William Mck Jeffries, MD has an exhaustive review and experience with cortisol supplementation. Steroids are probably the most commonly prescribed prescription medicine today. They serve as our stress response as well as shutting down damaging immune mediated inflammation. Typically we ourselves (our adrenal glands) manufacture about 20-30 mg of cortisol per day. Our levels tend to peak in the AM and we certainly recognize severe disease states of either deficiency or excess. Weather or not there could be lesser disease states remains controversial. Many practitioners will utilize small daily doses of cortisol (1.25-2.5 mg) combined with thyroid hormone to help their patients. Having patients on intermittent huge doses of prednisone, like we so often do, does not seem to be a better option. However, I would always defer to the expertise of my Endocrinology colleagues. Cortisol is really known as the stress hormone. Stress is something that you will never be cured of. Patients simply need to be taught to embrace and enjoy it.