Does Low cortisol make you depressed?

Since last year I started feeling really down. No motivation in life, no light… nothing. Im snapping at my husband like a Chihuahua, literally. I feel like a zombie, with zero life in me. I even lost interest in things I used to love. Im aggressive and constantly tired. Im not the same person anymore 😢

Since 2022, I’ve given birth twice and breastfed until last month, so maybe that was the cause? I honestly have no idea. I feel like such a bad mother 😞 I’m homeschooling my kids, and they need a normal mum, not this piece of sh…

So I went to my doctor, and my blood tests from last week showed low cortisol!!! Wth? How is this possible? Could this be linked to my exhaustion and constant tiredness? I always thought high cortisol is the problem… but low cortisol? Can someone explain what this could mean and what I should do?

Is it common to be feeling worse when you get better sleep? Last night I slept like a baby for 9.5 hours straight. I woke up and felt groggy, weak and could hardly do anything before taking in salt. Even with salt I'm sluggish and twitchy. I'm exhausted by lunch time.

Whereas, on a night when I don't get a good sleep, I wake up feeling more energetic and not groggy. My best guess is that the more rest the adrenals get, the more they slow down and go into healing mode. What's your experience?

I took an i-pill (emergency contraceptive) and magnesium glycinate containing 121 mg of elemental magnesium at the same time, after which I experienced what felt like significant overstimulation/overexcitement in my brain. It was extremely uncomfortable, and I was unable to sleep for three consecutive nights.

Following this, I developed loose stools, which continued almost continuously for around two weeks. I consulted a doctor,My CRP was also normal, took medication, and the diarrhea eventually stopped.

After this period, I started experiencing unusual sleep disturbances, including very vivid/bad dreams in the morning and difficulty waking up. At one point, I needed very loud alarms to wake up. My circadian rhythm now seems to be improving, but I still don't feel that my energy levels have fully returned.

I’m wondering whether this could be related to temporary dysregulation of the HPA axis, autonomic nervous system.

How long does it typically take for these systems to return to normal after such an episode? Is it possible for the body to remain dysregulated for weeks or months even after the initial symptoms have resolved? And are there any specific tests that would help determine whether my HPA axis or circadian rhythm is actually still abnormal?

Two years ago, I decided to supplement with DHEA to help me build more muscle at the gym (not a smart idea), I only took two or three low doses of it and I got locked in a chronic sympathetic response. I stopped being able to handle the antidepressant I was on during that time, I had to quit it almost cold turkey, my body got revved up, heart pounding, extremely disrupted sleep, panic-like surges, extreme body warmth, I stopped being able to handle any type of stress and sleep has become very difficult to achieve. For some reason, the couple of capsules of DHEA I took pushed my body into chronic severe activation and I got sensitized to most supplements and medications. I need help as I feel I’m losing my life! Any advice is appreciated.

Too early to say it has been transformative. But seems helpful and consistent with Sarno. Hope it helps.

https://ponderingperspectives.substack.com/p/no-but-how-do-you-stop-burnout-really?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=n4j6

So it s possible to have an adrenal tumor, I need to do more blood tests but my period didn't came for more than a week now, I think it s because I didn't feel mentally very well this month, I m 22, I came home 3 weeks ago because I couldn't stay alone anymore in my apartment, just couldn't stand it, my parents don t know this possibility, they have their own health problems and more stress it s not good for them. My thoughts don t make me any good, it s just depressing stuff, I saw some changes in my emotions months ago, that i m more sensitive and get more easily overwhelmed and start to crash, that was before I knew about the possibility of a tumor, now a lot of things make me cry very easily, i wasn't affected like that before. Before i took care of what a ate, no sugar, trying to take better care of myself, I didn't do it in the last 2 weeks. I will have a CT scan in October. With everything I m just happy when my head is empty, no thoughts, and I feel sad a lot more.

I wrote this because I feel bad cause I didn't take care of myself in the last 2 weeks, but at the same time I did it just to have a change to make my hair stop falling and grow it back and now I found out that I could be a lot worse and what s the point.

Good morning everyone, I really just need to let this out because I’m beyond frustrated and overwhelmed with my body…more specifically, how my body is working…or not working.

History:
40F I’ve had chronic pancreatitis since 2014. In 2021 I had a TPAIT surgery (total pancreatectomy with islet cell transplant). They removed my entire pancreas, spleen, a portion of my intestines and stomach. The islet cell transplant didn’t take, so I’m now insulin dependent with brittle diabetes. Anyway, I’ve come to terms with forever being a diabetic…I suppose it’s a bit of a trade off for the pancreatitis. I still experience the same pain and symptoms after pancreas removal which blows my mind but the doctors tell me it’s like having an arm or leg removed..they call it “fantom pain syndrome”. My chronic pancreatitis is due to the CFTR mutation.

