Teresa,
The tests usually ordered by doctors for adrenal function, are ones that gauge the adrenals ability to respond to stimulation from a burst of glucose or the ACTH hormone. That latter one is a pituitary hormone that stimulates the adrenals to produce cortisol.
What patients really need is a multi-level test that gives a reading of cortisol levels at different times during the day, so that the circadian rhythm is established. Some patients can have a normal morning reading, in fact even an elevated one but their level at mid or late day, drops to very low normal or even clinically low.
Many pharmacies are now carrying the "ZRT Labs" brand of multi-reading saliva adrenal tests, so you might check with your surround area pharmacies or look at the tests on ZRT's website,
here>>
www.salivatest.com .
Even research articles published on PubMed state that saliva testing of adrenal cortisol is accurate and they also state that a single reading may not be sufficient to test for mild adrenal insufficiency in conditions that cause it.
"Cortisol levels peak in early morning and need to be collected before patients rise in the morning; and determining single levels of hormones that are secreted in a pulsatile fashion may not be representative of normal functioning."BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!
