Son With Addisons- Very Nauseous

[Pam44]

My son was diagnosed with Addison's. His endo is still waiting on tests to see why he is not producing cortisol.I've had to take him to the ER room for fluids twice because he couldn't keep down the cortef. He is very nauseous all the time and throws up a lot and has migrains. The headaches and nausea were getting better when the endo upped his cortef dosage then she said the next day to cut it back down to half and the nausea started so today I'm giving the double dose and calling her on Monday.

She started him out on cortef 7.5 mg 3X a day and 5 mg at bedtime and that dosage wasn't stopping the nausea or headaches. When a person is first dignosed with Addiso's shouldn't what is the normal starting dose? His primary care doctor thought the endo didn't have him on enough cortef to start with. He's lost 14 pounds in 2 weeks and has been in bed for 2 months.

He is having a pituatary scan done next week and she is waiting on more test results. The endo is 2 hours and away and we only have 1 pediatric endo in our town. The hospital I took him too 3 days ago wouldn't admit him even though I asked them to because I was afraid he couldn't keep the cortef down when we got home.

He is not on florinef now. His electroytes are normal and his blood pressure has been very high on cortef. It was very low and he was first diagnosed with vasovagal syncope by a cardiologist 4 weeks ago. In the past when he's taken prednisone his BP always goes way high also.

I appreciate any suggestions or what I can do to stop the nausea. Is that an indication that he needs more cortef?
Pam

[kmatthew]

Hopefully someone with more experience will jump in and help. How old is your son?
I was started on 20 mg of cortef and it did not work for me for long because I needed more. I was not nausous. I do think that cortef does that to some people. Maybe you should try the generic called Hydrocortizone. I have read on this board before that many people do better on that. If he has confirmed addisons I am surprised that they have not added the florinef already. It really does help.
If I were you, I would call the doctor on call and let them know what is going on. You do not want him to go into an addison's crisis. I will keep your family in my prayers. Also keep an eye on the blood pressure. A side effect of cortef is elevated blood pressure, as it is a steriod.
It did not do that to me. It put me from a very LOW range back into the 90's and 100's.

[Pam44]

His doctor said we could give him up to 4 times the regular dose if needed. I don't think the nausea is caused from the cortef. He was already very nauseous before being being diagnosed and lost several pounds before starting cortef. His GP said Addison's is causing the nausea. He is prescribing anti nausea medications but none of them are helping.

[gettin' better]

When I was diagnosed, I was throwing up all the time and had lost 30 pounds. My initial dose of Cortef was 60mg. I stayed on that for several weeks and then slowly weaned down to 30 (I am on 17.5 now). The doctor should up the Cortef now as your son is obviously having an Addison's crisis. He could be dead if everyone waits for all the tests to come in! I was started on the 60mg Cortef right away. When I was stable, they did the pituitary scan. The bottom line was that I had panhypopituitarism, but no tumors. Make sure they check your son's thyroid and growth hormone levels as well. The important thing now is to get him stabilized and stop the vomiting. If your endo won't listen to you, find one who will. (Obviously, I'm not a doctor. This is just my opinion.)

[kmatthew]

You just have to make the Dr. listen that the nausousness is not going away, and that you are concerned about this situation. Addison crisis can be life threatening. Hopefully your son will feel better soon. If you add more cortef, it could elevate the blood pressure more. I would let the doctor know what the levels are for the blood pressure before increasing meds. If you get no results, from this doctor, you may have to begin that hard search for another one. When is the last time that you let him know your son was not doing well.
I think sometimes that they think if they dont hear from you all is well, and they don't realize how long or how intense the suffering has been. Just keep calling.