Posts Tagged: Adrenal Fatigue
The Hidden Cost of Coffee: What Your Daily Cup Is Doing to Your Body
World Coffee Day is celebrated on 1 October 2026, prompting us to question the effects that coffee has on our health and finances.
To listen to the audio recording of this article, go to: https://youtu.be/GVxyl4oJm-w
The fact that this is now a scheduled date on the calendar demonstrates how much the system wants you to consume this product, and the motivation is not for your health; it is for profit. Profit from the sales of takeaway coffee from their popular high-street outlets, and from the medical interventions that unhealthy people require from the industrial medical complex. In particular, antidepressants for anxiety, sleeping tablets, statins, and ADHD medication.
In the 1980s, people in England predominantly drank tea, in the form of loose black tea, usually at home, at work, or in an independent cafe. Although a small number of specialist coffee shops already existed, the branded coffee-shop culture that we recognise today had not yet taken over the English high street.
That began to change rapidly during the mid-to-late 1990s. Costa, which had opened its first London coffee shop in 1981, was acquired by Whitbread in 1995 and subsequently expanded. Caffè Nero was established in London in 1997 and began expanding outside the capital in 1999, while Starbucks opened its first UK shop in London in September 1998. By 2000, Starbucks already had 156 UK stores, demonstrating just how rapidly the new coffee-shop culture was spreading.
Over the past 30 years, coffee has consequently become embedded in our culture, with branded corporate coffee shops on high streets across England and familiar programmed scripts around ‘meeting for a coffee’ or needing coffee to wake up in the morning. Yet behind this everyday habit is a powerful psychoactive substance that affects the nervous, hormonal, cardiovascular, and digestive systems. These effects raise questions about what a daily coffee habit is actually doing to the body.
Coffee can:
- inhibit iron absorption;
- affect levels of some B vitamins;
- lower natural energy levels;
- contribute to anxiety and depression;
- stimulate the body’s stress response;
- raise cortisol levels;
- affect concentration;
- disrupt sleep;
- cause physical dependence;
- affect the cardiovascular system;
- affect the digestive system; and
- contribute to prolonged adrenal stimulation and the state commonly known as adrenal fatigue or ‘burnout’.
Adrenal Fatigue
By far the most harmful effect of coffee consumption is the way caffeine stresses the adrenal glands, which over the long term will cause adrenal dysfunction.
The adrenals release hormones directly into the bloodstream, including cortisol, which regulates our sleep/wake cycle. It is released during times of stress to give your body an energy boost. The adrenal glands also release adrenaline and noradrenaline during stressful situations, initiating the fight-or-flight response.
Human experiments have measured increased circulating adrenaline following caffeine. In one study, intravenous caffeine increased plasma adrenaline by 114%.
A placebo-controlled human experiment using caffeine equivalent to approximately two or three cups of coffee found that caffeine increased cortisol by about 30%. A recent review confirms these effects and notes that the cortisol response becomes blunted and can sometimes disappear with chronic caffeine consumption. Other controlled experiments have confirmed that caffeine can increase cortisol even while people are resting.
If we spike these hormones by regularly drinking caffeinated beverages, we will eventually cause adrenal fatigue, where the adrenal glands stop functioning correctly.
There are signs of adrenal dysfunction that are easy to spot:
- Low cortisol in the morning: waking up having had a full night’s sleep only to feel exhausted, causing us to reach for a caffeine hit to get us going;
- High cortisol at night: we feel tired but experience insomnia.
Other symptoms can be headaches, dizziness, general fatigue, and palpitations.
Are you tired all the time and lacking energy? Do you automatically reach for a caffeine hit to get you through the day? Contrary to popular belief, drinking coffee doesn’t give you energy; it simply appears to energise you by overstimulating your adrenal glands, causing a rush of adrenaline and cortisol.
Sleep Disruption
Coffee can significantly impair sleep. This is one of the clearest causal effects. A 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis of 24 studies found that caffeine reduced total sleep time by about 45 minutes, reduced sleep efficiency by about 7%, delayed falling asleep by about 9 minutes, increased wakefulness after sleep onset, and reduced deep sleep. The authors calculated that a coffee containing about 107 mg caffeine could affect total sleep time if consumed within approximately 8.8 hours of bedtime. A newer meta-analysis of controlled crossover trials reached essentially the same conclusion.
