Posted by Elroy on August 23, 2006, at 13:53:36
In reply to Re: Pseudo Cushing's » Elroy, posted by invisibleman15010 on August 23, 2006, at 8:51:12
Don't get me wrong. Neither I - nor that article - is saying that ALL conditions of anxiety or depression is caused by or in turn causes elevated cortisol levels.
That's the problem with this field, is that there are so many numerous causes of anxiety / depression... some purely traumatic experiences, some chemical imbalances, some hormonal imbalances (a field - like with this stuff with cortisol that is just starting to get investigated).. and some conditions that are a combination of those causations.
For example, PTSD patients tend to have LOW levels of cortisol (though not usually below the reference range levels... if they do develop such low levels, then they would be developing Addison's Disease which, like Cushing's, is a very serious medical disorder). Not all, but many sufferers of Panic Attacks have low cortisol levels in between attacks - but during the attacks their cortisol levels will sjyrocket and remain elevted for many hours afterwards.
What is being said is that there ARE certain psychological disorders that are characterized by highly elevated cortisol levels and therefore are in fact the same disorder that Endos refer to a very specific form of PC.
As the 24-hr UFC is a quite simple - and fairly inexpensive test - I believe that if it was me that I'd play it safe and check out having the test performed. If nothing else, to rule out that possibility.
In fact, since hormones can have such a great deal of play on our psychological wel-being, I would also strongly request a full range of hormone testing to see if anything was too low, too high or simply out of balance with another hormone.
poster:Elroy
thread:13781
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060818/msgs/679355.html