Does TRT raise or decrease cortisol?

[Duece12345]

I have been a bad sleeper my entire life, but it has become a significant problem after a few months on TRT. I find myself exhausted all day then “wired but tired” at night. It takes me a few hrs to go to sleep. Once I am asleep I normally sleep ok, but wake way too early in the morn, after roughly 4-5 hrs of sleep. I am completely exhausted but can’t sleep.

I am thinking I have a cortisol issue going on. I tested my cortisol pre TRT, and it was normal. I was under the impressionthat TRT will lower cortisol, but my peer suggested Other wise. Whats the scoop? Not sure how long I can go on like this.

 

[Vince]

This thread may help

Early morning wake ups

I have this issue that started shortly before TRT but TRT like exaggerated it. I tend to wake up very early like 5-6 AM, feeling hot and energized and many times cannot fully fall asleep after that. I suspect it is some issue regarding cortisol. My TRT regiment is 20mg sustanon daily and 100...

www.excelmale.com

 

[Duece12345]

This thread may help

Early morning wake ups

I have this issue that started shortly before TRT but TRT like exaggerated it. I tend to wake up very early like 5-6 AM, feeling hot and energized and many times cannot fully fall asleep after that. I suspect it is some issue regarding cortisol. My TRT regiment is 20mg sustanon daily and 100...

www.excelmale.com

it does, thanks. Still looking fir the answer to my original cortisol question. doc next month so I can ask then, but I was going to tap the wealth of knowledge here as well.

 

[Joe Sixpack]

TRT lowered my cortisol. But the thing is, each and every person will react differently to any administered drug or substance. So there is no telling if TRT would lower your cortisol. Note that changes to sleep patterns on TRT are not unheard of.

 

[Gman86]

TRT lowered my cortisol. But the thing is, each and every person will react differently to any administered drug or substance. So there is no telling if TRT would lower your cortisol. Note that changes to sleep patterns on TRT are not unheard of.

Did the lower cortisol effect u negatively at all?

 

[Vvs1]

Keep in mind there are other binding globulins like SHBG, TBG, and maybe one for cortisol that TRT can change

 

[Joe Sixpack]

Did the lower cortisol effect u negatively at all?

It did at first, for maybe a year or so, but as I have made adjustments to my TRT protocol, I feel like I've moved past any cortisol issues. I did do the 4 tube saliva cortisol test before and after starting TRT. The early morning reading was upper normal another 2 were very low normal and the 4PM reading was below normal. Every single reading after TRT was lower than before TRT. Not lower by a ton, but lower none-the-less.

 

[Gman86]

It did at first, for maybe a year or so, but as I have made adjustments to my TRT protocol, I feel like I've moved past any cortisol issues. I did do the 4 tube saliva cortisol test before and after starting TRT. The early morning reading was upper normal another 2 were very low normal and the 4PM reading was below normal. Every single reading after TRT was lower than before TRT. Not lower by a ton, but lower none-the-less.

Awesome, thanks. Any specific things u did to get past the cortisol issues, or they just naturally dissipated as time went on while on TRT?

 

[Nelson Vergel]

I have been a bad sleeper my entire life, but it has become a significant problem after a few months on TRT. I find myself exhausted all day then “wired but tired” at night. It takes me a few hrs to go to sleep. Once I am asleep I normally sleep ok, but wake way too early in the morn, after roughly 4-5 hrs of sleep. I am completely exhausted but can’t sleep.

I am thinking I have a cortisol issue going on. I tested my cortisol pre TRT, and it was normal. I was under the impressionthat TRT will lower cortisol, but my peer suggested Other wise. Whats the scoop? Not sure how long I can go on like this.

Here is an interesting list

Sleep Supplements Used by Chronic Fatigue Patients: Results from Survey

Good sleep goes a long way to getting better and sometimes supplements and herbs can help. Check out what FM and ME/CFS patients said about supplements, herbs and over the counter drugs that helped them sleep. (Add your suggestions in the comment section)...

www.excelmale.com

I chew on three of these at 9 pm and one again if I wake up before 4 am

Source Naturals Sleep Science Melatonin 1 mg Peppermint Flavor - Helps Promote Sleep - 300 Lozenge Tablets

 

[Nelson Vergel]

Why You Should Sleep Well if You Want to Build Muscle

SLEEP IS ANABOLIC Dr. Mauro Di Pasquale, M.D. There are a lot of factors that impact on body composition including the two that are uppermost in most of our minds, the right kind of training and nutrition. While training and nutrition are important, they’re not going to do much for your...

www.excelmale.com

 

[Joe Sixpack]

Awesome, thanks. Any specific things u did to get past the cortisol issues, or they just naturally dissipated as time went on while on TRT?

