Where does cortisol go - and what about hot flashes?


(karen) #1

So … I’m doing some thinking about cortisol. A hundred different bits of information about how it’s useful and how it’s not useful, how we need it in this capacity and it’s a problem in that one. But how is it actually broken down / removed from the body? Or does it just degrade naturally within the body and then get re-formed by the adrenal cortex in response to impending daylight, stress and other factors?

ETA: I’m fascinated by hot flashes. (Ok, I admit, “Fascinated” is not the first adjective I’d use, but it is one of them.) I feel a very specific sensation in my solar plexus at the onset of a hot flash. It’s somewhat similar to an adrenaline rush but not the same, and it has the same Big Onset - gradual reduction over 5 minutes or so - quality of an adrenaline surge. Wondering what hormone this is. Suspected cortisol except for the rapid decline/breakdown aspect.


(karen) #2

To add, my frustration / curiosity about this stems from reading that hot flashes are “a hormonal imbalance”, a little wobble, stated as if they just appear out of nowhere if things build up or drop too low, but for me that’s not true, or at least not all of it. I get about a 30 second warning and it’s definitely a sensation of my body flooding with something, I’m not just suddenly aware of being too warm.


(Bunny) #3

Stress is emotional comprehension function

Emotional intelligence and reacting on impulse mechanism; reciprocal response timing:

Reacting on impulse (HPA axis hypothalamus-pituitary gland-adrenal glands dysregulation);

  1. ”OMG the sky is falling?”

Emotional intelligence (rational thinking?):

  1. ”I will think about this more before I choose to react?”

References:

  1. …Cortisol, known as the “stress hormone” is produced in the adrenal glands and regulates many processes in the body in an effort to maintain homeostasis. … Just the event of waking up in the morning triggers the release of cortisol in the body, as does exercising. …More
  1. The principle of homeostasis in the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal system: new insight from positive feedback.
  1. Cortisol And Its Effects on the Body?
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  1. …It’s important to understand is that your HPA axis operates on feedback loops. A feedback loop occurs when the output of a system in your body somehow loops back to that system as input, and influences its functioning. A positive feedback loop would increase that system’s output, and a negative feedback loop would decrease it. …More
  1. …In healthy people who don’t have much stress, the HPA axis is activated infrequently enough that it is able to stay healthy and responsive. However, in people who suffer chronic stress and anxiety, cortisol and norepinephrine are continuously overproduced. The body’s cortisol receptors become resistant to cortisol signals and the HPA axis becomes desensitized to the negative feedback telling it to “chill out.” …More
  1. …Hypoglycemia and the HPA axis can perpetuate each other …More
  1. Cortisol, Stress (AF), Meditation & Cardiorespiratory Synchronization = Restful Alertness

(Bunny) #4

[15] Stress Hormones and Heart Disease: Increase Progesterone and decrease Cortisol “…There are several ways to increase progesterone, one of which is to decrease stress hormones such as cortisol, ACTH and CRH. However, we can also directly improve progesterone production. Progesterone is made from pregnenolone, the mother of all hormones, while pregnenolone is made from cholesterol. Cortisol is indirectly made from progesterone or more precisely from its metabolite, known as 17-OH progesterone. …More