What Symptoms Did You Have?

[blondy2061h]

I have always sort of wondered if I could have addison's disease, but I never mentioned it to my doctor because I don't know how it is tested for or much at all about it. How is it diagnosed? What are the symptoms you had before you were diagnosed? What age do you get it? How is it treated?

I'm an 18 year old female, but started getting really sick when I was 16. I vomit like no body's business. It is around 4 times a day without stomach meds, but now I am being treated for reflux disease and it has gone down to once a week or so.

I have had extremly low blood pressure to the point of needing to take steroids and electrolyte pills to bring it up and blacking out when I stand up if I don't.

I also have had huge weight flucuations, though I am on the high side of my range now, I can loose weight quickly when I am vomiting a lot and have no appetite.

I also have had some pretty serious problems with low blood sugars, so now I monitor them a lot. I also have a glucagon kit and have passed out twice from hypoglycemia. I don't have diabetes and am not on insulin.

In the past year I also was diagnosed with asthma.

So, does this sound like I'm on to anything?

[Bryan_05]

Sorry I can't comment on any of your symptoms, but I suppose I can list the ones I experienced and maybe you can draw some similarities from them.

Currently 20 years old, diagnosed with Addison's by an endocrinologist (sp) about five months ago. For about a year went through gradually worsening symptoms

Fatigue - I was tired standing, sitting, even sitting down. I would walk down a flight of 8 steps and find myself out of breath, needing to sit down. Got to the point where even when lying down, if I stretched out my legs my pulse would increase.

Skin Pigmentation - I found the most recognisable areas were the tips and joints of my fingers, these areas were darkened quite a bit.

Weight Loss - I'm not sure if this was from a lessened appitite or not but I dropped from 150-155lbs. to 135lbs.

Salt Craving - Always seemed to be craving pickles, olives, anything even remotely salty. I'd finish off a jar within an hour easily.

Depression - Just before the second trip to the hospital my doctor started me on anti-depressants. Didn't feel like going out with friends, activity level dropped to near zero, occational irritability.

Every three months these symptoms would worsen significantly, to the point where I would need to go to the hospital. (I think this is an Addisonian Crisis/Episode?) Vomiting nearly every hour, blood pressure dropped, and I would experience abdominal pains.

Now that I've been diagnosed I take three pills daily, increasing the dosage during period of high stress.

Hopefully some of this will help, I'm obviously not an expert on the subject but bringing it up with your doctor couldn't hurt. In my case, I went for a test that took about an hour where they give you an injection of cortesol, then take blood at the half-hour, and one hour mark, then analyse how your body reacted to it.

I hope you can find what causing your symptoms and start feeling better

[blondy2061h]

My asthma is definately hard to treat. I had to go to the ER last week, and I'm on 4 meds for it now.

I have seen an endocrinologist, but she didn't mention Addison's. I have had those thyroid tests, but it may be time for me to have them again. How is the one Addison's test done? I will look into the Osteopath.

[rwk]

Originally Posted by blondy2061h

My asthma is definately hard to treat. I had to go to the ER last week, and I'm on 4 meds for it now.

I have seen an endocrinologist, but she didn't mention Addison's. I have had those thyroid tests, but it may be time for me to have them again. How is the one Addison's test done? I will look into the Osteopath.

Be sure, whoever tests you, that they measure baseline ACTH, and aldosterone baseline and stim'ed. It will be hard to get this information once they put you on steroids, and it's no trouble for them to draw it at the same time as they draw for cortisol in your ACTH stim test.

I have been free of the ER for asthma or other respiratory stuff for one year, as of tomorrow. As opposed to about once a month for the previous 3 years.

As time goes on, I'm becoming more and more confident that the main problem was adrenal insufficiency/Addison's, and that the asthma was secondary to that. (At first, most docs thought my adrenal insufficiency was due to the steroids -- still a possibility to consider).

I'm also diabetic and hypothyroid (and maybe a couple others), and have a daughter who appears to have vitiligo -- all closely linked diseases, so despite not having detectable antibodies, it's looking more and more like Addison's. If you do have Addison's, watch out for other endocrine issues, especially thyroid.

Antibody tests may help nail down your diagnosis if you "flunk" your ACTH stim test, but if they're negative, it does not prove that you don't have Addison's.

And I second Chris's advice to get thyroid testing as well. I was losing ground again for a while until I got on Levoxyl. But do the adrenal thing first -- replacing thyroid hormones when you're low on cortisol can make things much worse.

I think Chris meant to type "anti-TSH receptor antibodies", rather than "anti-TSI"?

BTW: it was my asthma doc who suggested testing my cortisol. That was almost a year ago -- I've only seen him once since -- just a checkup! Best spirometry results ever!

[blondy2061h]

Well, I see my asthma doctor for the first time on the 30th of December. Maybe he will order the tests. I hope so. I really want to get to the bottom of this.