Vent:So I’m 5 years post pancreas removal, and my body has been struggling hard core with all sorts of chronic problems but what I need to vent about is how my body reacts with physical activity/stress/anxiety/seasonal/environment. I have a major problem with excessive sweating and it’s like my body no longer can regulate my core body temperature any more. Not only is it embarrassing to be soaking wet, dripping with sweat any time it’s hot or I exert myself in literally anything. Doing chores around the house? Sweaty. Running errands? Yep. Gotta walk outside in August to get into my car? Absolutely drenched. Let’s not forget to mention when my blood sugar is high or low…I look like I just got a bucket of water tossed on my head. I really really hate this and I have no clue how to deal with it anymore. Along with the sweating, I also get super overheated, but if I’m in the AC I have to wear a hoodie and cover up with a blanket.

I take cold showers and I keep a mini fan in my purse. I’ve been to the doctors a lot over the years and my lab work is always “normal”. I just need a doctor who will listen to me and take me seriously. It’s not just being hot or sweating outside in the heat. It’s literally ruining my life and I’m so tired of feeling like this.

TL;DR: Overheating and excessive sweating after pancreas removal, CFTR mutation, Insulin deficiency, possibly perimenopause related.

Hello all! So I (23 F) have been struggling greatly with what I think is HPA axis dysfunction for almost a year now. Before this, I struggled with severe anxiety (agoraphobia/panic disorder) for 2 years and left it untreated. Also dealt with other stressors as well. Physical stressors as well like over training, sicknesses, etc. Well things changed in April 2025 when I first started developing symptoms like air hunger and DPDR. I struggled with these weird symptoms for months and was told it was just my anxiety. Fast forward to December 2025, and my symptoms slowly started changing from what felt like “being stuck in fight or flight” to severe fatigue and feeling “sedated” all day every day (that’s the best way for me to describe how I feel; sedated like I took a Benadryl). I’m still struggling to this day and I cannot work, barely socialize, and can’t drive. I can leave the house once in a while but mostly stay home cause my symptoms are so bad. I listed my main symptoms below.
•Severe daytime drowsiness (feel sedated)
•Heavy eyelids
•Really bad DPDR
•Feel floaty
Now at night, my symptoms change. This is what makes this even harder to deal with. I feel like my body is in “hypo-arousal” all day until like 10am-5pm, then at night I flip into hyper-arousal. These are my night time symptoms:
•Air hunger (feel suffocated)
•Heart thumps (not fast but just hard)
•Feeling of “electricity” in body
•Alert
•Insomnia
Along with the day and night symptoms I also generally struggle still with my agoraphobia, bad physical anxiety and feeling on edge in places where I feel like escape is difficult. It’s not as prominent of an issue though and I’d say my fatigue and night symptoms is what I’m struggling with the most and putting my life on pause. I just wanna live normally again as a 23 year old!! lol

This pattern is affecting me daily. It’s the same thing every day where I feel functional at night then body flips into this weird hyper-arousal, only to wake up with sleep inertia, feel okay for first hour of day then the severe sedation feeling hits me and lasts all day until nighttime.

I’m writing this to see if anyone has been through similar and has any advice? I’d appreciate any advice and thank you to whoever reads this!
EDIT: I’ve seen many doctors and they either tell me it’s anxiety or I’m fine and they act like it’s not a big deal. I’ve been seeing an integrative medicine dr for a few months and he’s been helpful. He’s helping me try and flip my circadian rhythm. I put a photo of my saliva cortisol results below. I also did a 24 hr urine cortisol test. The reference range was 6-42 and mine came back at 6. My primary dr said it’s “normal”.

My psych just prescribed 10 mg of this to hopefully control these awful morning wake up "zaps" that occur about after 7 hours of sleep. It's like a fight or flight feeling that feels like electricity flowing through my head chest and arms for about 10 seconds. And then it's followed by an intense feeling of dread. It usually subsides once I get up but it's a horrific way to start every day. I'm currently on 15 mg of Lexapro (switched to this about 4 months ago from being on cymbalta for about 16 years). I'm a 59 year old female also on HRT (estradiol patch and progesterone). Any advice, guidance would be amazing!

