Cortisol Isn't the Problem. It's the Response.

How Long Does It Take You to Wake Up? The Cortisol Cheater Question You hit snooze six times. You need two cups of coffee before you can hold a conversation. Or the opposite: your eyes open at a level ten, heart already going, anxiety already running. There is a name for what is happening, and there is a test for it. Dr. Terri sits down with Carrie Jones, ND, FABNE, MPH, MSCP, the naturopathic physician known as the Queen of Hormones, for a conversation about the hormone testing almost nobody is ordering. Not blood. Not saliva. Urine metabolites, which show you not just how much of a hormone you have, but where it goes after your body is finished with it. Because that turns out to be the part that matters. Estrogen can travel down three different pathways, and one of them is protective while another is genotoxic. Testosterone can convert into something far more potent, which is why some women get hair loss and jawline acne on a dose that works beautifully for someone else. Progesterone can knock one woman out in ten minutes and do almost nothing for the woman next to her on an identical dose. None of that shows up on a standard panel. They also spend real time on cortisol, which has become the most misunderstood hormone on the internet. Dr. Carrie makes the case that we are doing to cortisol exactly what we did to estrogen after the Women's Health Initiative: blaming the messenger, missing the message, and reaching for supplements to suppress something the body is doing on purpose. This one is for anyone who has been told their hormones are fine, or who has tried hormone therapy and quit because of side effects nobody could explain. What you'll discover: What urine metabolite testing actually measures, and why hormones have to go somewhere (02:03) The three estrogen pathways, and which one you want to push toward (04:45) The pathway that explains breast tenderness, spotting, and estrogen sensitivity (07:58) Why testosterone causes acne and hair loss in some women and not others (09:23) Alpha versus beta: why two women on the same progesterone dose have completely different nights (11:16) Whether the route you take progesterone changes the effect (14:20) What cortisol metabolites reveal about your thyroid that a TSH will not (19:39) Free T3, reverse T3, and reference ranges that are normal but not optimal (21:39) Poor, poor cortisol: what it is actually doing for you, and why we get it backward (26:29) The everyday medications quietly suppressing your cortisol results (30:11) Serum, saliva, or urine: which cortisol test answers which question (34:57) The cortisol awakening response, and the cheater question you can answer yourself (36:24) When a urine metabolite panel is worth the money, and when it is not (40:22) Cruciferous vegetables, DIM, and the caution nobody gives you before you start (42:39) Supplements that support the DHT pathway, and why sourcing decides whether they work (47:01) Alcohol as a bully: how the liver decides what gets detoxified first (52:55) You are not stuck with the hormone you were dealt. You are working with a pathway, and pathways are modifiable. The Dr. Terri Show is presented by EVEXIAS Health Solutions. For more, visit: https://www.evexias.com Connect with Dr. Terri: 📱 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drterrideneui/ 📱 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrTerriDeNeui 💻 Website: https://hormonehavoc.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices