Cortisol Rhythm

Evaluating the Cortisol Rhythm and the Adrenal hormonal levels was a great advantage in client Robert’s case because we can continue to answer with more depth his two main questions:

1. Why do I feel the way I feel?
2. What can I do about it?

To be honest – these are the two most important questions any of my clients have!

Not that everybody has to run these tests to get well, or any one test for that matter.  But assessing gives us an insight into why he wasn’t previously healing as he might expect and why he was only making real progress now, after 23/4 years.

This graph is part of the Adrenal Saliva results displaying the ‘Cortisol Rhythm’ throughout the day.  Cortisol is the ‘stress’ hormone that the adrenals produce to respond to the various demands (or stresses) placed on and perceived by the body/mind.

There are many interesting schools of thought regarding this type of test and equally as many interpretations.  After all this is a snapshot of physiology and it doesn’t yet show whether this is heading towards a stronger position/pattern or weaker position/pattern.  To ensure we can really benefit from this type of functional test it must be taken into context with the individual situation, as all too often these tests are just used to diagnose and label a condition or make an isolated conclusion about the adrenals, whilst ignoring the interaction with the rest of the body.

That would still be allopathic.  Allopathic medicine has a very valuable place in health and wellbeing of course, but it is important to be clear that in many instances the functional labs are being interpreted in a far from functional way.

We didn’t want that in Robert’s situation.  We wanted to understand why his Cortisol Rhythm appeared out of balance.  He wasn’t producing the expected levels of Cortisol throughout most of the day.  It looked like his biochemistry and nutrient status were not sufficient to support his adrenal function.  Perhaps his body had been under such an enormous demand over the last couple of decades, that his resources became somewhat depleted and therefore various tissues/organs/glands started to struggle to function?

Robert applied a two-sided-coin approach.

1) He set about reducing the stresses (physiological load) that his body/mind was under/perceiving. And perhaps more importantly – understanding and mastering his responses to the challenge/stressor.

2) He made changes that would deliver the right resources to his body so that he could respond appropriately to the stress and demands.

This is a great example of keeping it simple.  The big rocks of change will often have the biggest impact throughout the whole of the body and its trillions of cells.  Just because we have run a fairly technical lab test doesn’t mean the solution must be overly complex or go after the minutiae and chase the numbers.

In fact, assessing the cortisol levels can be crucial in clarifying why many of the supplements people are taking for ‘adrenal fatigue’ etc and their symptoms, are completely inappropriate and one of the main reasons why they are still ill!

Again it comes back to assessing instead of guessing!  A lot of the value in the tests is what you can rule out, just as much as it is about what you also rule in.

Hope this is helpful!

Jack

Read the full case study: https://functionalhealthclinic.co.uk/case-study-ulcerative-colitis/

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