What is Addisons Disease
Addison's disease (also known as chronic adrenal insufficiency, or hypocortisolism) is a rare endocrine disorder. It is estimated that it affects about 1 to 2 in 100,000 people. It...
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Fatigue On Hydrocortisone
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I was diagnosed with Addisons Disease 8 1/2 years ago. They put me on Hydrocortisone and Fludrocortisone. I have been on it ever since. For the past 2 years I have been gradually starting to feel fatigue. No matter how much sleep I get or how little activities I do I feel very tired which causes me to lose my motivation. I basically feel like I have to force myself to do anything. This causes a lot of problems because I am a very active person. I love the outdoors and I love doing things with my kids. So I was curious if anyone else who has used Hydrocortisone has felt this way? Apparently it can be caused by the medications side effects. I have an appointment with my Dr. come the end of the month. However I was curious to know if anyone else has been through this.
Appreciate any input that I can get on the subject. Thanks in advance. - Tiff Posted on 06/09/09, 04:06 pm |
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Tiff,
Fatigue is one of the major symptoms of Addison's disease. Have you changed your dose of hydrocortisone lately? It sounds to me like you may need to increase your dose. But you may want to check in with your doctor and let him/her know how you are feeling as it could indicate something else going on with you too. Have you been stressed recently? I have never gotten the fatigue to improve myself and it drives me crazy. Like you, I was very active and athletic, but now I'm a chair potato. YOu may need to get your hormone levels checked and see what's going on. As far as it being a side effect of hydrocortisone - that sounds contrary to me. Most of what I've read, the steroids cause increased energy. They can cause weakness and muscle wasting with long term high dose use, but when used for replacement in Addison's they should not cause those problems. So I would think that unlikely. Check with your doctor...... Vanyel 
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Thanks for the info Vanyel. It's good to know that I am not the only person that has fatigue. I hate feeling lazy as it is just not me. Especially when it means I have to force myself to do things I know I want/love to do. So to know that there are others out there who experience similar feelings is reassuring. I am not stressed out at all and haven't been in a long time so I doubt it's in relation to that. I have increased my dose which has helped every so slightly. I am on a multivitamin + vitamin C + herbs such as Royal Jelly and Ginseng. They are all said to help fight fatigue but I haven't noticed much of a difference. I also work out every morning and go for a jog . . but the combination of everything still only gives me a short burst. Hopefully my doctor can enlighten me a little more and offer some possible fixes. I have recently had a bunch of blood work done so if something is off it will be available to the Dr. when I go in. Thanks again Vanyel for the info. It's good to know that I am not crazy and the only one experiencing this.
- Tiff
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I wanted to let you know that I, too, deal with pretty intense fatigue. My doctor says he hears this from his other Addison's patients and he thinks there be some unknown aspect of Addisons that isn't being treated currently. I also am very active and it is hard to slow down, but I do feel better if I get more sleep at night. I asked my doctor about taking more pills because I do feel better the more I take (I am supposed to take 6 pills a day -- 30 mg, I think). He would go up to 7 pills (35 mg), but he said there were too many negative side affects with taking more than 7 pills a day.
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I battle fatigue daily! It is hard for me to sort out what is related to Addison's and what is related to hypothyroidism. I take 20-25 mg of hydrocortisone daily and more when I know that I am going to be extra active (like today an the 50 mile, hilly, bike ride I went on). If your thyroid hasn't been checked (which it probably has but good to know for sure) have it checked to make sure that it is functioning appropriately. Addison's and Thyroid have many of the same symptoms. I just started acupuncture with the hope of finding a bit more energy. Peace.
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