ACTH (Adrenocorticotropic Hormone)
The pituitary hormone that signals the adrenal glands to produce cortisol.
Separates adrenal from pituitary causes of abnormal cortisol — exactly like LH/FSH does for testosterone. Essential for interpreting a high or low cortisol.
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🩸 Test your ACTH (Adrenocorticotropic Hormone)
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Order this test — 10% off → Browse all 102 markers →What ACTH (Adrenocorticotropic Hormone) is usually tested alongside
On its own, one marker is a data point. These panels include ACTH (Adrenocorticotropic Hormone) plus the markers that make it interpretable — each names every test, why it is on the list, and loads the whole set into your cart in one click at 10% off.
includes this + 7 more markers — Wired-and-tired, crashing mid-afternoon, salt cravings, dizzy on standing, or you've been told you have 'adrenal fatigue'.
What moves your ACTH (Adrenocorticotropic Hormone)
1 supplement in the Vault have a documented effect on this marker, or are a reason to have measured it first:
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Why your ACTH (Adrenocorticotropic Hormone) might be wrong
Most abnormal results are interference, not disease. These are the things that measurably move this specific marker — check them before you change anything. Each one says whether the number is wrong and should be repeated, badly timed and should be redrawn, or real with a cause worth explaining.
ACTH degrades rapidly at room temperature. It must go into a chilled EDTA tube, on ice, and be separated quickly. A mishandled sample reads falsely low, which is the direction that changes a diagnosis.
Confirm the lab's handling before drawing. A surprisingly low ACTH is worth repeating with attention to transport.
Follows a daily rhythm with a morning peak, so a value drawn at 8am and one drawn at 2pm are not comparable numbers.
Draw between 7 and 9am, and use the same window every time you retest.
Suppress ACTH through negative feedback — including inhaled, nasal and topical preparations that people do not think of as steroids.
Declare every steroid route before an adrenal workup.
What ACTH (Adrenocorticotropic Hormone) means in combination
A single marker tells you a little. Combinations tell you the story — these are the named patterns this marker takes part in, and what each one points at.
The single most important pairing in adrenal medicine and the reason cortisol alone is close to useless. High ACTH with low cortisol means the gland is failing and the pituitary is compensating — primary adrenal insufficiency. Low or inappropriately normal ACTH means the signal never arrived, which is a pituitary problem with a different workup entirely.
Either way this is a doctor, promptly — untreated adrenal insufficiency can kill in a crisis. Check sodium and potassium on the same CMP: low sodium with high potassium supports the primary pattern.
What to test next
Markers rarely answer alone. These are the ones that put ACTH (Adrenocorticotropic Hormone) in context — each with its own full breakdown.
Frequently asked questions
7.2–63 pg/mL (morning) Ranges vary by laboratory and assay — always compare to the range printed on your own report.
Optimal ranges, root causes and the full correction protocol are available inside Coach Cam's Peptide Academy.
See the full breakdown inside the Academy.
See the full breakdown inside the Academy.
You can order ACTH (Adrenocorticotropic Hormone) directly through Marek Diagnostics without a doctor's visit — drawn at any Quest Diagnostics location in the US. Code CAMERON applies 10% off automatically.