Hi,
I'm so glad to have finally found this board, I've been searching for about a week for some kind of way to communicate with others about this. I have a few things I'm hoping someone can help me with. First a little background on me:

I am 23 years old, I have 2 daughters who are 2 and 5 months old. In the last two years my health appears to be disintegrating. It started off with just a lack of appetite and slowly led to fatigue, weakness, low blood pressure, mental fuzziness and about a 45 pound weight loss. I ended up fairly underweight with no energy to try and find out what was going on. About a year after this all began I became pregnant with my second daughter. I had to fight with my body to get enough food into me to support my baby and myself. By the end of my pregnancy though I was at a normal weight and was able to maintain that with eating small meals throughout the night and day. The fatigue continued but I really thought it was just being pregnant.

After my 2nd daughter was born this past November I stopped working as hard to maintain my food intake. I was just too tired from constant feedings and the fatigue that was already there anyway. My appetite shot back down to the way it was before. It's now been almost 5 months and I've lost a significant amount of weight and am yet again fatigued, weak, foggy. It's taken me a long time to figure out that I should see a doctor about this. I'm otherwise a fairly intelligent person but this has somehow slipped me. At this point I'm trying to work it out with my insurance to get in with a doctor. I'm looking at a possible wait of a month or more. In the meanwhile I've been doing some looking around for anything that might provide answers.

After freaking out by seeing the word cancer come up way too often in searchs I consulted a friend who's husband is a doctor. He said he thought it sounded like some kind of endocrine disorder. So I looked at information on that and came across Addison's. Reading the description of it I feel strongly that this might be what is happening to me. And looking back I can see signs from my teen years that also might point towards it. I've never been able to handle the cold well, have always been slim from a low appetite, and have had periods of mental fogginess. It hasn't been since the last 2 years however that it's gotten so severe. These last two weeks have been particularly draining. I'm feeling very weak and exhausted and am unable to eat enough to keep myself "up and running". This is really hard on me as I have two young children. I worry also that I won't be able to keep up in school in August. I am enrolled as a pre-pharmacy student at the university in my city.

I'm unclear about if I'm just overreacting, I'm constantly doubting myself. I keep telling myself that maybe tomorrow it'll get better. I've been telling myself this for 2 years now. I'm frustrated with the wait time to see a doctor and am frustrated by not knowing if I need to see a doctor as soon as possible or if I can really wait.

I guess what I'm hoping anyone can tell me is if this sounds like Addison's to those of you who have it. And what path I should take? Should I push to be seen or can I wait? I know there probably aren't doctors here but I'm at a loss for what to do. I'm concerned I might be getting sick and don't really know what to do. :confused: Any advice or thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

-Val

It definately sound like you have some sort of adrenal deficiancy going on whether it be your thyroid that is out of wack and causing adrenal problems, or something else is going on. I have Lyme disease which has caused my adrenal Insufficiancy, but that doesn't mean that Lyme is your problem, your main complaints seem to be your fatigue and weight loss. I too suffer from extreme fatigue and can't keep weight on. I have to force myself to eat fattening foods all the time to keep it on. And then sometimes I am eating 3000 calories a day and still lose weight. It's so frustrating. Also, my fatigue is horrible, If I didn't have children I don't think I would get out of bed. and it also comes in waves where I won't feel really bad, and then all of a sudden it's like it hits me suddenly, like in an instant. My cortisol levels were tested first 4 years ago and my body was producing half the cortisol it should be producing. Now it is worse. I haven't been taking anything because I have Lyme, but because my AI has worsened my endocronologist is putting my on a very low dose of cortef. I really think you need to see a doc, as soon as possible, only you know how bad you feel. But Addison's can be very dangerous if not monitored and treated by a doc. And something is definately effecting your energy levels, you are too young to be feeling this bad. You should also have your thyroid checked because these two can go hand in hand. Hope I could be of some help. You can also look on the thyroid and Lyme posts for symptoms. sincerely, Sarah

Hi Val
Your situation sounds much like mine: years of problems including lack of appetite, weight loss, low blood pressure, low blood sugar, dehydration, etc. After going through several doctors, I happened on a good endocrinologist who tested my adrenal glands and found that I had Addison's. At first, they thought it was primary Addison's, but further testing revealed that it was secondary due to problems with my pituitary gland. I currently take 20 mg of Cortef and have been stable for about four years. I agree with Sarah that you need to find a good doctor, ask for an ACTH stimulation test, and then have your thyroid and growth hormone levels tested as well (both of these were virtually non-existent in me, and I currently take Synthroid and human growth hormone too). She is also right that untreated Addison's can be dangerous -- even life-threatening. Good luck, and let us know how you make out.

Thanks so much for the replies! It's so confusing to me and is helpful to know from other people what they think. Has anyone gone in to their GP's office and asked for those specific tests? Do they react ok when you request specific tests? I've been discussing all this with my husband and he feels I should go to urgent care so that I can be referred faster to a GP or specialist. Basically by going in it allows a much shorter wait time to see a doctor. But I'm not real certain that I should do that because I feel like I'd be wasting their time. Like it would be ridiculous to go in just to get referred faster. Has anyone ever done anything like that? I'm not talking about the ER, it's a seperate portion that deals with issues that are important but not emergencies. I'm not feeling like it's totally urgent in that I need to be referred tomorrow or something but then I understand also that I could possibly be waiting for a month or two! :confused:

Is it unusual for this to happen at my age? Hypothetically if I did have Addison's and the onset came on around age 21 is that unusual?