This is primarily a caffeine effect and would therefore also apply to black tea, hot chocolate, and cola drinks.
Increased Anxiety
Coffee contains caffeine, which promotes nervousness, sleeplessness, and ‘the jitters’.
Caffeine can increase anxiety, particularly at higher doses. Controlled studies establish an anxiogenic effect. A 2024 study found increased anxiety in healthy people, with a substantially stronger effect at doses above about 400 mg caffeine. A 2026 systematic review of 27 studies similarly concluded that the evidence predominantly supports a dose-dependent increase in anxiety symptoms.
People with panic disorder are particularly sensitive. In placebo-controlled caffeine-challenge studies using roughly 400–750 mg, about 51% of participants with panic disorder experienced a panic attack, compared with almost none after placebo.
Caffeine Dependency
Regular caffeine use can produce physical dependence and withdrawal. This is very well established experimentally. Abrupt withdrawal can cause headache, fatigue, drowsiness, reduced alertness, difficulty concentrating, irritability, depressed mood, nausea, and flu-like symptoms. A major review found headache in about 50% of subjects undergoing experimental withdrawal and clinically significant impairment in about 13%. Symptoms typically begin 12–24 hours after stopping, peak around 20–51 hours, and can persist for 2–9 days. Withdrawal has been demonstrated following habitual intakes as low as around 100 mg of caffeine per day.
Caffeine withdrawal is not merely an association: it has been demonstrated under controlled conditions.
Heart Problems
Caffeinated coffee can increase extra or early heartbeats, which feel like a flutter, thump, skipped beat, or palpitation. In a CRAVE randomised trial, in which people alternated between coffee-consumption days and caffeine-avoidance days, extra beats occurred more frequently on days when people drank coffee, increasing from an average of 102 to 154 per day.
Interestingly, the same experiment recorded about 36 minutes less sleep on coffee days, reinforcing the controlled sleep evidence.
Raised Blood Pressure
Coffee can acutely raise blood pressure. A meta-analysis of randomised trials found caffeine supplementation increased systolic blood pressure by about 1.9 mmHg and diastolic pressure by about 1.7 mmHg overall. In people with hypertension, doses of 200–300 mg caffeine produced considerably larger acute increases — around 8.1 mmHg systolic and 5.7 mmHg diastolic — lasting for three hours or more.
Raised LDL Cholesterol
Unfiltered coffee can raise LDL cholesterol. This is another particularly strong causal finding because it has been demonstrated in randomised trials. The important substances are the coffee diterpenes cafestol and kahweol, which remain in coffee prepared without effective paper filtration.
A meta-analysis of randomised trials found coffee consumption increased total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, with substantially greater effects from unfiltered coffee. An earlier meta-analysis specifically found that unfiltered coffee increased total and LDL cholesterol, whereas filtered coffee produced very little increase.
Purified cafestol has also been experimentally administered to humans. It produced sizeable increases in total cholesterol, LDL, and triglycerides, establishing that the diterpene itself can cause the effect.
This distinction matters enormously. Cafetière/French-press, boiled Scandinavian coffee, and Turkish-style coffee contain substantially more diterpenes than paper-filtered coffee.
Reduced Iron Absorption
Coffee inhibits the absorption of non-haem iron when consumed with meals. This has been demonstrated directly in human absorption experiments. In one controlled study, drinking coffee with a meal reduced non-haem iron absorption by 39%. With another test meal, absorption fell from 5.88% without coffee to 1.64% with drip coffee and 0.97% with instant coffee. Stronger coffee caused still greater inhibition.
Timing mattered: coffee taken an hour before the meal did not impair absorption, whereas coffee taken with the meal or an hour afterwards did.
This is therefore a genuine nutritional disadvantage, particularly relevant to people who depend heavily on plant-derived iron or who have marginal iron stores.
