High cortisol

[nippy]

Hi all. Two weeks ago I was feeling my beat when rested . I went to bed and woke the next morning with an ok blood pressure but heart rate was 124... My shbg is 66 and now I'm thinking it could be high cortisol. Can high cortisol increase shbg and if so how can I reduce cortisol ?

Symptoms low libido rapid heart rate . Irritability and mood swings

 

[Systemlord]

Can high cortisol increase shbg and if so how can I reduce cortisol ?

Yes, high cortisol is a primary reason for high SHBG. This happens as a result of short or long term stress and is a stress response whether physical or emotional.

As far as lowering cortisol, that depends what's causing it to go up.

 

[nippy]

Yes, high cortisol is a primary reason for high SHBG. This happens as a result of short or long term stress and is a stress response whether physical or emotional.

As far as lowering cortisol, that depends what's causing it to go up.

There's no reason . I have suffered anxiety in the past and have been on antidepressants. I've had some stress at work in the past but things have settled down.

 

[nippy]

There's no reason . I have suffered anxiety in the past and have been on antidepressants. I've had some stress at work in the past but things have settled down.

I can't think of anything but I get get chewed up with having no libido and at times just get anxiety

 

[Simbarn]

Hi all. Two weeks ago I was feeling my beat when rested . I went to bed and woke the next morning with an ok blood pressure but heart rate was 124... My shbg is 66 and now I'm thinking it could be high cortisol. Can high cortisol increase shbg and if so how can I reduce cortisol ?

Symptoms low libido rapid heart rate . Irritability and mood swings

I noticed in your other post you are training 5 days a week and you were on a low carb diet. Is there a possibility that you are in a state of over-training? At age 50 this is easier to achieve that when we were 25! I would take a few weeks rest and see if things improve. Years ago, in my 30's when I trained hard with heavy weights 5 days a week, I realise now, I was in this state most of the time. If I train hard these days, my libido drops markedly, erections become more erratic and i just feel off. Finding the right balance for your body and its age is very important.

 

[nippy]

I noticed in your other post you are training 5 days a week and you were on a low carb diet. Is there a possibility that you are in a state of over-training? At age 50 this is easier to achieve that when we were 25! I would take a few weeks rest and see if things improve. Years ago, in my 30's when I trained hard with heavy weights 5 days a week, I realise now, I was in this state most of the time. If I train hard these days, my libido drops markedly, erections become more erratic and i just feel off. Finding the right balance for your body and its age is very important.

Well yes that's possible. I've dropped the days down and now I'm eating more with carbs included

 

[Belekas]

I noticed in your other post you are training 5 days a week and you were on a low carb diet. Is there a possibility that you are in a state of over-training? At age 50 this is easier to achieve that when we were 25! I would take a few weeks rest and see if things improve. Years ago, in my 30's when I trained hard with heavy weights 5 days a week, I realise now, I was in this state most of the time. If I train hard these days, my libido drops markedly, erections become more erratic and i just feel off. Finding the right balance for your body and its age is very important.

Thats exactly what is happening here but might be more issues as well IMO. My SHBG is also high. My job is tough as nails psychologically where 99% fails so always battling with huge stress and been doing that for decades. Now underfed and overtrained is a really bad state and a lot of folks fall into this category. I'm always been high carb guy and got lean and shredded without much problems using test. Now 3 years training with lowT made it a lot harder and pretty much impossible for me to get into the shape i want without wrecking myself over. Mind you I still get leaner and more ripped then 95% of my gym but I wanted to see if I can get shredded doing what I know that works for me. So being overtrained and underfed wrecked my hormones badly and pretty much made them all tank below the range. Libido, brain health and bone health suffered, obviously. Now I'm 2 months in my offseason phase, eating freely, up 5kg and feeling waaaaay better. Libido, bone health and brain health all improved. Hormones went up, SHBG down but just a small fraction and I was still a legitimate candidate for TRT. Started 10 days ago fwiw.

P.s. I also work graveyeard shifts but small fraction per night, so get my sleep in, even though not perfect it helps. As if you aint sleeping, or your sleep hygiene is not optimised, your hormones and overall wellbeing will be shot and you will feel like a piece of crap especially if you on a low carb diet, in the deficit and overtraining. Plus if you also do low fat diet that will also kick you in the head and properly fwiw.

 

[nippy]

Thats exactly what is happening here but might be more issues as well IMO. My SHBG is also high. My job is tough as nails psychologically where 99% fails so always battling with huge stress and been doing that for decades. Now underfed and overtrained is a really bad state and a lot of folks fall into this category. I'm always been high carb guy and got lean and shredded without much problems using test. Now 3 years training with lowT made it a lot harder and pretty much impossible for me to get into the shape i want without wrecking myself over. Mind you I still get leaner and more ripped then 95% of my gym but I wanted to see if I can get shredded doing what I know that works for me. So being overtrained and underfed wrecked my hormones badly and pretty much made them all tank below the range. Libido, brain health and bone health suffered, obviously. Now I'm 2 months in my offseason phase, eating freely, up 5kg and feeling waaaaay better. Libido, bone health and brain health all improved. Hormones went up, SHBG down but just a small fraction and I was still a legitimate candidate for TRT. Started 10 days ago fwiw.

P.s. I also work graveyeard shifts but small fraction per night, so get my sleep in, even though not perfect it helps. As if you aint sleeping, or your sleep hygiene is not optimised, your hormones and overall wellbeing will be shot and you will feel like a piece of crap especially if you on a low carb diet, in the deficit and overtraining. Plus if you also do low fat diet that will also kick you in the head and properly fwiw.

