• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Type-1 & Cortisol Knowledge & Insulin Use

Z

zeruno

Newbie
Messages
4
Hi guys, I was wondering how other diabetics control their cortisol levels.

First, some quick background about me. Right now, I am consuming 60 units from Lantus daily in the morning and an average of 50 NovoRapid units spread throughout the day with food. I have been diagnosed with type-1 diabetes when I was 3 years old and I am now 20. Up until about age 13, my HbA1c has been between 7 and 9 and sometimes higher, and since then I managed to keep my HbA1c under control between 5 and 6 consistently. I grew up very reserved and shy, and I would get overanxious over nothing and sometimes feels like I cannot be truly relaxed, even if writing this sentence does feel like I am exaggerating a bit.

I was wondering if this points to some problems with cortisol levels; I was reading that with type-1, cortisol is not handled well due to lack of amylin. Also, I read that hypos consume cortisol, but I am rarely having them.

So how do I keep cortisol low? Am I being affected the way I think I am? Is there a relation with potential insulin resistance?
 
Last edited:
I am Type 2 taking Lantus once daily. In an attempts to find out why my sugar levels were high I recently had a Cortisol test in France which indicated an slightly elevated level. They can't give you any medication for this. However if you have a low level then they can treat it.

Ask for a Cortisol test.
 
asparagusp said:
I am Type 2 taking Lantus once daily. In an attempts to find out why my sugar levels were high I recently had a Cortisol test in France which indicated an slightly elevated level. They can't give you any medication for this. However if you have a low level then they can treat it.

Ask for a Cortisol test.
Click to expand...
My numbers are generally great, but some people insist on commenting that my doses are a little too high (especially the Lantus one). My doctor thinks that if it's working for me, then it's ok, but I'm open to investigating further.
 
If you are "worried" about your Cortisol level, have it tested and go from there.
 
Have a look at the work by Eric Berg. He is a doctor, and has a great deal of knowledge about nutrition (which is unusual for an MD). He has videos, questionnaires and a book, which you can find on Amazon, you tube and his own website.

His attitude seems to be to look at nutrition and lifestyle and diet before reaching for the drugs, and I know he discusses stress and cortisol and adrenalin as driving quite of lot of the weight and hormone issues that are so widespread nowadays.

Obviously, not everyone wants to make dietary and lifestyle changes before taking medicine, but if you do, check him out... :)
 
zeruno said:
So how do I keep cortisol low? Am I being affected the way I think I am? Is there a relation with potential insulin resistance?
Click to expand...
If you have low cortisol you would hypo.
The body regulate your cortisol level for you unless you have a tumour or Addison's disease. Too much cortisol would be something like cushings.
Some people need a lot more insulin than others. Interestingly many type 1's who use a lchf diet tend to need a lot more basal then bolus, so diet can also be a factor.
Another factor is some people need a lot more insulin using synthetic/analogue insulin's compared to animal insulin's.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for your informative replies, people. I'm on a pretty heavy carb diet.

As far as the work of Eric Berg is concerned, so far it is very interesting and I agree with the philosophy of focusing on nutrition before medicine. I'll be sure to keep looking at his work. He talks about measuring accumulated stress, which is pretty interesting to me.

It's a bit of a bother that his massages all require this acupuncture tool though, and some of his videos look very gimmicky.
 
Last edited:
zeruno said:
Thanks for your informative replies, people. I'm on a pretty heavy carb diet.

As far as the work of Eric Berg is concerned, so far it is very interesting and I agree with the philosophy of focusing on nutrition before medicine. I'll be sure to keep looking at his work. He talks about measuring accumulated stress, which is pretty interesting to me.

It's a bit of a bother that his massages all require this acupuncture tool though, and some of his videos look very gimmicky.
Click to expand...

Yes indeed. I am always wary of mentioning him, really, because while I think a lot of what he says makes sense, there are other bits I am not comfortable with. But then everyone can make up their own mind, so I guess we just take on board the bits that resonate. :)
 
@zeruno I echo what @CarbsRok said about a number of people here being on similar amounts of insulin to you. The right amount of insulin is the amount that keeps your blood sugar in range.

I'm not sure why you're worrying about cortisol, but do speak to a doctor if you have concerns. If your worry is that your anxiety is making your body stressed and thus causing high sugars, then you may want to think about ways you can relax more. Many people find mindfulness helpful, or even simple things like sitting quietly for 5 minutes and clearing your mind.

Edited to add - to answer your question of how I as a Type 1 control my cortisol level, the basic answer is I don't because my body does that for me so I don't even think about it. For stress, I use Tai Chi and mindfulness. I find being calm is a habit. Once you change your way of thinking, it's easier to quell anxieties and alter how you react to stressful events.
 
azure said:
@zeruno I echo what @CarbsRok said about a number of people here being on similar amounts of insulin to you. The right amount of insulin is the amount that keeps your blood sugar in range.

I'm not sure why you're worrying about cortisol, but do speak to a doctor if you have concerns. If your worry is that your anxiety is making your body stressed and thus causing high sugars, then you may want to think about ways you can relax more. Many people find mindfulness helpful, or even simple things like sitting quietly for 5 minutes and clearing your mind.

Edited to add - to answer your question of how I as a Type 1 control my cortisol level, the basic answer is I don't because my body does that for me so I don't even think about it. For stress, I use Tai Chi and mindfulness. I find being calm is a habit. Once you change your way of thinking, it's easier to quell anxieties and alter how you react to stressful events.
Click to expand...
Thank for your reply. I brought up this concern because as a type-1, we can't make good use of amylin which helps with cortisol! (sorry, I referred to it as symlin when I really meant amylin)

Sometimes I can become very anxious and I was wondering if it has to do with a cortisol problem or high blood sugars.
 
zeruno said:
Thank for your reply. I brought up this concern because as a type-1, we can't make good use of amylin which helps with cortisol! (sorry, I referred to it as symlin when I really meant amylin)

Sometimes I can become very anxious and I was wondering if it has to do with a cortisol problem or high blood sugars.
Click to expand...

I thought that it was kind of the opposite way round - that is, cortisol causes high blood sugars not that high blood sugars cause cortisol issues, but I'm not a medical person.

I found this link for you. I hope it helps:

https://dtc.ucsf.edu/types-of-diabe...y-processes-sugar/blood-sugar-other-hormones/
 
Back
Top