It just dissipated over time. Sadly there is not a lot you can do about low cortisol, I mean aside from the usual...get enough sleep, exercise, eat well, blah blah blah. Getting the testosterone protocol dialed in helped quite a lot for me.

 

[Gman86]

It just dissipated over time. Sadly there is not a lot you can do about low cortisol, I mean aside from the usual...get enough sleep, exercise, eat well, blah blah blah. Getting the testosterone protocol dialed in helped quite a lot for me.

Ya that’s one thing I always think about. I’m always like, what’s the point of testing it and finding out if it is in fact low. It’s not like I’m gonna do anything about it. I’m not going to take a corticosteroid to raise it up, so what’s the point of even worrying about it

 

[Joe Sixpack]

Ya that’s one thing I always think about. I’m always like, what’s the point of testing it and finding out if it is in fact low. It’s not like I’m gonna do anything about it. I’m not going to take a corticosteroid to raise it up, so what’s the point of even worrying about it

Agreed. The only benefit of the testing is that if you find out you are low, then you might be able to decide that low cortisol MIGHT be the cause of whatever adverse symptoms you are having. But then you are stuck with having no way to really improve the situation.

 

[Gman86]

Agreed. The only benefit of the testing is that if you find out you are low, then you might be able to decide that low cortisol MIGHT be the cause of whatever adverse symptoms you are having. But then you are stuck with having no way to really improve the situation.

Exactly. My exact thoughts

 

[Duece12345]

So I recently got another 4 point cortisol test after about 8 months of TRT. pre TRT I was ”normal”, high in the morning and slowly lowering to almost nothing at night. Post TRT....man....what a train wreck. Lower/middle norm in the morning in the evening it skyrockets! Almost like a 180 of how it supposed to be. No wonder I feel like complete crap!

 

[Joe Sixpack]

So I recently got another 4 point cortisol test after about 8 months of TRT. pre TRT I was ”normal”, high in the morning and slowly lowering to almost nothing at night. Post TRT....man....what a train wreck. Lower/middle norm in the morning in the evening it skyrockets! Almost like a 180 of how it supposed to be. No wonder I feel like complete crap!

Yeah that's not good at all

 

[GreenMachineX]

I just posted in the other thread about testosterone causing sleep issues. I may have to do a salivary cortisol test again and measure at that 3am wake up time. As I mentioned in the other thread, I’m only using 50mg testosterone twice per week, and that keeps my free T about 19-22 on range of 9-25, and total T about 550. This is highly disappointing.

 

[Gianluca]

I thought firstly, that when TRT lowers Pregnenolone/Progesterone, that’s why we see a decrease in cortisol in some.

Another point is, naturally testosterone peaks and decline during the day in similar fashion as cortisol does, peraphs trying to daily dose to obtain stable levels, may upset this ratio/balance as well.

Thoughts?

 

[Anonymon]

I know on TRT my preg was flatlining, and higher dose preg in the morning felt to me like the good sides of taking cortisol meds. Currently experimenting with lowering my test dose by 30ish% and at least within the first week I do notice some things that resemble a little of that as well in a heightened way. Testosterone, and potentially TRT as I don’t recall the specific study, was found to reduce the adrenal gland response to CRH. I think the study shot them up with 100mg of it.

Seems like the ideal form of test would be a rapid release pattern injected in the morning, but most of us like myself are on test-c or e.

This is kind of splitting hairs but based on extensive experimentation I actually think someone’s problem with lower cortisol stems more from a lack of it being in transport form like cortisone than necessarily just having low cortisol, which is why it can be complicated to treat with external aids that are the pure active form hitting you all at once. That has different tissue affinity and you end up with a different ration of cortisol hitting some things more than others, which isn’t really what you want. Might also be why people like that do well at times on lower carb diets or keto because although it does spike your baseline cortisol levels, most of it’s in the form of cortisone according to some studies, at the ready to use and processed when needed on a tissue basis in a way most people would favor. Although lower carb diets support less muscle glycogen, that’s also partly why they’re additionally muscle tissue protective because of the drop in active cortisol and T3 working together on the muscles. Lower carb diets and TRT go well together for that reason probably. Helps deal with some of the trade offs of TRT and doesn’t drop your test because you’re pinning it in your butt cheeks. Guys like Rogan are probably self medicating with it.

That’s a lot of weird text but essentially I’ve found and theorize that getting your body to produce cortisol’s still the ideal way of dealing with low cortisol because it’s just not the same to do it otherwise and sometimes can make things worse.

 

[Systemlord]

It depends on what is raising the cortisol, in my case diabetes was causing stress within my body and TRT help with diabetes management immensely.