I want to tell all of you about
a book that I am reading. I started reading it on the advice of my son's pediatrician; however, the second I started reading it, there were so many things that sounded like me. My son had a bunch of labwork done (he has been having anxiety related tics) and one of the tests was a sputum cortisol level. That lab came back extremely low and, because of that, my doctor wanted me to read this book before we discussed treatement.
In a nutshell, we all have adrenal glands that sit on top of our kidneys and the adrenal glands secrete cortisol. Cortisol is the body's stress hormone (among other things). Apparently, according to my doctor, the area of hypoadrenalism (low functioning adrenal glands) is a highly controversial area of medicine. The medical profession truly only recognizes one disorder associated with this problem - Addison's Disease. But, there are many people that have low cortisol levels - not just absent ones in the case of Addison's.
Anyway, the book is called Adrenal Fatigue - The 21st Century Stress Syndrome and the author is James L. Wilson. I still don't know what treating low Cortisol levels involves (have a meeting with my doc this week) but the book describes so many of the symptoms that I hear many chronic pain and migraine patients complain of (including me). It is merely a suggestion but thought I would pass the information along.