Lowering Cortisol?!..

[TanedOut]

My cortisol is stubbornly high, and I can't seem to reduce this, despite a clean diet and cycling adaptogen herbs (some of which are included in CD's protocol which I intend to get onto, e.g. Ashwaganda)

Anyone have any suggestions on how best to reduce this? I understand there is an inverse relationship between testosterone (which is on the low side) and cortisol, so will increasing T with herb cycling lower this, or or is there anything else I can go with to get this down before I jump on CD's protocol?

[Durantia37]

My cortisol is stubbornly high, and I can't seem to reduce this, despite a clean diet and cycling adaptogen herbs (some of which are included in CD's protocol which I intend to get onto, e.g. Ashwaganda)

Anyone have any suggestions on how best to reduce this? I understand there is an inverse relationship between testosterone (which is on the low side) and cortisol, so will increasing T with herb cycling lower this, or or is there anything else I can go with to get this down before I jump on CD's protocol?

How do you know you have high cortisol?

You shouldn't take any herbs that aren't on the protocol, some might do more harm than good for a PFS guy.

The protocol itself will eventually take care of adrenals, so I wouldn't worry about lowering it before you start. Balancing adrenals is one of the main things the protocol does.

[Cdsnuts]

My cortisol is stubbornly high, and I can't seem to reduce this, despite a clean diet and cycling adaptogen herbs (some of which are included in CD's protocol which I intend to get onto, e.g. Ashwaganda)

Anyone have any suggestions on how best to reduce this? I understand there is an inverse relationship between testosterone (which is on the low side) and cortisol, so will increasing T with herb cycling lower this, or or is there anything else I can go with to get this down before I jump on CD's protocol?

Why would you try lowering cortisol BEFORE starting the protocol? As Durantia said, the protocol and the herbs contained therein will lower cortisol along with balancing out your other hormones.

The regimen, given enough time, will take care of it all. The sooner you start, the better.

[jacknap]

My cortisol is stubbornly high, and I can't seem to reduce this, despite a clean diet and cycling adaptogen herbs (some of which are included in CD's protocol which I intend to get onto, e.g. Ashwaganda)

Anyone have any suggestions on how best to reduce this? I understand there is an inverse relationship between testosterone (which is on the low side) and cortisol, so will increasing T with herb cycling lower this, or or is there anything else I can go with to get this down before I jump on CD's protocol?

protocol handles everything already. for an extra boost if CD approves i think phospholitoserine, passionflower, skullcap and magnolia might be useful additions as well.

almost got all the herbs in the protocol. i'm addicted lol. CD If I remember correctly, I remember you posted some new herbs that you're using on SS, mind referring me to this list again if it exists? wouldn't mind adding even more to my recovery arsenal as I respond very well to them. could have been the 'protocol' herbs, just I wasn't as familiar with all the names at the time.

[Cdsnuts]

protocol handles everything already. for an extra boost if CD approves i think phospholitoserine, passionflower, skullcap and magnolia might be useful additions as well.

almost got all the herbs in the protocol. i'm addicted lol. CD If I remember correctly, I remember you posted some new herbs that you're using on SS, mind referring me to this list again if it exists? wouldn't mind adding even more to my recovery arsenal as I respond very well to them. could have been the 'protocol' herbs, just I wasn't as familiar with all the names at the time.

All of those herbs mentioned are fine.

All of the recommended herbs are on my website.

[jacknap]

lost empire herbs also has some great articles.
reading the one on sleep

Sleep - Lost Empire Herbs

passionflower is also anti-estrogenic + promotes sleep + gaba.

magnolia lowers cortisol and raises T. similar to ashwagandha.

[Meegs]

TannedOut- Just hoping to provide some additional motivation since I, like many with PFS, also suffered from HIGH cortisol. Around 2 months after I stopped taking the propecia poison, I went to a natural doctor to have some tests done since the western medical community had failed me and couldn't find anything wrong. This is before I knew PFS was even a thing. Any way, I took the 4x saliva cortisol test. The natural doctor at that time said it was either the highest or second highest cortisol reading she had ever seen. I had many many symptoms due to high cortisol that I do not wish to list here. Over the course of time, my cortisol has since returned back into range. I tried every supplement out there that you could possibly find to help lower cortisol, but found zero quick fixes. In the end, as stated, just follow the protocol and your cortisol will eventually normalize, just like everything else. Not that I care much about labs anymore, but I listed my cortisol test below just to illustrate where I was at.

Feb 5 Cortisol Test (especially notice PM reading):
AM= 12.4 range (8-10)
Noon= 9.2 range(3.1-7.3)
PM= 12.1 range (2.1-3.9)
Night= 4.6 range (1.5-2.5)

[9757895]

What about low cortisol? Did anyone do well on this protocol starting off with low cortisol?

[jacknap]

my friend who has pfs had normal high cortisol and then his cortisol crashed after 3 months aka adrenal fatigue. it's normal again now though. (he used hydrocortisone though)

[jacknap]

another thing that's helping me for sleep is l-theanine before bed and then I wake up, take another l-theanine and holosync meditate for an hour and I can get 6-9 hours broken sleep lol.

what helped you guys out the most with the insomnia? I use everything on protocol already and it's def improved from the original 1.5 hours I've been getting but not fully back yet.