By Jacob Gordon, INHC, FMT-C
Flipped Circadian Rhythm
Do long haulers have lower cortisol levels?
They generally don’t, but the testing they are doing for them with their doctors and at labs are during the day time.
This is a problem because their levels of cortisol are higher at night - they have a flipped circadian rhythm.
This makes them tired during the day, but wired/tired at night.
This is why I like to look at multi-snapshot cortisol testing, testing upon awakening, in the morning, as that gives me a trend on what their cortisol levels look like.
Glucocorticoid Receptors
Ok there are people who do have low cortisol levels, and this is a result of inflammation causing Chrousos Syndrome aka glucocorticoid resistance (GCR) on the hypothalamus. R
Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNFα) is a pro-inflammatory signaling to induce an acute form GCR. R
This process can actually make you feel depressed (see my video below).