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Sarah's endo came in tonight and said that she doesn't have adrenal insufficiency bc her adrenals responded in making cortisol when giving the cortisol blood stim. test.  He cannot explain to me why she's had 4 random cortisol tests done in the am and while she was sick (in the hospital vomiting and with severe stomach pain) all at 2.1 and lower.  Her lowest test result was 1.  We are so frustrated.  Everything I've read says that when you're sick, your cortisol levels should be higher.  Why is she only producing the cortisol when given the medicine during the stim test?????  They did not test CRH or ACTH.  He said that the Cort. Stim Test is the gold standard and that the random cortisol test is just that, random, and doesn't really hold much water.  Please help!!!!

Thanks,
lori

[doodles1003]

Sarah's endo came in tonight and said that she doesn't have adrenal insufficiency bc her adrenals responded in making cortisol when giving the cortisol blood stim. test.  He cannot explain to me why she's had 4 random cortisol tests done in the am and while she was sick (in the hospital vomiting and with severe stomach pain) all at 2.1 and lower.  Her lowest test result was 1.  We are so frustrated.  Everything I've read says that when you're sick, your cortisol levels should be higher.  Why is she only producing the cortisol when given the medicine during the stim test?????  They did not test CRH or ACTH.  He said that the Cort. Stim Test is the gold standard and that the random cortisol test is just that, random, and doesn't really hold much water.  Please help!!!!

[rumpled]

The stim test IS the gold standard - but the adrenals can pass as a last hurrah - in other words, she is on the verge of failure. So the doc needs to look a the entire pic and not just one test.