I'm wondering if anyone has experience with hydrocortisone. How has it helped you? Have you had more energy on it?
I'm feeling fairly well and am wondering if this is the reason. Being on it is temporary so I'm also wondering what has happened to you when you have gotten off it.
Thanks!
Posted by Faith6 (Member # 14072) on :
up...
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Well, it's good ... if you're talking about Cortef... but I can't get off of it now!
When I tried... the Raynaud's became unbearable and then I had cranial nerve pain to the max.
Posted by Bugg (Member # 8095) on :
Is Cortef a steroid as well?
Posted by elley0531 (Member # 9434) on :
Cortef is the brand name of hydrocortisone
Posted by cactus (Member # 7347) on :
Why are you taking it, and what dose?
Keeping it at a low dose is imperative.
I take a low dose of hydrocortisone daily to replace what my adrenals do not produce (I have Addison's Disease so they do not produce at all)...
It is a huge, huge help, and keeps me functional.
Prior to learning that I had Addison's... life was rough, and it seemed I was making no progress on Lyme treatment.
Getting the Addison's addressed made me turn the corner and able to get off of abx.
Posted by Bugg (Member # 8095) on :
For what it's worth, I know that Dr. C has prescribed low dose steroids (Cortef) for some lyme patients to help them through rough patches....
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
- Yes, low dose can be very helpful. To back that up with links where you can read more, there is an absolute GOLDMINE of past threads just waiting for you through the search feature. Search each of these terms.
Cortef; Hydrocortisone; Addison's in the subject line of the medical forum:
Lymetoo - How long have you been on it and how have you tried to get off of it?
Cactus - I had a very bad fall/winter. A week after having my kidney stones lasered I still wasn't able to function although according to the urologist I should have been back to normal after 24 hours. He didn't want to deal with me.
My LLMD then put me on 20 mgs of hydrocortisone for 6 months. Within a week or two I was feeling better than I have in years. I'm not sure if the improvement is because of the meds or also other factors.
I'm halfway though now and am wondering what others experienced who have been on it and how easily/hard you have gotten off it.
Another Question I have from reading other posts is - how do you support your adrenals while they are healing besides a healthy diet?
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
I've been on 10mg for several years.. was taking 20 way back... altogether about 7 yrs.
Tried to wean myself off very slowly. Dr told me how to do it. Got down to 5 mg and after being on it awhile, everything went downhill.
Posted by cactus (Member # 7347) on :
Faith, have you had your adrenal output checked? You might ask your LLMD to run some tests on it.
Funny that you should say that you didn't recover well after the kidney stones...
I had a similar experience in that I did not recover well after pancreatitis, and that is how we learned of the Addison's.
Prior to that LLMD suspected adrenal fatigue, but after the pancreatitis... I needed to up it to 20 mg of hydrocortisone and a small dose of fludricortisone.
Wow, what a difference it made.
Hopefully you'll be able to wean off the 20 mg (or whatever your doc's instructions may be regarding getting off) and this will have allowed your adrenals some recovery time.
There should be some good posts here on adrenal support you can do with supplements. Lots of knowledge here!
Posted by Faith6 (Member # 14072) on :
Lymetoo - That's what I'm afraid of... not being able to get off it. But If it makes life livable, when other things have failed, being on it for life is worth it.
Cactus - No I don't think I have had it checked ... at least not recently. I'll check with my LLMD to see at my next appointment.
Thanks for your info!
Posted by elley0531 (Member # 9434) on :
I have Addison's so I need to be on 20 mg of hydro a day as well as .1mg of fludro a day. Its all relatively small doses, but I'd be dead without it.
it has brought me back to life.
I had all my levels checked first though and also failed an ACTH stimulation test, was in the hospital for a week with severe low salt and blood pressue.
Not sure I'd go on steroids unless I knew how much cortisol I was producing.