Addison's Disease Support Group

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 occurs when the adrenal glands, seated above the kidneys, fail to produce enough of the hormone cortisol and, sometimes, the hormone aldosterone

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Endocrine System
/ Addison's Disease Support Group

When to increase steroid?

Lifeis2short
Lifeis2short
Hi! I have been gone for awhile. I was out of state and then busy with trying to find a job.....hopefully. Anyway, what I was wondering is, does emotional stress situations require more cortef? I notice that when I am feeling a lot of anxiety I get really dizzy and feel like I'm going to pass out. I have dealt with anxiety my whole life but since I've been diagnosed with Addisons it seems like I get the symptoms of feeling faint and dizzy that I didn't experience before. Do these situations need more steroid? I read so much about needing more for physical stress situations, like surgery or the flue but what about emotional stress? Thanks so much!!
22Lynn
22Lynn
Welcome back! I just read your profile and see that your not on Florinef. We have trouble retaining our salt so getting dizzy is a sign of that. I would talk to your Dr about getting on Florinef. Eating one piece of cheese a day at breakfast can give you 25% of your salt intake for the day. it can also be a sign of going into a crisis. If the salt doesn't help with the dizziness I would take 10 MG of hydrocortisone as a stress dose. Anxiety is part of Addison's too. It varies for each person. I take Klonopin daily for this.

And yes, people stress dose when under a lot of emotional stress. This disease is all about learning to listen to your body and give it what it needs. Hope this helps. Message me if you have any other questions.