Reduced B-Vitamin Levels
High coffee consumption has been associated with lower blood concentrations of some B vitamins. A particularly useful study examined 10,601 healthy adults and measured their coffee consumption alongside circulating B vitamins. Compared with people who did not drink coffee, those drinking four or more cups per day had:
- 11.7% lower folate (vitamin B9);
- 14.1% lower pyridoxal phosphate (the active form of vitamin B6); and
- 5.5% lower riboflavin (vitamin B2).
Low B-Vitamin levels contribute to increased anxiety and depression.
Their homocysteine was also 6.8% higher.
High Homocysteine
B vitamins are important in recycling and converting homocysteine. Folate (B9) and vitamin B12 help convert homocysteine back into methionine. Vitamin B6 helps convert homocysteine along another pathway into cysteine and other substances.
It isn’t just low B vitamins that increase homocysteine; coffee itself is capable of altering homocysteine metabolism independently of simply lowering circulating B-vitamin concentrations.
In one randomised crossover trial, people drank one litre of strong paper-filtered coffee every day for four weeks. Their average homocysteine increased from 8.1 to 9.6 μmol/L — an 18% increase. Coffee increased homocysteine in 24 of the 26 participants.
Another randomised trial using one litre of unfiltered cafetière coffee daily found an increase of about 10% after two weeks.
More importantly, another study looked at quantities closer to normal consumption. People accustomed to drinking about four cups of filtered coffee per day who stopped drinking coffee for six weeks experienced an average reduction in homocysteine of 1.08 μmol/L.
High homocysteine is associated with vascular disease and increased blood clots or DVT. Clots are associated with stroke, and blocked arteries, which can cause coronary heart disease and lung problems.
Coffee and Gut Acidity
Coffee is acidic and contributes to acidity in the gut, which may create an environment for cancer cells, which thrive in high acidity. Brewed coffee typically has a pH of 4.8 to 5.1, compared with natural water at pH 7, and stomach acid around pH 1 to 3.
Coffee naturally contains acids including chlorogenic, citric, malic, and quinic acids. Coffee can stimulate gastrin and gastric secretion, affect oesophageal function, stimulate colonic motor activity, and prompt bowel movements. Someone with reflux, dyspepsia, gastritis, or a particularly sensitive digestive system may find coffee aggravating.
Coffee stimulates gastric acid secretion and gastrin. This is directly demonstrated physiologically in controlled human experiments, which have repeatedly shown that both ordinary and decaffeinated coffee can stimulate gastric acid secretion and gastrin release. Remarkably, in some experiments, decaffeinated coffee stimulated more gastric acid secretion than caffeine alone.
That tells us something important: caffeine is not the only gastrointestinal stimulant in coffee. Other coffee constituents are involved.
Different coffees also produce different effects. One human study comparing roasts found that a dark roast stimulated gastric acid secretion less strongly than a medium roast containing considerably more chlorogenic acids and other compounds.
Increased acid secretion may contribute to gut health problems such as gastritis, stomach ulcers, or intestinal damage.
Acid Reflux
Coffee can exacerbate gastro-oesophageal reflux in some people. The newest comprehensive meta-analysis, published in 2026 and covering 40 studies and 122,074 people, found GERD more common among coffee drinkers. Coffee stimulates gastric physiology and can provoke heartburn in susceptible individuals.
Increased Urination
Caffeine can worsen urinary urgency and frequency. A systematic review including seven randomised controlled trials found that reducing caffeine improved urinary urgency, frequency, nocturia, and some measures of urinary incontinence in people with overactive bladder.
This means caffeine is a genuine bladder stimulant in susceptible people rather than the association being purely anecdotal.
Bone Fracture Risk
An increased fracture risk in women remains unresolved rather than proven. Meta-analyses have found a dose-dependent association between higher coffee consumption and fracture risk in women. One reported a relative risk of 1.14 when comparing the highest with the lowest consumption groups, while finding the opposite association in men. The major BMJ umbrella review also identified fracture risk in women as one of the few consistently unfavourable associations.
