Hi all! I am 23 and was diagnosed with addisons disease about a year and a half ago, along with hypoparathyroidism. I am currently on 20mg in the am and 10mg in the afternoon of hydrocortisol.

Here is where I am needing some input, over the past 4-5 months I have dropped a few pounds (I was at 88 and got down to 80, but I am only 4'11") and have had some trouble gaining it back. Over the past two weeks or so I have just felt so crummy, tired, achy, nauseas and I haven't been sleeping so well. At times I just feel out of it and a little light headed, my dose is obviously accurate since I am not gaining weight, so what else could be going on? I am wondering if my adrenals are slowly stopping the production of aldosterone? I hope this is not tmi, but my urine has also been extremely yellow, which I guess could be dehydration. So far I have not needed to replace aldosterone.

I guess I should also give the full story, in January I started a nursing program that is extremely stressful and demanding. Could excess stress be causing this and if it is, how do I fix it? I really don't want to increase my level of hydrocortisone, I don't want to be on more steroids than I have too. I have an appointment with my endo on Friday, but I always like to go in with a little education on what is going on.

Thanks in advance!

I think you need thorough blood testing and the saliva cortisol. Added stress can cause a change in your need for medication. The more stress you are under the more cortisol you need... same with aldosterone. Make sure they check your antibody levels, especially if they haven't before. ACA for AI addison's and the thyroid antibodies as well. You never know when the AI conditions are going to spawn off and cause something else to break. If you do not know whether yours is AI dependent, it would be a good thing to check out. My thyroid went before my adrenals. I have the over eager immune system causing me issues.

MG