Cortisol is a necessary glucocorticoid hormone that helps to regulate blood pressure, decreases inflammation, and regulates blood glucose levels. While it’s very important for your health, high or low levels of cortisol can lead to various chronic symptoms — and it could be behind your exhaustion.
Dr. Inga Zilberstein offers personalized medicine to help you understand your body and symptoms. One tool in that arsenal is cortisol saliva testing, and Dr. Zilberstein can utilize the results to create a customized treatment plan that helps you stop feeling fatigued all of the time. Here’s what you need to know.
Cortisol is an essential hormone for many functions in the body, including regulating stress response. Your body releases cortisol during periods of acute, chronic, or traumatic stress.
However, cortisol also plays a role in regulating other functions, such as your sleep-wake cycle, metabolism, blood sugar control, and blood pressure regulation. When cortisol levels spike, it can lead to symptoms such as:
Persistent stress can lead to chronically high cortisol levels, which affects many bodily functions. If you’re feeling exhausted or have other symptoms that don’t have an obvious cause, ask Dr. Zilberstein about cortisol saliva testing to help you understand why you feel the way you do.
Cortisol saliva testing is the best way to learn about cortisol levels in your body — which fluctuate throughout the day. A 4-point diurnal salivary cortisol test involves collecting saliva samples with an at-home kit when you first wake in the morning, at noon, in the evening before dinner, and at bedtime.
This salivary test screens for issues like adrenal insufficiency or rare conditions like Cushing’s syndrome, and it also is useful in monitoring treatments, such as hydrocortisone therapy. Another important screening is for an HPA-axis dysregulation — hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis — which happens with chronic stress and fatigue.
If you’re tired of feeling exhausted and fatigued no matter how much you sleep, the cortisol saliva test can provide insight into your hormones in real time and help you pinpoint causes of problems. Dr. Zilberstein interprets your test results, and that information is invaluable in understanding your symptoms and creating a personalized plan.
You can easily correct high cortisol levels with guidance from Dr. Zilberstein. Lifestyle changes such as stress management, regular exercise, and a heart-healthy diet significantly cut down on the body’s stress response and bring cortisol levels in line.
If your results point to other causes, you may require further testing and medications or procedures to regulate hormone levels. You can count on Dr. Zilberstein’s support to help you get to the bottom of the problem so you can get on the path to feeling your best.
Don’t simply put up with bothersome symptoms. To schedule a personalized medicine consultation, contact Inga Zilberstein, MD, today in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York. You can call or text 830-254-5941 or send a message through this website.
