Originally Posted by BRbangle

Same here!! My endocrinologist was not at all pleased when I proudly presented him with those results. He asked me how much I paid for it, shook his head with disbelief when I told him, then basically said I wasted my money. Then, he told me the results were unreliable while pointing out the result of the DHEA-S test, which was low-normal. He said it was not possible for someone like myself with elevated testosterone to have low-normal DHEA-S because when one rises, the other does, too. I really didn't know enough about the correlation to question him; but, I truly believed that the results of the cortisol testing were accurate, as they seemed to confirm what I already knew about my anxiety level throughout the day.

Long story short, he agreed to check my cortisol level himself for accuracy. However, because he only checked my morning cortisol--it came back normal, same as the online lab test--he said everything was fine.



Just before I started bcp, my testosterone was 92 ng/dl, my estradiol was low and my LH:FSH ratio was somewhere around 3:1. (The lab work was performed on the third day of my cycle). Progesterone was not tested. I haven't had much lab work done since starting bcp in August '08, except for fasting glucose, insulin and thyroid panel; but, based on the improvement in my anxiety level and quality of sleep since starting bcp, I don't suspect that the high cortisol exists anymore. The mixed anxiety/depression I had pre-bcp is the primary reason why I am terrified of ever discontinuing bcp in favor of a more natural approach to treatment. I was truly miserable!