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What Does "Serum Cortisol Was 686 Nmol/L Range 138 - 690" Mean?

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Posted on Thu, 30 Jan 2014
Twitter Thu, 30 Jan 2014 Answered on
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Question : Does this blood test result require further investigation? 10 AM Serum Cortisol was 686 nmol/L Range 138 - 690 As you can see it is on the high side of the range right at the top, but still falls within range. However, I have seen on other places online the top range is around 620-660, which would show me to be quite far out of range. Also the sample was taken at 10am when I hear Cortisol is at it's highest at 7-8am so this result is already not at it's peak which concerns me even more. I'm Male and 18, not felt well for around a year currently diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome with mild hypothyroidism although i'm taking levothyroxine for this at them moment.
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Answered by Dr. Chobufo Ditah (1 hour later)
Brief Answer: For now NO, may be a control in future! Detailed Answer: Hi and thank you so much for this query. I am so sorry to hear about this chronic fatigue syndrome and your battle with hypothyroidism. I hope you have been feeling a lot better from your on going treatment. I have taken a look at your test results. Your concern is real and your question well thought. The test value is in the upper limit of the normal and the timing did not coincide perfectly. Though these are the ideal conditions we would have loved to carry this test under, at times they are not fully respected for one reason or another. Does this means the results cannot be helpful, No. They are still very helpful but we simply need to bear that in mind when interpreting these results. You numbers do no warrant a repeat right now. when you have a disease that causes higher cortisol levels, it is XXXXXXX and leaves no room for doubts. This number is normal and needs no immediate repeat bearing in mind all the information about a tardy blood collection(10 vs 8am) for the test. No immediate repeat would help but , we may consider doing so in future if we still have reasons to suspect a disease condition related to this. I hope you find this helpful and guiding enough. Feel free to ask me for further information and clarifications if need be. I wish you well. Dr. Ditah, MD.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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Dr. Chobufo Ditah

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What Does "Serum Cortisol Was 686 Nmol/L Range 138 - 690" Mean?

Brief Answer: For now NO, may be a control in future! Detailed Answer: Hi and thank you so much for this query. I am so sorry to hear about this chronic fatigue syndrome and your battle with hypothyroidism. I hope you have been feeling a lot better from your on going treatment. I have taken a look at your test results. Your concern is real and your question well thought. The test value is in the upper limit of the normal and the timing did not coincide perfectly. Though these are the ideal conditions we would have loved to carry this test under, at times they are not fully respected for one reason or another. Does this means the results cannot be helpful, No. They are still very helpful but we simply need to bear that in mind when interpreting these results. You numbers do no warrant a repeat right now. when you have a disease that causes higher cortisol levels, it is XXXXXXX and leaves no room for doubts. This number is normal and needs no immediate repeat bearing in mind all the information about a tardy blood collection(10 vs 8am) for the test. No immediate repeat would help but , we may consider doing so in future if we still have reasons to suspect a disease condition related to this. I hope you find this helpful and guiding enough. Feel free to ask me for further information and clarifications if need be. I wish you well. Dr. Ditah, MD.