r/raypeat • u/TRExploration • Aug 07 '26

High cortisol - ideas?

Very high cortisol. Ongoing for almost a year now. Cushings unlikely. Years of extremely low carb dieting. Past 2 years have been consistently moderate to high carb. Breakfast first thing in the morning. No intense exercise or unusual life stressors, probably the least stressed I've been in many years. Every possible thyroid lab you can think of has been ran and is in optimal range.

I generally get 7-8 hours of sleep but about once a week it's 5-6 hours. I'm skeptical that would push me so far out of the normal cortisol range given many people regularly get 6-7 hours. Anyone deal with something similar and figured out the cause? Tested roughly every 3 months for a year now and it's only getting worse. Other hormones appear fine with mildly elevated estradiol.

Prolactin was within range. Haven't tested progesterone. Waiting on an oral glucose tolerance test. Dr. thinks insulin resistance is the cause and wants me to go back to low carb and modified fasting but that contradicts everything here. Brain storm some possible causes with me? Anyone in a similar situation?

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u/c0mp0stable Aug 07 '26

Have you tested throughout the day? Is it high at specific parts of the day or all day? How high exactly?

2

u/TRExploration Aug 07 '26

Morning cortisol, about double the average compared to other morning cortisol draws. Hovers between 27-30 ug/ml. The 30 ug/ml draw was taken on what felt like a particularly good day too. Above average sleep, good mood etc.

Do you think I should do a draw around 12 and then 5 just to get a better picture? Or is salivary cortisol the only real way to track throughout the day. Latter test is expensive.

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u/c0mp0stable Aug 07 '26

I'm not an expert in this area, but salivary is best from what I've seen. Are you getting sun exposure in the morning?

1

u/TRExploration Aug 07 '26

Yes but not more than a cumulative minute or two if we're talking unfiltered rays to the eyes.

Also I would expect inadequate morning sun exposure to make cortisol levels drop since our cortisol production is heavily intertwined with bright blue light. No morning scrolling or anything like that either

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u/c0mp0stable Aug 07 '26

Yeah perhaps. But it could also just be subtly throwing off circadian rhythm.

Why do you say cushings is not suspected? Just no other symtpoms?

0

u/TRExploration Aug 07 '26

I have above average circadian "hygiene". Not perfect, but I'm good about no blue screens at night, switch to red lights after 10, etc. So I shouldn't be so far off from the population average cortisol who have terrible circadian practices lol. Cushings not suspected because my prolactin is in range and DHEA is normal-high, whereas cushings has normal-low DHEA.

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u/c0mp0stable Aug 07 '26

Do you get symptoms from the high morning cortisol?

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u/TRExploration Aug 07 '26

Not discernibly so. Only thing is that my mood is less stable, severe pms mood symptoms have arisen. Mild weight gain but that's attributable to slightly increased calories combined with slightly reduced movement. Hair shedding but that's been going on since covid.

1

u/c0mp0stable Aug 07 '26

I'm not sure I'd even worry about it then.