Effects During Pregnancy
Pregnancy is the clearest situation in which coffee/caffeine intake is associated with potentially serious harm. Higher maternal caffeine exposure has repeatedly been associated with pregnancy loss, lower birth weight, small-for-gestational-age babies, and stillbirth. A dose-response meta-analysis found that increasing caffeine consumption was associated with progressively greater risks, although most of this evidence is observational and therefore cannot establish causality as securely as the sleep or cholesterol experiments can.
Heavy Metal Toxicity
Coffee is a source of nickel, which can cause kidney problems.
The Financial Cost of Coffee
There is also a considerable financial incentive to kick the daily coffee habit. In September 2026, the average price of a latte across four of the major UK high-street coffee chains — Costa, Starbucks, Caffè Nero, and Pret — is approximately £4.03. Buying just one takeaway coffee every day therefore costs around £28.21 a week, £122.57 a month, or £1,470.95 a year. Someone buying two coffees a day could be spending almost £3,000 a year. Giving up the daily takeaway coffee could therefore leave an extra £1,471 in your pocket each year — as well as removing a regular source of caffeine from your diet.
Conclusion
Rather than automatically celebrating World Coffee Day on 1 October, perhaps we should use the occasion to question why coffee has become such an established part of our daily culture. For many people, reaching for coffee first thing in the morning, during the working day, or when meeting friends has become an automatic habit rather than a conscious choice.
Coffee affects the body in numerous ways, from stimulating the stress response and disrupting sleep to affecting digestion, cardiovascular function, and the absorption of nutrients. Regular consumption can also create physical dependence, leaving people reaching for another cup simply to avoid the fatigue, headache, and lack of concentration associated with withdrawal.
World Coffee Day therefore provides an opportunity to question the habit rather than simply celebrate it. Why do we drink coffee? How does it make us feel without the temporary stimulation of caffeine? What effect is it having upon our health, sleep, energy, and finances? And, perhaps most importantly, do we actually need it?
About Rose
Rose is a Shamanic Practitioner offering in-person and distance Shamanic Healing Sessions and Shamanic Life Coaching, specialising in narcissistic abuse.
Rose works without hallucinogenic or psychedelic plant medicines. Instead, she uses an ancient drumming method to access this altered state of consciousness. A session may include a tailored combination of Power Animal Retrieval, Divination, Soul Retrieval, Energy Body Healing, Psychopomp, and Extraction to remove negative energy and blockages.
Each session with me includes Shamanic Subconscious Repatterning. A powerful system that changes the subconscious programmes that drive unwanted behaviour. This method heals trauma at its source, removes the self-limiting programme, and then rewrites a new way of being.
Shamanic Healing can be accessed face-to-face in the Rose Healing Room, Petersfield, East Hampshire or remotely through Distance Healing Sessions. Because the work is carried out in the Spirit Realm with the support of Rose’s Spirit Guides, the client does not need to be physically present in the same room. Distance sessions are narrated in real time, and clients receive an audio recording by email afterwards.
For further information about Shamanic Healing, go to: https://www.roseautumn.com/shamanic-healing/
Adrenal Fatigue
In this post, I will explain how I recovered from severe adrenal fatigue due to chronic low thyroid function using natural methods, which made a huge difference to my ability to function. Over ten years later, I still follow the advice in this blog to keep my body and mind functioning optimally.
This post is intended to empower you to resolve your own Adrenal Dysfunction, but if you would like support, please go to the Wellness Coaching page for further information on how I can help.
The 21st Century Illness
Are you tired all the time? Do you struggle to get out of Bed? Do you automatically reach for a caffeine hit to get you through the day?
Contemporary living often means a busy lifestyle of work and social commitments, causing people to neglect nutrition and sleep in favour of quick-fix stimulants. As such, many of us will have gut issues (covered here) and low levels of essential minerals and trace minerals, which fuel our endocrine system, causing issues with our adrenal glands.
Our adrenals are small triangular-shaped glands located on the top of each kidney, which release cortisol and adrenaline hormones directly into the bloodstream during times of stress to give your body an energy boost or to start the fight or flight response.
