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Cortisol - cortislim etc

I was reading the other day about Cushing's Disease where a lady had a problem that her body made too much cortisol and she couldn't lose weight. I have been dieting and exercising for almost 10 years now, nothing I do - no matter how much, or how little I eat, no matter what types of food I eat, or how much exercise I do, I can't seem to lose weight. While the tests to check my cortisol level right now are out of the question, I exhibit the rest of the signs - the mood swings, high stress job, the easy brusing. I eat decently - 3 meals, very little sweets, fresh fruit, - and exercise.

Any opinions?


Wed. Oct 25, 11:25am

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Why are the tests out of the question? Just curious. I guess my best advice would be to see your Dr. Sorry I can't help more. I hope someone out there can.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006, 12:55 PM

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They are out of the question right now due to financial/insurance reasons. Plus, other than being overweight, I have no drastic health problems right now. A second issue is that if there were a problem, I would be out of a job. My employer can terminate my job based on health reasons.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006, 12:59 PM

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well, once your insurance allows for testing, couldn't you go for the test so you know if there is a problem...and your boss would not have to know about it at all? what does your doctor say about your weight? and about your inability to lose regardless of how you try? this definitely seems like it needs medical evaluation.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006, 1:50 PM

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Cortisol is produced in response to stress, right? I would look into alternative ways to lower stress levels-yoga, swimming, meditation. And there are many herbals (betterhealthstore.com) to help lower stress. Good luck.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006, 6:39 PM

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It could be your thyroid

Wednesday, October 25, 2006, 8:14 PM

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Why does your employer have to know you've seen a doctor? And do they expect people to be in perfect health always forever? I'm with the others, I think you should consult a doctor. You could have an underlying health problem that seriously needs attention. I don't want to sound alarmist and I hope there's nothing serious, but what if this could lead to more serious health consequences that just the obvious of being overweight? I hope you will believe that you are worth that much, that this is a high priority. Please, take care of yourself.

Thursday, October 26, 2006, 5:35 AM

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I am the OP. I am in the military - which is why my employer knows about seeing my doctor, and why they expect perfect health and noone overweight. It effects promotion, and other job related evaluations. I have always struggled with my weight, usually resorting to not eating and dehydrating myself to pass the weigh ins. I know what you're thinking, why would I do that, why would I risk my health to make a weigh in only to do it the following year. I do love my job and my country. It is very rewarding and extremely stressful. I am responsible for about 350 people at any given time - their deployments, training requirements, and job duties as well as responding to their personal issues - family problems, financial, etc. It's really a lot of responsibility for being 26.

Thursday, October 26, 2006, 7:29 AM

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i think your future is more important than your job. you should take a leave of absence or whatever the military calls it for not only your own health concerns, but for the people you are responsible for. you cannot ignore your own needs simply because you love your country...it's like a mother neglecting herself for the sake of her children-but what happens when the mother can't meet the children's needs because she is ill from not taking better care of herself? you can go back to doing what you do someday when the stress isn't taking such a toll on your body. and if the military does not allow for people to focus on their health issues, perhaps it is not the place for someone like you who reacts to stress with physical symptoms...by the way, thanks for your service!!

Thursday, October 26, 2006, 8:23 AM

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Personally I find myself wondering about this. You said

"They are out of the question right now due to financial/insurance reasons. Plus, other than being overweight, I have no drastic health problems right now. A second issue is that if there were a problem, I would be out of a job. My employer can terminate my job based on health reasons."

If your doctor says your overweight and knows how hard you've truly have tried to lose weight he can do the test, it is a health issue. I don't know where you work but it seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen should your employer fire you because you had a test done, that seems like an absurd statement, on offense, it would have absolutely no bearing on your job or your ability to perform your job. What kind of employers can hire someone based on health reasons? I understand there could be some ? and concerns say if you were a doc or surgeon if you were HIV or had TB or something that could be harmful to others but even if the test came out positive why would your employer even know? You wouldn't be out of work for days. Your medical records are private and unless you give consent for your employer to look at them all the time they shouldn't know anything then other what you tell them and your doc certainly isn't going to report back to your employer. This seems like an irrational statement and maybe like an excuse because you might be afraid that nothing is wrong with you and that what you really need to do is be honest to yourself about why you can't seem to lose any weight. Its been my experience that people who say they've done everything and get no results are not being honest. I have several medical issues that go against me losing weight but eating less and moving more does work but you need to be consistant about it. There is no quick fix just hard work , will power and disipline.


Friday, October 27, 2006, 3:56 AM

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First I'd like to say thanks for your service! But really they must know you have a weight problem? And it will affect your health. But I find myself wondering if you can manage to pass the weigh-ins by fasting then you can't really be that overweight, you must be only 10 pounds at most?

Friday, October 27, 2006, 4:00 AM

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For my height, I should be 141. Right now I'm sitting about 170ish. I haven't been on a scale for a while, but i can tell I'm far from 141. It hasn't been a terribly bad issue yet because I have avoided weighins and done well on fitness tests. But due to my position, I need to be a role model for the other troops.

To the 3:56 poster - medical records in the military are not quite as sacred as those within the civilian world. A military doctor can recommend that you get out or stay in. The unit I belong to now - everyone must stay "world wide qualified." You can have a temporary condition (ie pregnancy, broken arm) but anything permanent (diabetes, acute high blood pressure, and random other things) that disquailfies you from world wide duty you will lose your job. Even a false positive on a TB test will have you thrown out after a medical evaluation. Granted, the medical discharge process is long and drawn out. Chances are that I will not be medically discharged, just put on "weight management programs" but being thrown out due to a condition that could make me not qualified would not be good.

Friday, October 27, 2006, 1:10 PM

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I was also in the service and had many people in my platoon who were on weight management. It meant that they had to run further or twice a day to try to maintain their weight or lose weight. It is not a bad program. If you feel that you can keep the weight off once you lose it, it may be beneficial to get into the weight management program. I am not sure what branch you are in but for my platoon weight management was similiar to bootcamp. We would have lunch together and run together. If staying in the military is important to you, you may want to try it. You cannot be demoted/discharged for being in the program but you can be for being overweight and not taking control of it.

Friday, October 27, 2006, 1:24 PM

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I work in healthcare. Cushing's disease is not subtle - you'd know if you had it. You may not know what it was, but you'd know something was drastically wrong. If you really have Cushing's disease, the over-the-counter medications won't take care of it one bit. When you are stressed and your body makes cortisol, it is a slight increase and still keeps the other hormones in balance. When Cushing's disease causes you to over-produce cortisol, it makes it in much larger amounts despite the fact that your other organs are sending red flags to shut it off. There is a huge clinical difference between stress cortisol and disease cortisol, as well as how you treat it.

If you're truely concerned about Cushing's disease, it is a medical necessity to get it looked at because there can be more damage than just weight gain. Otherwise, just follow the stress-reducing measures mentioned earlier.

Thyroid disease is much less obvious, much more common, and usually the culprit if you have a hormonal cause of weight loss difficulty. That is also worth getting looked at, and much easier to treat than Cushing's.

Friday, October 27, 2006, 5:14 PM

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