how to increase cortisol level?

[jerseyrose]

What medications increase cortisol levels?  I have been prescribed with prednisone for Lupus and synthroid for hypothyroidism.  But I still deal with uncommon fatigue every day and sleep over 10 hours every night.  any thoughts??

[allmymarbles]

Didn't know about the D and B12. (I have to look up ferratin.) Fortunately I have been taking both. My doctor (alternative medicine MD) took blood to get my vitamin profile.

[rumpled]

High cortisol will also suppress ferratin and vitamin D and B12.

If you go to an endo that only does diabetes, yeah, they don't know an adrenal from an ear. It takes a bit to find a good one that tests everything. I had to travel.

[allmymarbles]

I was told that when a person is both hypothyroid and suffering adrenal fatigue, it was important to concentrate on treating the adrenals. High cortisol depletes vitamin B5. I have been taking 1000 mg daily of this vitamin and it has helped enormously. More recently I have added CortisolManager (ashwagandha and magnolia officionalis) which regulates cortisol. That is the icing on the cake. Your answers are in alternative medicine. I have found that traditional endocrinologists are a bit clueless about treating your (and my) problem.

[rumpled]

You are on just enough pred to suppress your adrenals. So your adrenals are not there -  just the pred - and your thyroid dose is pretty low IMHO but you probably have a conservative doc who is just giving you a tad.
Does he only test TSH and T4 (which is incomplete)? What are your test results?

[jerseyrose]

Hello there and thank you for your comment!  I am currently on just 5 mg of Prednisone for my Lupus and .075 mg Synthroid for my Hypothyroidism.

[jerseyrose]

Thank you so much for the tip on thyroid medication! I have been considering adding an Endocrinologist to my list of doctors, but worry a bit about the extra expense. I may mention your comments to my Primary Care doctor and see how he proceeds.  If he continues not to dig further with his usual 5 minute visit, I may have to make that Endocrinologist appt.  Thank you again for your assistance!!

[rumpled]

How much prednisone are you on? It could be that you have too much cortisol. Too little and too much both induce fatigue. Also if you are hypothyroid and just given a tiny bit of thyroid medication, that will not work. As well, if you taking too much cortisol, it will suppress your thyroid even more.

Can you specify your dosages on both medications?

So were you prescribed the prednisone for low cortisol? Or for the lupus?

[Sherri90049]

The prednisone is giving your body cortisol, so I'm not sure if you'd still have low cortisol while on it. How long have you been on Synthroid? That kind of fatigue sounds like the typical debilitating fatigue from hypothyroidism. Thinking maybe you haven't been on Synthroid long enough to get the full benefit or, if you have been on it for a while, perhaps you need to be on a higher dose.

I happen to be someone who didn't get great results from Synthroid. I ended up switching to Nature-Throid a couple of weeks ago and I can already tell it's going to work better for me. Synthroid only gives you T4, but Nature-Throid (& Armour Thyroid) give you all of the thyroid hormones. (T4, T3, T2, T1 & calcitonin) Normally the body can convert T4 to T3 so Synthroid works well for many people. But those of us who don't convert well end up with higher levels of T4 and lower levels of T3, so feel almost as bad as we did before starting Synthroid.

I think the problem is most likely the fatigue from the hypo (IMHO). So I would talk to you doctor if you've been on it for a while about a dose increase or possibly switching to dessicated thyroid like Armour or Nature-Throid. Hope you get some improvement soon! Keep us posted! Good luck!