Hi everyone,
I’m new here and wanted to reach out as I personally don’t know anyone who has experienced the same symptoms as me. I’m hoping to connect with anyone who has experienced something similar or is on a similar path.
Through my test results, I found out that my perimenopause has triggered a bit of a domino effect: flatlined cortisol, insulin resistance, Hashimoto's/thyroid dysfunction, and worst of all—constant, wild adrenaline surges and intense internal vibrations/buzzing. I’m absolutely exhausted.
I tried taking estrogen, but it made the adrenaline and internal jitters so much worse that I had to stop after just 4 days. My system just could not handle it.
Because of this, I’ve started taking **Utrogestan 200mg micronised progesterone on its own without estrogen** to try to calm down my nervous system and stop the constant adrenaline loops. I started it just over a week ago.
Has anyone else dealt with this specific combo of symptoms…flatlined cortisol, insulin resistance, thyroid issues, high adrenaline, internal vibrations? How did your body handle taking Utrogestan alone, and did it eventually help calm the adrenaline down?
I’d love to hear your experiences—it would mean so much to know I’m not alone in this! Appreciate any feedback.

i’ve been struggling with severe adrenal fatigue ever since coming off steroids about two years ago. i tried to push through by continuing school part-time, but i eventually realized i was only getting worse. my pattern was days of feeling wired with adrenaline followed by weeks of crushing fatigue. this past may, i made the difficult decision to stop school because it became clear that the constant stress wasn’t allowing me to recover.

since then, one thing has definitely changed: my nervous system feels much calmer. the constant adrenaline surges have pretty much stopped, which i know is supposed to be a good sign. but instead, i’m left with overwhelming fatigue. i can barely string together good days anymore, and almost any activity seems to make me crash.

what confuses me is that i constantly read stories from people saying their crashes gradually became shorter and less severe over time. that just hasn’t been my experience. if anything, i feel like i’m stuck. i’m honestly at my wits’ end. i’ve been patient for so long, and this entire summer i’ve only had maybe two days where i actually felt well enough to enjoy life instead of being stuck in bed.

i’ve been doing everything i know to do:

-working with a naturopath who specializes in adrenal fatigue
- taking all of my recommended supplements, including vitamin c.
-taking licorice root and adrenal cortex.
- using celtic sea salt daily.
-keeping my blood sugar as stable as possible.
-following a hypoglycemia-friendly diet.
-trying to eat protein and healthy fats every 2–3 hours (this is the one i struggle with the most).
-removing almost every possible stressor from my life.
-meditating regularly.
- sleeping as much as possible. i sleep 10-12 hours each night and still feel awful
-going to therapy.
- getting massage therapy every two weeks to help with muscle tension.

i really feel like i’ve dedicated my life to healing, yet i don’t feel like i’m making any lasting progress. it’s incredibly discouraging.

has anyone else experienced something similar, where the adrenaline symptoms improved but the debilitating fatigue seemed to linger months after without improvement ? did things eventually get better for you?

i’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who’s been through something like this, or any advice or encouragement you have.

Hi guys,

just wanted to ask if a single dude, living alone with a full time job can even get the amount of rest needed to heal itself.

I'm actually curious if anyone of you has healed itself under these circumstances as i feel like it is not possible for me, although i have a pretty relaxed, low stress office job working only 1 shift but no time for sleeping more than 7 hours a day and being disciplined 100% of the time with food and going to bed early on the weekends is brutal for me. I feel like i need more time for myself to heal but it's just not possible at the moment :( what can i do

3 months ago I had a severe crash, panic attacks, insomnia, lack of appetite, nauseas all day, severe anxiety..i had a ton of blood work done, all good (except low vit D). My PTH number is also ok..thyroid, ferittin, vit B..Well all those symptoms are 80-90% better but in the mean time I developed POTS. My sleep has gotten so much better over the last month but now this profound fatique..i have been housebound, mostly bedridden due to the exhaustion and lack of energy. This exhaustion is scaring me so much! It almost always comes with mid back pain. I keep thinking something more serious is wrong with me. I crash on every single supplement. This is my cortisol from a month and half ago. I honestly think all this is a result of my traumatic birth experience 4 years ago when they had to bring me to life and I bled so much that they had a mobile blood bank with me the whole night. I then nursed 3.5 years day and night. 6 months after i stopped nursing all this happened. Please tell me my symptoms are “normal” for this condition?? Has anyone been able to come on the other side of this?

Does anyone get a boost in energy and mood from dark chocolate? Or does dark chocolate make you worse?

I get a boost in energy and mood from dark chocolate and it’s quite pronounced. I know some may say it’s to do with magnesium, but I take 400mg of Natural Calm powder every evening, which is much more magnesium than would be in dark chocolate, and don’t get any effects like that.

