal , just so hungry and eating everything in sight. I will continue to rest like BBX Mentioned. Have you ever experienced such an increase in appetite during a hard cut, and did you feed it or just push through it?

 

[bbxtreme]

Here are the rest of the results. I had so many vitamins tested because of the extremely low calorie/low carb diet.

The past week, I have been like a human garbage disposal , just so hungry and eating everything in sight. I will continue to rest like BBX Mentioned. Have you ever experienced such an increase in appetite during a hard cut, and did you feed it or just push through it?

I will answer for myself and competitors- you re-feed and keep pushing.

As well at this level of body fat you should be pushing 4-6g of astragalus per day. While we all talk about it on here for kidneys its primary use is an adaptogen for adrenal health and is an immune regulating/boosting herb.

Additionally take vitamin c up to 6-10 grams per day depending upon how lean you are and trying to maintain at. Most of our vitamin c is stored in our adrenal glands.

A good b complex daily is ideal as well which you seem to have covered based on bloodwork.

The reality is that the human body is not meant to be in that state and stage lean year round and while you can keep it there, it will take a lot of extra sleep, supplements and items to keep you internally balanced and your immune system going.

 

[Crazy_jay]

I've read some different things on tbg, some suggesting it is more like shbg and not really important. This article would suggest different and be a reason for testing tbg.

5 Thyroid Patterns That Won't Show up on Standard Lab Tests - Chris Kresser

If you have hypothyroid symptoms, but your lab tests are normal, you may have one of these patterns. Read on for more details.

chriskresser.com

4. Hypothyroidism Caused by Decreased TBG
This is the mirror image of the pattern above. When TBG levels are low, levels of free thyroid hormone will be high. You might think this would cause hyperthyroid symptoms. But too much free thyroid hormone in the bloodstream causes the cells to develop resistance to it. So, even though there’s more than enough thyroid hormone, the cells can’t use it and you’ll have hypothyroid—not hyperthyroid—symptoms.

With this pattern, TSH and T4 will be normal. If tested, T3 will be high, and T3 uptake and TBG will be low.

Decreased TBG is caused by high testosterone levels. (5) In women, it is commonly associated with PCOS and insulin resistance. Reversing insulin resistance and restoring blood sugar balance is the key to treating this pattern.

 

[juicin]

I've read some different things on tbg, some suggesting it is more like shbg and not really important. This article would suggest different and be a reason for testing tbg.

5 Thyroid Patterns That Won't Show up on Standard Lab Tests - Chris Kresser

If you have hypothyroid symptoms, but your lab tests are normal, you may have one of these patterns. Read on for more details.

chriskresser.com

4. Hypothyroidism Caused by Decreased TBG
This is the mirror image of the pattern above. When TBG levels are low, levels of free thyroid hormone will be high. You might think this would cause hyperthyroid symptoms. But too much free thyroid hormone in the bloodstream causes the cells to develop resistance to it. So, even though there’s more than enough thyroid hormone, the cells can’t use it and you’ll have hypothyroid—not hyperthyroid—symptoms.

With this pattern, TSH and T4 will be normal. If tested, T3 will be high, and T3 uptake and TBG will be low.

Decreased TBG is caused by high testosterone levels. (5) In women, it is commonly associated with PCOS and insulin resistance. Reversing insulin resistance and restoring blood sugar balance is the key to treating this pattern.

I did see this article. I’m currently on 150mcg of T4 when I took the bloodwork above. Although yes it seems like total T4 is low, free T4 is high. My assumption is this is because of my low TBG of 6.0. However my T3 is just within range, not high. Not even what I would call optimal. I’d like to see at at 4.0

I think the articles intent was too little TBG can cause a large amount of free T4 which can lead to convert to high amounts of T3, which the body can develop resistance to.

I think the low TBG is mainly from AAS use.

 

[hogan87]

Here are the rest of the results. I had so many vitamins tested because of the extremely low calorie/low carb diet.

The past week, I have been like a human garbage disposal , just so hungry and eating everything in sight. I will continue to rest like BBX Mentioned. Have you ever experienced such an increase in appetite during a hard cut, and did you feed it or just push through it?

No I will always do a refeed once a week but I`ve never also cut hard for a year. Like BBX said, refeed and keep pushing is what I do during a cut. You may be well beyond just a refeed and actually need some serious rest