The Addison’s Chronicles – Part 8…

Two things – I’m sleeping barely at all, and I’m piling on weight. Both, I believe, have the same cause. Yep, it’s Hydrocortisone again.

I’ve noticed that taking extra Hydro (an additional 20mg a day to counter the stress caused by severe pain plus a diet of antibiotics to treat both respiratory and leg ulcer infections – 1g Amoxycillin, t.r.d ), coincides with feeling exceptionally hungry – not eating isn’t an option, the hunger is an imperative – and also with being almost totally unable to sleep. I’m normally awake until 03.30 – 04.00, by which time exhaustion takes over. Then I’m liable to

The Addison’s Chronicles – Part 5…

I can’t help noticing that in parts 2 to 4 I dropped the terminal s from Chronicles. Apologies. I can’t do anything about that without confusing Google but, from now, it’s back.

Infection risk in Addison’s Disease…

One of the first things I learned about Addison’s is that it slows down healing dramatically, especially recovery from infection, which explained why I had such an horrendous year in 2013.

Additional Hydro would have helped, but as the fuckwit endocrinologist at APH failed to tell me I had Addison’s, and my GP failed to spot the reference in my discharge notes until I poked him with a stick a year later, by which time I’d figured out what was wrong with me myself, that didn’t happen.

What I didn’t know, and only found out a couple of days ago, while poking around the online version of the British National Formulary, is that

Yet another bloody letter to my GP…

Letter removed as no longer needed – see this post.

The Addison’s Chronicle – Part 3…

So, hey, here we are again.

The purpose of this chronicle is to share what I learn with others, in the hope that it might be useful – that’s the function of a large part of this blog, in fact – but the learning curve is showing no signs of levelling out so far, so I’m back.

NB: For new readers, some of what follows you might have read previously, but as not everyone reads every post there will inevitably be some duplication for the sake of clarity and completeness.

With the benefit of that wonderful thing, hindsight, I am now reasonably confident

The Addison’s Chronicle – Part 2…

Well, this has come along a lot sooner than I expected, the reason being my GP, in the space of three days, has twice failed to comply with guidelines for the treatment of Addison’s, first here, and again yesterday.

The first one, he prescribed an additional 10 days of hydrocortisone tablets when the Addison’s Clinical Advisory Panel guidelines say this should be

Yet another letter to my GP – he won’t comply with Addison’s meds guidelines…

April 1 2014

***

Dear Dr. Xxxxx,

Source: NICE:-
What is the prognosis?
If untreated, Addison’s disease is always fatal.

Doubtless this risk remains if Addison’s is not treated in accordance with its various guidelines, too. There are valid reasons for their existence – they should not simply be disregarded.

So I have to ask you, Dr. Xxxx, if you feel you cannot or will not comply with the guidelines as outlined below, and for the reasons given, regarding prescribing in quantity, to please refer me to an endocrinologist as a matter of extreme urgency. And, please, not the idiot who fouled up at APH. Given what he’s responsible for putting me through I cannot be responsible for the consequences were we to meet.

Thank you.

I am, I confess, staggered to learn that your “larger number” of hydrocortisone tablets amounts to a mere 30. This leaves very little scope for, well, anything really, and I have to ask you, especially in the light of what follows, to please reconsider.

For example, the NICE Guidelines: Intercurrent illness – adjustment of steroid dose section state that:-

“If the person is on antibiotics for infection or sepsis, the normal glucocorticoid (hydrocortisone, dexamethasone, or prednisolone) medication should be doubled until recovered.”  See footnote on this subject.

There is a sputum sample on its way to APH; it will, I believe, require

The Addison’s Chronicles – Part 1…

I think it might be useful to record my coming to terms with Addison’s Disease, much as I did with Chronicles of the Heart and my heart-related problems and now, as then, I’ve been lucky to survive even more consultant-related fuckuppery .

As I’ve said, my Addison’s was diagnosed a year ago, but I wasn’t told, and my GP tells me that the information sent to him was hidden, and I quote “Your specialist buried the mention of blood tests in his discharge summary…”.

I don’t know who that incompetent