Posted by Racer on July 31, 2004, at 21:19:32
In reply to Re: Stress Hormone Cortisol tealady?, posted by twinmom on July 26, 2004, at 13:25:57
Will you accept me instead?
Cortisol is a naturally occurring steroid produced by the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, which is involved in a lot of body functions. Your body produces larger amounts in response to stress, but you should have some roaming your system all the time anyway. You need cortisol to get out of bed in the morning. (In fact, Addison's Disease results in hypocortisolism.) You cannot eliminate cortisol from your system, and it's not something you'd want to play around with on your own using those commercial products.
That said, too much cortisol is also a problem -- Cushing's Disease causes elevated levels of cortisol to flood the system, which does result in things like pot belly, muscle loss, etc. And cortisol can be elevated in people with depression -- and depression is a common symptom of Cushing's Disease.
If you check the meds board, you'll see that I posted a couple of links about cortisol, which may or may not help much. There's not a lot of information of the sort I think you're looking for: whether there's a way to lower cortisol in order to lose weight. (By the way, cortisol, to the best of my admittedly limited knowledge, is not associated with weight gain per se: it's associated with a migration of weight to certain areas, like the abdomen.)
So, what can you do about that weight? First, if you're taking any anti-depressants or mood stabilizers or anti-psychotics, sit your doctor down for a real heart to heart. Many of these drugs cause weight gain, and if your current doctor tries to tell you that your extra weight is really caused by sitting down to eat a pint of ice cream every afternoon and not the drugs -- fire him. Unless, of course, you are eating that pint of ice cream every day ;-) During this talk, it might be worth asking about some tests that can be done to check to see if your body chemistry is a bit out of whack from the drugs -- maybe they're elevating or lowering your blood sugar, maybe something else is going on, but most of it can be checked. You can also ask about having a salivary cortisol test, or even a dexamethasone suppression test -- although I very much doubt that your doctor would choose to do a DST for weight related issues, it is the gold standard for testing your body's production of cortisol.
And, of course, before going to your doctor to talk about weight gain (can you hear the long suffering tone in my typing? Been through this one on a couple of drugs myself -- doctors can be quite maddening about weight gain in women), keep a food diary for a week or so, with the type and amount of food you eat, and the time you eat it. Be brutally honest about it -- if you're kinda fudging it, it may end up pointing to other problems you won't want to be treated for. If you're really feeling motivated, include something like the amount of exercise you get each day during your charting. It doesn't have to be elaborate, just a quick note about it being a more or less active day. (Aside from the basic purpose of showing what you're actually eating, by the way, doctors seem to like the idea that you are motivated enough to keep the food diary in the first place. So, it's worth humoring them if it gets the right result.)
Lastly, some of the weight gain from some meds is caused by elevated blood sugar levels, so one of the meds used for treating Type II diabetes might be in order. Aside from possibly bringing that weight down, that would also help prevent some of the problems that untreated diabetes causes. And, if the problem does turn out to be excessive cortisol production, there are drugs out there that can lower production. I know of two, but don't know how well they work. (One is an old anti-histimine, though, and it does cause drowsiness. I'm not sure if it's effective as a once-daily at bedtime agent, so I won't tell you the name.)
I hope some of htis helped. I'm sorry I can't just tell you to run out and buy a bottle of something, but frankly -- those things scare me.
poster:Racer
thread:370716
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040718/msgs/372765.html