Being Alone and Cortisol

[lillilah]

I woke up this morning at 4:40 with the beginning of what I think is an IBS attack. I read for a couple of hours and then went back to sleep. When I got up, I remembered that loneliness is associated with stress (I don't feel lonely), and sure enough studies show that being alone is linked to higher cortisol levels. There was another mention of DHEA in there, which I have seen mentioned before, so I decided that since I had already canceled going to tai chi to give myself more time to rest I would go and have a blood test done. I had them test cortisol, DHEAS, and insulin. I'm really interested to see what the results will be.

I haven't gotten this sick previously when away from Joel, although then I was with someone else. I still was miserable and symptomatic, but not vomiting and in pain. So, like a pet or child, it seems that I'll have to have a me-sitter come and just be in my space so that I don't get worse. Of course, I actually enjoy being alone. Interestingly, I'm not feeling a ton of anxiety, just pain. I had read that phosphatidyl serine doesn't actually decrease cortisol. It just helps the body deal with it better. It might be that I need an actual cortisol blocker. I'll talk to my endocrinologist at some point about it after I have done some more testing.

For my reference, here are some studies that might be useful

• https://www.karger.com/Article/PDF/450608
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3951407/
• https://www.nature.com/articles/1395805