Well Cal's going back up and carbs are now added . Only training four days a week now .. my sleep is shite. I wake at the same time every night or after going to bed for four hours .. that's sooo annoying

 

[t_spacemonkey]

I got chronic stress/anxiety, but my cortisol seems normal and SHGB is 11ng/dl.
mood swings - yes, irritability - yes, libido - ultra high all the time.
was also on and off on keto, and lifting 4-5x a week, at age 44
I can recommend P-Serine at night-time to lower cortisol, there is good data on this.
but it is not a guarantee that lowering cortisol will. improve your symptoms

 

[nippy]

I got chronic stress/anxiety, but my cortisol seems normal and SHGB is 11ng/dl.
mood swings - yes, irritability - yes, libido - ultra high all the time.
was also on and off on keto, and lifting 4-5x a week, at age 44
I can recommend P-Serine at night-time to lower cortisol, there is good data on this.
but it is not a guarantee that lowering cortisol will. improve your symptoms

Yea thanks man.. yeah I might try them... My issue is my free T is too low and that's with low E2 ... High shbg.... Fed up with this ... So now I have reduced my injections to once a week and have increased from 100 mg to 150 mg

 

[t_spacemonkey]

good luck. here is the study;

The effects of phosphatidylserine on endocrine response to moderate intensity exercise - PMC

Previous research has indicated that phosphatidylserine (PS) supplementation has the potential to attenuate the serum cortisol response to acute exercise stress. Equivocal findings suggest that this effect might be dose dependent. This study aimed ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

really solid evidence. I've been taking 200mg PS at night, but will add 2x300mg doses per day in addition. i did measure cortisol levels long time ago and they were normal, but i have not exercised that hard either.
I can also recommend pharmaGABA at night-time if you exercise hard. there is also good evidence, it has calming effects but also boosts muscle gain

 

[nippy]

good luck. here is the study;

The effects of phosphatidylserine on endocrine response to moderate intensity exercise - PMC

Previous research has indicated that phosphatidylserine (PS) supplementation has the potential to attenuate the serum cortisol response to acute exercise stress. Equivocal findings suggest that this effect might be dose dependent. This study aimed ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

really solid evidence. I've been taking 200mg PS at night, but will add 2x300mg doses per day in addition. i did measure cortisol levels long time ago and they were normal, but i have not exercised that hard either.
I can also recommend pharmaGABA at night-time if you exercise hard. there is also good evidence, it has calming effects but also boosts muscle gain

I have GABA in .. didn't know if it would effect my sleep even more as ive read it might . . Muscle boosting is good since my free T is very low

 

[nippy]

My other worry is that there's evidence that ps over 300 mg might cause insomnia . May be the GABA might be better

 

[t_spacemonkey]

My other worry is that there's evidence that ps over 300 mg might cause insomnia . May be the GABA might be better

you can split the dose. it has a short half life i believe. i found that PS at 200mg improves sleep massively. i have no idea at higher doses you might be right.

 

[t_spacemonkey]

btw, i tried higher doses PS yesterday total of 600mg. insomnia was not an issue, but I got shitty headaches. it is common in some people. will have to find lowest effective dose with no headaches.
btw a bit off-topic. I am trying inositol at higher doses for mood. there is good studies it is effective for many. but you need to take 12-18g and diarrhea becomes an issue so you might have to build up tolerance

 

[nippy]

Interesting... How is your mood ?
How is libido ?

 

[t_spacemonkey]

there is definitely a slight uptick in mood by taking inositol. it feels like it clears your mind a bit. but i started only 1 week ago at lower doses. working upwards slowly.
i've been battling anxiety/doom/gloom last couple weeks so looking for a (non pharma) solution. its such a rollercoaster ....yesterday I woke up feeling great, with very high libido...went to the gym at noon, but by 3 it all went downhill. in the evening i was feeling like shit. anxiety...racing thoughts. i went to bed at 9 and woke up at 5 which is good. this morning....feels like after-shocks from last night. better but 'loopy'.
its been that way since 4 weeks or so. prior to that I was feeling great for months. i get those things every couple months it seems. i wish i knew what the trigger is or how to fix this permanently

 

[nippy]

I feel for you mate really... Yea after upping my test to 150mg in one shot a week my anxiety is bad... Sometimes I think is it anxiety or am I feeling just poorly. Like my body is on edge . Like my nerves are bad and heady and just not right. But if I take my mind off it it gets better so it must be anxiety ... I just need to give it about 6 weeks trial and see how I go... Libido fk what's one of those .m remind me

 

[t_spacemonkey]

sorry bro.....we are on a journey.
I can report very positive benefits from 18g inositol daily. doing this now for 4 days at 18g. I am weighing the powder (now-foods) and mixing with 40oz hydroflask water. then i drink it through the entire day (to avoid diarrhea). i feel so much better already.
reading that it also has good effects on insulin resistance. no side effects (if you manage the dose properly).
libido can have so many causes. i think it starts the the mind and good self-esteem. maybe try some l-citruline or low dose cialis to get the blood flow going? sometimes providing a boost down there seems to send feedback back to the mind

 

[nippy]

sorry bro.....we are on a journey.
I can report very positive benefits from 18g inositol daily. doing this now for 4 days at 18g. I am weighing the powder (now-foods) and mixing with 40oz hydroflask water. then i drink it through the entire day (to avoid diarrhea). i feel so much better already.
reading that it also has good effects on insulin resistance. no side effects (if you manage the dose properly).
libido can have so many causes. i think it starts the the mind and good self-esteem. maybe try some l-citruline or low dose cialis to get the blood flow going? sometimes providing a boost down there seems to send feedback back to the mind

I might try that mate thanks . Yeah I have some 5mg Cialis. Does Viagra have the same benefits as Cialis ? Just does it take longer to be effective.?