Contrary to popular belief, drinking coffee, black tea, cola, and energy drinks doesn’t give you energy; it simply appears to energise you by overstimulating your adrenal glands, causing a rush of cortisol and adrenaline. After the rush has worn off, within a few hours, we crash and feel exhausted again, causing the temptation to repeat the cycle.
Cortisol regulates our sleep/wake cycle, so it is essential to take care of our adrenal glands by cutting out caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, and street drugs such as amphetamines and cocaine.
If we spike the adrenal hormones by regularly drinking caffeinated beverages, we will eventually cause adrenal fatigue, where the adrenal glands stop functioning correctly, causing insomnia at night and tiredness during the day.
This is similar to Type Two Diabetes, where an individual repetitively spikes insulin production, which eventually causes the pancreas to shut down permanently so that insulin has to be regularly injected. Fortunately, it is possible to recover from adrenal dysfunction.
Signs of Adrenal Dysfunction
There are signs of adrenal dysfunction that are easy to spot:
– Low cortisol in the morning: waking up having had a full night’s sleep, only to feel exhausted, causing us to reach for a caffeine hit to get us going.- High cortisol at night: we feel tired but experience insomnia.
Other symptoms can be headaches, dizziness, general fatigue, and palpitations.
If you go to your GP with these symptoms, it is likely that they will not test you for adrenal fatigue and simply put you on their standard cocktail of anti-depressants, sleeping tablets, painkillers, and for women, the contraceptive pill. This is not medicine that heals the root cause of the illness; it is simply a method for relieving symptoms while allowing the illness to continue untreated.
Adrenal Cocktail
Instead of reaching for coffee when we feel tired, we should drink an adrenal cocktail to support the correct functioning of the adrenal glands. This can be taken on an empty stomach on waking, mid-morning, and mid-afternoon to balance our electrolytes.
- The juice of 1/2 a freshly squeezed lemon for Vitamin C and alkalising the body;
- 1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar for Potassium;
- 1/2 tsp of Acerola Cherry Powder for additional Vitamin C (Now Acerola 4:1 Extract Powder);
- 1/2 tsp of Grey Celtic Sea Salt or Himalayan Pink Salt for Trace Minerals;
- Stir all of the ingredients together and top up with warm water.
A banana contains approximately 350mg of potassium, but we need 4,700 to 6,000 mg per day, depending on lifestyle. You can get this from green vegetables and the adrenal cocktail by adding Cream of Tartar.
Natural Adrenal Support
You can support your adrenals naturally, in addition to the Adrenal Cocktail, with the following supplements, most of which can be ordered at low prices from https://www.dolphinfitness.co.uk. It is assumed that you are already cooking your own meals using fresh fruit and vegetables and that you will be supplementing in the short term until you are well. I do not advise taking supplements as a substitute for quality, home-cooked meals.
- Avoid all processed foods, alcohol, caffeine, cigarettes, strenuous exercise*, and street drugs.
- Small but frequent meals to help balance blood sugar levels.
- Ashwagandha, two capsules per night to normalise cortisol levels. The Good Guru Organic Ashwagandha.
- Vitamin C: 600-800mg in divided doses at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Whole food Vitamin C eg Acerola Cherry powder is better for the body than Ascorbic Acid. Nature’s Own Acerola Cherry Capsules or Now Acerola Cherry Powder.
- Vitamin E: 1 x 4ooiu capsule at breakfast and dinner. I use ZENement Natural Vitamin E Complex because it contains mixed tocopherols which is the best form. Avoid supplements containing only the d-alpha-tocopherol.
- Pantothenic Acid 1,500 mg per day in divided doses at breakfast and lunch (not dinner).
- Niacin 25 to 50 mg.
- Vitamin B6 as Pyridoxyl 5 Phosphate (P5P) 50 to 100 mg. Terra Nova Vitamin B6.
- B-complex capsule after breakfast and lunch. Jarrow Formulas B-Right Optimized B-Complex.
- Trace Minerals, TM Sport, 40,000 Volts Electrolyte Concentrate. Three dashes in water before and after exercise, for sipping during the day, or to replace your adrenal cocktail if you are travelling.
- Siberian Ginseng for calming and normalising adrenals. Taken at breakfast and lunch, not at night.
