The Cortisol Steal

I’m really quite surprised that I had not heard of the Cortisol Steal after having had fatigue that was chronic for over 7 years. (Lloyd fixed my fatigue. btw).
I thought I knew a lot about adrenal fatigue but this subject came up in a talk about fatigue in covid long haulers.

Your adrenal glands make about 60 different compounds including hormones such as cortisol, aldosterone, testosterone, and estrogen. Cortisol production is so important that if there is trouble, the adrenal glands will switch to making mainly cortisol at the expense of the other hormones. They call it the Cortisol Steal. You can live without testosterone or estrogen but you can only live without cortisol for 24-48 hours!

In Dr Klinghartd’s practice he started finding that his patients with PASC (Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS CoV-2 infection or covid long haul) were deficient in adrenal hormones but often not cortisol.
While many doctors will replace the missing hormones, which is costly to the patient, he takes a different approach. He gives the body the physiological dose of hydrocortisone, dosing in the am. and around 2pm, so that the pressure on the adrenal glands is reduced. This approach allows the adrenal glands to resume producing the other hormones.
But steroids! Many of us know the potential nasty side effects of prednisone but prednisone and other corticosteroids are usually given in doses much above what your body produces naturally.

Each day your adrenal glands secrete around 15-20mg of cortisol.

If you’d like to learn more, check out the book “Safe Uses of Cortisol” by William McK. Jefferies.
And be sure you have this number for Cortisol Normalize! I didn’t have it but now I do.
Hugs,
~Christine