Do you have any more information on cortisol imbalances? What you described about your husband fits me to a T right up to the apnea. I'm definitely willing to see a doctor. But if there's something I could be doing I'd definitely like advice. I hope all is well for you (besides what you've been posting about and your cold!) and sorry for being a stranger the last few months.
I don't really have any one source that will lay it all out for you. But it's not secret stuff. Mr. Google will tell you all the stuff I said and way way more. It's a stress hormone, or more accurately, it's a hormone that is all about dealing with stimulus in general. So, in a normally-functioning body, it'll be elevated first thing in the morning, getting you up and about your day, and it will decline throughout the day until the evening, when oncoming darkness will usher you into sleepy-time, under the gentle hand of melatonin.
Cortisol does lots of things for you that are good in the right circumstances. It tells your body to convert body tissue to glucose, so that you've got a good supply of fast-burning fuel to cope with anything that's happening. It tells your body to store whatever is taken in/digesting as fat, since you've already got glucose being produced from your body tissues. This means that you've basically got a strong pipeline of fuel flowing as long as cortisol is high. This is very good if it's a short term thing, like, running away from an attacker or getting into a sudden fight.
But the body produces cortisol in response to stress/stimuli, so if you are stressed-out a lot of the time, then what happens? Your body is always burning up tissue to create glucose (ie, destroying your gains totally), but then the glucose must also be stored again since you aren't actually using it all, since you're not actually in a fight or whatever, you're just sitting in a horrible meeting or something. So then what? Of course the muscle that was turned to glucose by your cortisol. . . is now stored as fat. . . because of your cortisol. . . over time, cortisol that is out of control will turn you into a serious butterball. You won't lose weight, although you will lose muscle tissue.
The apnea isn't a symptom of cortisol problems - to be clear, it's a symptom of having excess tissue around the neck area, mostly. But apnea screws up your sleep completely. And that will screw up your cortisol. And that will make you get fatter. Which will, of course, make your apnea get worse. Hmm, I take it back. I bet we could call it a symptom after all.
So, I dunno. The simplest thing to do to combat this cortisol thing, and a whole lot of other crap besides, is to simply go to bed early enough that you can potentially get 8 hours of sleep every night of the week. I realize that sometimes, we just have to go out and enjoy life. But in general, 8 hours, man. If you can't get to sleep easily, then restrict caffeine and do yoga. If you wake up and can't get to sleep, stay in bed and rest, at least. Meditate, do breath work, something. Whatever you can do to help your CNS calm down.
I hope this helps you, man. Thanks for visiting!