- James Wilson recommends lots of sleep: “On weekends, or any day possible, sleep in until 0900 or later. Take a nap in the afternoon and even in the morning if you feel draggy. In the evening time enjoy yourself: read entertaining books, watch funny movies”.
- Make a point of laughing as much as possible.
* Strenuous exercise would be classed as cardiovascular such as cycling or running. Gentle exercise such as Tai-Chi, Chi-Gung, Yoga, or Pilates is recommended.
Cortisol Saliva Test
The best way to find out if you have adrenal fatigue is to test for Cortisol using a saliva test performed four times during 24 hours.
The Genova Adrenal Stress Profile 4-point test is recommended in England: https://www.gdx.net/uk/product/adrenal-stress-profile. When checking out, use practitioner code A42AQ (Thyroid UK). Do not use Medichecks or Regenerus to test adrenal function.
Go here to fill out a form, and Thyroid UK will send you your results: http://thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testing/genova.html
The test is very sensitive, so there is an extensive list of things to avoid before taking the test. Allow two weeks for some medications. Be sure to read the following list of medications and foods to avoid before taking the test, including chocolate and caffeine: https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/supplements-and-meds-which-affect-adrenals/
Interpreting 4-Point Cortisol Test Results
Post Awakening should be about 40 (the highest result)
+ 4-5 hours should be about 12.32
+ 4-5 hours should be about 4.75
Prior to Sleep should be EXACTLY 0.33
DHEA will adjust when cortisol is addressed.
Post Awakening should be at the literal top of the range (the highest result).
11:00 should be in the upper quarter or a quarter below the top.
16:00 – 17:00 should be mid-range.
23:00 to midnight should be at the very bottom
Patients with a Low, Low, Low result would take Thorne Adrenal Cortex Extract (ACE) three times per day to support the lows.
High cortisol at night would be brought down with up to three Holy Basil capsules before bed.
Thorne Adrenal Cortex Extract
Thorne Adrenal Cortex Extract is recommended because it doesn’t contain the whole adrenal gland, just the cortex. Any supplement that is described as an ‘adrenal glandular’ is likely to contain the whole gland, which also contains adrenaline, which you don’t want.
How I Dosed ACE
Dose 1: wake up time 06:00
Dose 2: 10:00
Dose 3: 14:00
Dose 4: no later than 19:00
- Start with 3, 2, 1, 1 at 4 hourly intervals if you have 4 lows, or if you have 3 lows, you would dose the last one before 19:00.
- On day 6 of a new dose start DATs for five days.
- Start on day 6 of a new menstrual cycle avoiding ovulation and menstruation.
- The average should be 0.2F apart or 0.16C.
- Increase the dose by 1 capsule if the fluctuation is more than 0.16C.
- If a raise causes worse unstable averages then the dose is too high. Reduce by 1 capsule and then hold for 5 days before testing.
- If stable averages are never found time to check Aldosterone and treat.
- For stress dosing add one capsule at any time during the day if you need it. Don’t do DATs during stress dosing.
- Stay on it for 6 to 12 months while you are sorting out your other vitamin and mineral deficiencies using Stop the Thyroid Madness.
How I Increased the Dose
My starting dose was: 3/2/1/1
DATs were unstable so I increased to: 4/3/2/1
DATs were unstable so I increased to: 5/4/2/1 – Once I started taking 5 pills I bought ProThera Adrenal Cortex which has 250mg in one pill.
DATs were unstable so I increased to: 5/4/3/1
DATs were unstable I increased to: 6/4/3/1. If you need more than this then you might need to try HC.
Weaning ACE
- Stay on ACE for 6 months to two years.
- If DATs are stable then maintain your dose.
- If DATs become unstable, you can reduce.
- 1st reduction comes from the afternoon dose. Reduce that by 1 pill per week.
- 2nd reduction comes from your morning dose.
Temperature Test
You can determine your thyroid and adrenal status by following Dr. Rind with a temperature graph–doing your Daily Average Temps. You simply take your temperature three times a day, starting three hours after you wake up, and every three hours after that, to equal three temperature readings. If you have eaten or exercised right before it’s time to take your temp, wait 20 more minutes. Then average them for that day.