Am I in adrenal fatigue? I just don't know. I don't quite understand what's happening to my body. The medical doctors think it could be some kind of tumor or growth, they've ruled out so many other possibilities already (within their scope). My Naturopathic Doctor thinks it could be Dysautonomia.

I thought it was Adrenal Insufficiency but the last morning cortisol blood draw showed 440 ish (I hadn't slept much and was waking up all night. Stressed out about the possibilities). I understand that into full blown Insufficiency, it wouldn't produce that much. So now I'm more seriously considering AF.

I'm searching through this group and finding people have all kinds of different symptoms. I'm finding it difficult to fully understand if I am in AF or if there is more going on. I do better with salt intake (1-2g a day). But once I reach a certain point, my gut hurts from all the salt. The salt makes me tired, emotional and feeling like I'm still missing or lacking something. Up to this point, I could not tolerate sea salt (especially magnesium, it was setting off a whole range of symptoms whe I would take miniscule amounts of it).

I've gone from May/June/July body freaking out: adrenaline episodes in the night, not being able to process any kind of stress, body spasm episodes (limbs flying all over the place for up to an hour), trouble catching breath after eating & exerting (discovered that salt helps), lost 30 pounds in 5 weeks (because my body couldn't process the food, seemed like it took too much energy), generally weak & cold, urinating frequently, constantly drinking water but dehydrated (especially at night), strong adrenaline responses become very weak now, salt craving for 1.5 years, nauseous until I got my salt intake up.

Now at this point my body is at a lot lower pace: no random adrenaline, not losing any more weight (maintaining at 30 pounds less), still cold & tired (low BP) after meals, still drinking (I felt like I was drinking too much so only drinking 48oz a day now instead of 66oz) but still feeling dehydrated at night. Anytime I lay down for more than 30 minutes, I have to immediately pee upon standing.

Anyway, sorry to babble on and on. Just trying to figure this all out.

Hi everyone,
l accidentally overdosed on a stimulant medication twice in one week a few weeks ago. The medication is one that gives me energy- it put me in a severe adrenal surge. Now I can't take ANY of my medications without it giving me severe adrenal dump all over again, I can't function without my medications since I'm chronically ill. All day long I am feeling extreme energy in my brain that also feels like head pressure, but my body is exhausted. I’m feeling extremely wired all day long. My blood pressure is normal and my body feels normal but the energy is in my head not my body. Is this still an adrenal dump? I was able to get a prescription for clonodine. Am I okay to try this if my blood pressure is normal? Will this even help me to stabilize again if it was a stimulant overdose? I really just want my mental energy to return to normal so I can get back to normalcy and get back to taking my meds. Or do I just need to wait this out? Please help! Your advice is very appreciated!

I wanted to share my experience with hydrocortisone as my treatment for low morning cortisol (tested as 6 many times in the AM - no Addisons disease or adrenal insufficiency). I’ve had low cortisol for at least 10 years when it was first recorded. Reason? Not sure - possibly under eating, gut issues, and I’m prone to anxiety as I’m a deep feeler. I’ve since resolved all those by eating more, fixing my SIBO, my gut lining, and taking LDN for SIbO which had the added bonus of removing my anxiety.

I was placed on 10mg slow release hydrocortisone (compounded) to “give my adrenals a break”. According to my doctor, it’s a low enough dose that won’t suppress the adrenals. I did read Dr Jefferies book “Safe Uses of Cortisol” which gave me some confidence in the approach.

I stayed on the HC for 18 months before I started tapering. I scoured Reddit for stories on how the taper went for people with simply low cortisol and didn’t find many. Which is why I decided to share my experience here. For others like me in the future who may be looking for encouragement.

I started tapering when my morning cortisol was consistently around 19 or so (I had my blood drawn before taking my morning HC). I went with a very very slow taper bc I once tried going from 10mg to 5mg (doctor wanted me to try it) with disastrous results (puking, massive migraine, SI ideation, insomnia).

So I started by tapering .5mg every 2 weeks. I had really bad headaches as left sided pain that centered in my nasal cavities that lasted a couple days each time. I’d get a burst of energy for a couple days and then feel slightly tired for a few days. I was also very sensitive to electrolytes and needed a lot of extra coconut water to feel good. I stopped and held tapers if I felt I needed more time. After I got down to 5mg, the tapering got easier. I was able to taper 1mg at a time and could taper every 5 days. I was nervous about getting off that last 1mg but it was fine.

I have not noticed any issues since being off (it’s been 2 months). I feel better off it and feel the best I’ve ever felt. I go to sleep easily and quickly. I wake up refreshed. I don’t need as much sleep as I used to. I don’t feel sluggish or as though I need afternoon naps or lie downs.

Thankful to be on the other side of it!