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Low Cortisol and connection to Weight Gain?
Hello!
I have gained almost 10 pounds very quickly, in 3 months. It has been extremely difficult to get up in the morning however once I get going I am very active. I have stopped rigourous anaerobic exercise since end of February as I felt exhausted but feel sufficient energy in the morning and late afternoon to be active again.
Any insight on whether the low cortisol/flat line is the cause of low energy mornings and weight gain? Any other insights you can shed on my hormone levels?
Additional notes:
1) my diet has remained relatively the same with the consumption of more sugars and some gluten however generally my diet is very high in vegetables, protein and healthy fats with little to no sugar or gluten
2) I sleep 8 hrs a night and it is sound, uninterrupted sleep
3) my skin is breaking out and generally looking dry, dull and pigmented -
5 Replies
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Hey ,
Have you looked into the library under monthly courses? There is a lot of documentation available.
This video explains the possible root causes of low cortisol.
Your DUTCH test also shows that you deactivate cortisol to cortisone. This can have different reasons, but I would first watch this video which explains what can contribute to having more cortisone. You might want to pay attention to the part where Bernadette explains:
• what inhibits the cortisone to cortisol
• what increases cortisol to cortisoneIn addition, I would like to ask you if you experience other symptoms as well. For example, do you experience symptoms that could be related to insulin resistance like frequent urination, increased hunger, feeling hangry, headaches, memory issues, blurred vision or strong cravings for sweets?
Although a slow thyroid doesn’t explicitly show up in your DUTCH test, your skin symptoms (and weight gain as well) could be related to your thyroid health. Do you experience other symptoms related to a slow thyroid? For example, do you feel cold, constipation, slow movements and thoughts, irregular periods, tingling sensations or hair loss?
I’m also seeing elevations in melatonin. This could be caused due to dietary reasons. Did you by any chance eaten bananas, pineapple, citrus fruit, tart sour cherries, walnuts, corn, rice, or peanuts in the 2 days before taking the DUTCH test?
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Thank you Daniel for taking the time to respond in detail. I have watched both videos. However, I am unclear as to where you see that I have more cortisone that cortisol. Are you comparing the specific numbers of Cortisol (A,B,C,D) with Cortisone (A,B,C,D)? If so, I reach the ranges as comparable but I am by no means an expert hence my question on this forum 🙂
I can absolutely attest to having long term stress as most likely the main reason/contributor to low Cortisol (none of the other reasons apply to me).
Regarding a) what inhibits cortisone to Cortisol, none of the items apply (I don’t drink coffee or ingest calming herbs or glucocorticoids, furthermore, my estrogen is not high) and b) increasing cortisol to cortisone (I did not catch how eldostirone or the like would cause an increase in this process)
I do experience symptoms of insulin resistance: I went from almost never having headaches to experiencing them almost daily, memory issues (hard to recall words or conversations or memorize anything), and lastly a strong sugar craving (before 6 months ago my sugar cravings were close to none).
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I have been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and was doing well on Naturthroid until I became pregnant 2 years ago, at which point I stopped taking this medication. About 6 months ago I retested my thyroid and my doctor stated that my thyroid function was healthy, possibly borderline however I did start taking 5mg of compounded T3, which I stopped taking over 4 months since I didn’t feel an improvement in my energy. Regarding symptoms, I do have irregular periods (anywhere from 21-28day cyles) and hair loss. I no longer am constipated (I take magnesium religiously and no longer take iron supplements).
Regarding the melatonin, yes I eat tart cherries and walnuts daily in my salads.
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I was looking at the cortisone and cortisol breakdown metabolites. The cortisol metabolites are at the low end of range while the cortisone metabolites are higher.
Do you have your thyroid results available? And possible other tests that’s were done 3-4 months ago?
And are there other medications and supplements you are taking or have been taking the last 6 months?
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Hi I’d like to also chime in here.
There is a definite connection with low cortisol and weight gain, and that connection is thyroid function and insulin/insulin resistance.
Please watch this video inside the Thyroid Balance course to better understand how cortisol affects thyroid function. There are a number of different mechanisms, but think of cortisol as our gas pedal. We can have a car full of gas, but unless the accelerator is pressed, we won’t really go very far. Cortisol is our gas pedal. It affects our metabolism.
Physiologically speaking, low cortisol output as a result of chronic stress will reduce conversion of T4 to T3 (our active thyroid hormone) that is responsible for every metabolic function. It also increases our production of Reverse T3 – our inactive thyroid hormone. The body does this as a way to protect us. It recognizes a threat and purposely wants to slow us down.
Now with regards to the sudden weight gain and increase in sugar cravings, I would be suspicious of higher insulin levels and insulin resistance. Insulin is our fat storage hormone. Insulin resistance is associated with hypothyroidism. And stress all by itself can increase glucose and insulin production. So ultimately, reducing sources of stress is addressing the root cause, and supporting the adrenals with a glandular like Biotics Cytozyme-AD for example (so they can take an overdue “vacation” so-to-speak) is temporary triage while working on reducing stress. Let’s continue the conversation about this to help you figure out how!!
And the next step would be to test your blood sugar levels as it will fuel this situation/impact thyroid. This video here inside the Blood Sugar Regulation course shares the lab markers you can request for testing and how to prepare for it.
If you haven’t already tested thyroid, it would be a good idea to add in a full thyroid panel, and the nutrients needed for thyroid conversion from T4 to T3. You can find those markers here inside the Thyroid Balance course. Also request these nutrients: vitamin A, RBC zinc, RBC copper, selenium, iron panel including ferritin.
Let me know if this makes sense and if you have any questions.
On a separate note, are you experiencing estrogen dominant symptoms by any chance in the 2nd half of your cycle? Heavy periods, breast tenderness, PMS, mood changes, cramps, disrupted sleep, etc? Skin pigmentation is often due to a hormonal imbalance, so I’m trying to see if there are any other related symptoms since progesterone does seem to be suboptimal low relative to estrogen.
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