Cortisol

Ordering the Cortisol Test with Access Medical Labs

Cortisol is the main hormone produced during stress and the fight, flight, or freeze response. This is a protective response to a perceived danger or threat.

Cortisol is a hormone that is made by the adrenal glands, and the pituitary gland tells your adrenal glands how much cortisol to make in response to:

• Stress (cortisol is sometimes called the "stress hormone")
• Inflammation
• Regulating blood sugar and metabolism (how your body uses food for energy)
• Controlling blood pressure
  

In a healthy individual, cortisol levels increase and decrease at different times of the day. It's usually higher in the morning and lower at night unless a person works during late hours or has changing shifts.

Other factors can affect cortisol levels, including:

• Exercise
• Hypothyroidism
• Infection
• Injury or disease
• Medications such as hydrocortisone, prednisone or birth control pills, obesity, pregnancy
• Physical or emotional stress
  

Which Patients is the Cortisol Test from Access Laboratories Best Used For?

The cortisol is done to check for increased or decreased cortisol production. A physician uses a cortisol test to diagnose or monitor:

• Addison's disease
• Cushing's syndrome
• Tumors affecting the production of cortisol
  

Other conditions for which the cortisol test may be ordered include:

• Acute adrenal crisis
• Sepsis
• Low blood pressure
  

Symptoms That May Lead A Practitioner to Order a Cortisol Test

Symptoms of too much cortisol may include:

• Weight gain
• Thin arms and legs
• Round face
• Increased fat around the base of the neck or between the shoulder blades
• Easy bruising
• Wide purple streaks on the stomach, breasts, hips, and under the arms
• Muscle weakness
  

Symptoms of not enough cortisol may include:

• Long-lasting fatigue
• Muscle weakness
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss
• Abdominal (belly) pain