depression can be caused by cortisol levels being too low or too high , at first I thought that my cortisol levels were low so I started taking raw adrenal glandulars and started feeling much worse , well to make a long story short , my cortisol blood and urine lab work came back as cortisol as being very high ( borderline cushings syndrome) the doctor could not explain it and had not seen anything like it before , after much research I found that mercury can cause both high or low cortisol , a quick test you can do at home is try taking 400 mg magnesium daily , if you feel better after a few days than your cortisol is on the low side ,then you can start taking adrenal glandulars and will help your condition ,but if you start feeling worse after a few days than your cortisol is on the high side and can be confirmed by a simple blood or urine test if cortisol is high then the following herbs can help lower cortisol levels : ginseng, holy basil, or astrangulas root I chose the ginseng and was able to lower my cortisol by 1/3 within a few days of taking it as confirmed by my next blood test