This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

I did a search and noticed a lot of rumbling about cortisol but after a quick skim of a couple of pages didn't see that anyone was having it medically managed. Anyone? Bueller...Bueller...Bueller...

Sidenote: Somewhere in there someone pointed out that cortisol is elevated in pregnancy. It might be, but in pregnancy, cortisol receptors (and aldo receptors) are blocked by the flood of progesterone. (Had I found that a lot sooner, I probably wouldn't have asked my neurologist for the wrong drug. Doh!)

i have never measured cortisol levels myself, but in other research have noted that zinc is known to lower cortisol levels

Lack of acute zinc effects in glucose metabolism in healthy and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus patients
http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10 ... 9254424394

Twenty-five mg of ZnCC were administered intravenously during 1 min, ... The plasma levels of glucose, C-peptide, and glucagon remained constant throughout the experimental period in both groups studied. Plasma cortisol levels decreased significantly, which is consistent with our previous findings.

nb if the human studies had matched experimental animal studies, the zinc would have caused glucose levels to rise. not the case in humans. but apparently it does lower plasma cortisol.

I'd be okay with counting on zinc to suppress cortisol if I didn't have ms. But since I do and since normal biochemical processes are altered in ms, I'm not comfortable relying on zinc to do anything normal in me. I guess diabetics aren't functioning normally either. Hm.

Oh I just want that miracle drug that is guaranteed to fix everything. Where is it?!

when i first started looking at zinc, my serum level tested 8.6. back then i had no idea of zinc interrelationships with other processes. in time i would learn that i definitely had altered biochemical processes, as a result of no zinc to support the huge variety of processes that rely on zinc dependent enzymes for example. try measuring zinc levels. if yours are less than 18 you can expect to see signs of suboptimal zinc manifesting in widely variable ways from individual to individual.
fortunately it's a cheap experiment. my zinc costs about $12 for a bottle of 108 powder capsules. 11 cents per dose.
fortunately testing is also covered by provincial health coverage. the things that i have measured in conjunction with zinc - such as uric acid and d3 - were both typically low as seen in ms patients. both indicators improved considerably in terms of levels (ua and d3) and dose response (d3). bet if i had measured cortisol i would have seen a similar benefit. subjectively, given that cortisol is a stress hormone, i can definitely say that i used to feel stressed ALL THE TIME and nowadays i'm actually relaxed. so awesome