Do this for AT LEAST 5 days. If your average temp is fluctuating from day to day more than .2 to .3 (with a lean towards .2), you need adrenal support. Again, your daily average temps should lean towards the .2 when on enough cortisol for your needs.
Summary from Dr Rind: If your temps are fluctuating but overall low, you need more adrenal support and thyroid. If your temps are fluctuating but averaging 98.6, you just need adrenal support. If it is steady but low, you need more thyroid, and adrenals are likely fine. (We note that mercury thermometers are the most accurate.)
For those already on cortisol, the above temperature test (comparing at LEAST 5 days of averages) is ideal to know if you are on enough cortisol for your needs. In other words, if any daily averaged temps are more than .2-.3 from another day’s, you are not on enough cortisol, patients have learned (most of those daily averages should be .2 from each other). Overshooting your cortisol supplementation can also cause this instability.
***Women: if you are still menstruating, it’s best to do your Daily Average Temps started at the end of your period, i.e. away from your mid-cycle or ovulation.
Waking in the Night
Unfortunately, Medichecks had started not providing an accurate figure for the before bed reading, so I didn’t know if my night cortisol was high or low. When I started taking ACE I started waking between 0300 to 0500, which I didn’t experience before. Early morning waking can be caused by high night cortisol, causing an early morning low or by low night cortisol dropping even lower. I had to work it out via trial and error with different supplements, which I don’t recommend. I started with the low night cortisol supplements, and after three weeks, I realised that taking ACE at night wasn’t helping me. I then switched to Holy Basil and PS from the high-night cortisol supplements and started getting better results.
Low Night Cortisol
This can be helped by taking one ACE when you go to sleep. Try for three to five days, and if that doesn’t work, increase to two. You can also try having a small snack at bedtime such as oatcakes with butter and nut butter so you get some protein and fat which will stop your blood sugar levels falling in the night.
High Night Cortisol
To lower high cortisol we chose one of these sets of supplements, taken 1 hour before each of the highs, increasing every three to five days until we have no symptoms. The goal is to sleep through the night and wake up refreshed.
For a night high try first: Holy Basil & PS100 (soy-free). Up to 3 Holy basil and 5 of PS100. I started with one Holy Basil and one PS100 which I took one hour before bed.
If I couldn’t sleep I raised by one of each, every 3-5 days until there were no symptoms of insomnia.
The key to lowering high cortisol is to increase the dosing until symptoms reduce. There is no max to the number of holy basil and ps we take. If you have very high results, you can expect to take multiple pills of EACH supplement at each high. We increase until we have no symptoms.
Night highs can be very stubborn so don’t be surprised at the number of supplements needed to lower a night high. We increase until we have no symptoms.
This page explains high cortisol. http://stopthethyroidmadness.com/ps/
Mix of Highs and Lows
Ashwagandha is an adaptogen; it ‘normalises’ cortisol levels when there is a mixture of highs and lows. Adaptogens are only helpful for a mixture of highs and lows or just highs. For adaptogens to be effective, the results need to be a combination of slight lows and slight highs.
https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/adrenal-wisdom/
Hypothyroidism (Underactive Thyroid)
Stop the Thyroid Madness says that 50% of thyroid patients have a cortisol problem because their hypothyroidism has been left untreated, causing the adrenal glands to take over, which initially causes high cortisol. As they get overworked, the cortisol starts to lower. Low cortisol causes fatigue and high Reverse T3, which means the brain doesn’t get the T3 it needs to feel better. Increasing doses of NDT becomes problematic until the adrenals are healthy.
Iodine & Mercury
Iodine and mercury also play a role in adrenal function. High levels of mercury accumulate in the body from amalgam fillings, vaccines, and eating certain fish, causing damage to the adrenal, thyroid, and methylation functions, which causes adrenal insufficiency.
Mercury is known to be able to block cortisol synthesis by acting as an oxidant and therefore exerts stress on the antioxidant system, causing low cortisol levels. Because iodine opposes mercury at high levels, it should support the antioxidant system. This means that by expelling mercury from the body, adrenal function can be restored, thus improving cortisol levels through better cortisol synthesis.
