Biomarkers, stress, stuff...

[Daniel Christensen]

Hi

So I found this article… http://www.pnas.org/content/98/8/4770.full.pdf+html

The main points seem to be that although having 1 or 2 risks doesn’t have much effect on your mortality, health or cognitive functioning when you start piling the risks on, things get worse. Hardly ground-breaking news but important I suppose in that epidemiology often looks at once risk at a time. What intrigued me were the measures used. There were some standard measures of metabolic syndrome (cholesterol, HDL: total cholesterol ratio, blood pressure, hip: waist ratio etc.) but also some measures which I understand (poorly) as measuring stress (i.e. twelve-hour overnight urinary cortisol excretion, twelve-hour overnight urinary excretion of norepinephrine, twelve-hour overnight urinary excretion of epinephrine, & serum DHEA-S level).
I get my cholesterol checked every few years, looking mostly at HDL:LDL ratio, and that’s about it.
I’m wondering, does anyone know any more about the ‘stress’ measures? Do other people use biomarkers as part of their health/ fitness regime? And, does anyone get any of these stress measures?

Cheers

Dan

[Garrett Smith]

I measure salivary cortisol all the time. 24-hour cortisol, while it can be useful in a study like this (only have to deal with one data point, total cortisol), is not as useful in actually treating subclinical adrenal issues.

Measuring the catecholamines isn't something I know of many practitioners doing regularly, unless they are looking for a very specific issue (ie. adrenal tumor).

[Daniel Christensen]

Dr G

Thanks for replying.

I got a few questions…

Is there a suitable primer on adrenal fatigue? Is it something I (37 years old, working in an office, playing martial arts and some kettlebells) should be monitoring for as part of my general health/ fitness practice?

Do you have a top 5 biomarkers, or any other tests you think everyone should be getting?

Cheers

Dan

[Garrett Smith]

There is a book on adrenal fatigue, get this, called "Adrenal Fatigue" :-) by Dr. James Wilson, who I have worked with in the past. Good basics.

Basics I look for:
Blood - CBC, CMP, Lipid particle size (VAP or NMR LipoProfile through LabCorp), Thyroid, HgA1c, Homocysteine, CRP, 25-OH D3, Magnesium

Saliva - Adrenal Stress Index

Blood - to cover nutritional bases, I use the SpectraCell Micronutrient test

If those were covered and addressed, not much would be slipping past you or your doc that wouldn't be noticed in a symptom pattern already. I can run any/all of these tests, if you were so interested.

[Daniel Christensen]

Sounds good.

I guess that suite covers any digestive issues.

I'm interested, but am in Perth, Western Australia. What do you advise?

[Garrett Smith]

Originally Posted by Daniel Christensen

Sounds good.

I guess that suite covers any digestive issues.

I'm interested, but am in Perth, Western Australia. What do you advise?

While saliva and stool tests can be done for overseas patients from the US, blood is a different matter.

I'd suggest doing some searches for a "functional medicine", "integrative medicine", or "holistic medicine" MD or DO in your area, see if they will run the bloodwork you desire. That's your best bet.

[Daniel Christensen]

Thanks Garrett... I'll look into it locally.