Hi I have been living with addisons for just over 2 years, my specailist here had never seen a case before me. I spent a month in the hospital before i was diagnosed. He sent me to a specialist who just didnt seem to care. I have been quite sick ever since. I am very tired, sore,nauseas most of the time.
I have to have solucortef injections almost every day, to stop the cramping and vomitting. Is this normal? I am on 10mg prednisone and 25mg thyroid plus a number of other drugs. Is this the right stuff i should be on? If anyone has any ideas i am open for all options. I have also had a lot of weight gain, which is really causing me some problems.
thanks
Catie,
It sounds like you are not getting the right amount of meds. Your symptoms are what I had before being diagnosed in April of this year.
I take 20mg of Hydrocortisone and 0.1mg of Fludrocortisone. I am feeling pretty good, I have had some issues of weight gain, so I have to be very careful with diet and I exercise daily. I also take meds for underactive thyroid.
Before I was diagnosed I thought I was dying, all I did was lay on the couch, I stopped cleaning my house, I stopped going places, I stopped eating. I coundn’t even go grocery shopping alone anymore. It was scary. These forums have been great, because most of the people here know more about this disease then either one of my drs. Last time I went to see my dr with some of the side effects he thought I was depressed and gave me cymbalta. I checked the side effects from that and decided not to take it.
Good Luck Catie
Bethanna
Hi Catie,
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Well…I’m really not an expert. And I’ll admit I have not been diagnosed with Addison’s disease. But I do take cortisol supplementation. I did finally find a hormone doctor who agreed I needed it in conjunction with my thyroid meds. My understanding is that there are a few different types of meds you can take (I think these are all referred to as corticosteroids?). Anyway…from what I’ve read online and what my doctor also told me is that only ONE of them is bioidentical (meaning it is identical to the cortisol that your own body makes). And that is hydrocortisone.
I’ve never tried any of the others, so I can’t compare them for you. BUT, I can tell you that the HC works great for me.
Amanda
— On Sat, 11/15/08, catie addisons-cpt11024@lists.careplace.com wrote:
From: catie addisons-cpt11024@lists.careplace.com
Subject: [addisons] sick all the time
To: amandamariebaker@yahoo.com
Date: Saturday, November 15, 2008, 1:46 AM
IM sick with Addison’s since 1987
doing OK IM on 45 mil hydrocortisone and . 10 mil flornif
my DR told me predisone is not used for Addison’s
hi say that will not keep me going
i hope you fill better
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You need to get a better doctor. In the beginning, you need to take your meds and get frequent blood tests until your results are in an acceptable range. Also, when you add thyroid problems to Addisons (I have that too) its even more important that you get all these balanced. The last part that I have not seen mentioned, is that you need to not get freaked out for too long that you have Addisons. Its kind of a pain, but stay positive! Its really easy to look for excuses for problems we have in our lives, but dont! Take the initiative to exercise regularly, even a little bit to get going. I have lived with Addisons diagnosed for close to 25 years, and while I am really good at taking my meds, most of the time I dont even think about why I take them! True, I dont have the energy that other people do, but I have learned to live with this. I have a very busy and active life, and I have not let this get me down…
Best of luck and STAY POSITIVE!