Iodine only acts as an antioxidant at high doses when there is enough excess to produce an antioxidant lipid called delta-iodolactone, which is 300 times more powerful than Vitamin C. The body does not make it when there is insufficient iodine available, so it is thought that a dose of over 100 mg would be required. At high doses, the antioxidant effect starts enabling iodine to support the adrenals and reduce cortisol levels by opposing the strong toxic effects of mercury.
T3
In his book ‘Recovering with T3’ Paul Robinson talks about the Carcadian Method he devised, which uses T3 to heal the adrenals. You can do this instead of using ACE. This is helpful if you have high Reverse T3 and low cortisol because it allows you to sort both out at the same time. https://www.facebook.com/recoveringwitht3
Shamanic Healing
Many people turn to caffeine or constant activity in order to push themselves harder and achieve more. But overworking, staying busy, or filling every moment of the day can sometimes be a way of avoiding deeper issues. Relationship challenges, unresolved trauma, or uncomfortable emotions are often bypassed through overstimulation and distraction.
Often, these patterns are driven by unconscious beliefs—such as “I’m not good enough”—which can lead to people-pleasing, self-neglect, and burnout.
Shamanic Healing works at the root of these patterns, helping to dissolve the emotional and energetic blocks that keep them in place. As balance is restored, a deeper sense of peace emerges. From this grounded place, self-care and nourishing lifestyle choices become natural rather than forced.
Further Reading
https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/adrenal-info/
https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/adrenal-wisdom/
Low Cortisol: https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/adrenal-info/symptoms-low-cortisol/
High Cortisol: https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/ps/
List of supplements that affect test results: https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/supplements-and-meds-which-affect-adrenals/
Aldosterone: https://stopthethyroidmadness.com/aldosterone/
http://steppingstonesliving.com/adrenal-may-be-issues/
http://www.livingnetwork.co.za/lifestylefunctional-medicine/hormones/adrenal-fatigue/
‘Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome’ by James L Wilson.
Supplements to Avoid Before Cortisol Saliva Testing
These supplements will give a false reading about our adrenal profile:
- 5-HTP (serotonin precursor)
- Adrenal glandulars
- Adrenal Cortex
- Ashwagandha
- Asthma supplements (over the counter)
- Astragalus
- Caffeine (from your coffee, tea or certain sodas, for example)
- Cold supplements (over-the-counter with ephedrine and pseudoephedrine)
- Cordyceps
- DHEA in higher amounts (it’s recommended to be off all DHEA for at least 3 days, says ZRT)
- Flonase
- GABA
- Holy Basil
- Insect bite sprays or creams that contain hydrocortisone
- Jujube
- Kava kava
- Licorice Root
- Maca
- Magnolia root extract
- Melatonin
- P5P–the active form of B6 (could lower cortisol in some)
- Paba
- Pregnenolone
- Progesterone (in high doses, can raise cortisol)
- Rhodiola
- Phosphatidyl serine (PS)
- Relora
- Schizandra Berry
- Siberian Ginseng (Eleuthero)
- Theanine
- Valerian
- Zinc
- HC (Hydrocortisone like Cortef and other brands)
- Prednisone or Prednisolone
- Medrol (aka Methylprednisone)
- Florinef
- Anti-depressants (whether Tricyclic or SSRI)
- Anti-anxiety meds, aka Benzodiazepines or Benzo (Xanax is an example)
- Antibiotics
- Blood Pressure medications like Spironolactone (Aldactone and CaroSpir)
- Clomid (Clomiphene)
- ADHD meds (Adderall for example)
- Beta Blockers (Lopressor or Toprol XL, Atenolol or Tenormin, Labetalol like Normodyne and Trandate)
- Asthma prescription meds or sprays
- Sleeping Pills (such as Lunesta, Ambien)
- Pain killers for arthritis
- Pain killers for Migraines (aka Imitrex)
- Compounded Progesterone
- Lyrica/Gabapentin (See this)
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