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Sure! You can send me an email at beetlybug@msn.com. I’m doing better! 🙂
Update:
I have been off of the steroids for over a week now & feel better, (I had a sudden allergic reaction to them is why I had to stop weaning), but now I am having lots of withdrawal/detox symptoms which are no fun, not as bad as the side effects of the hydrocortisone though!
Does anyone have any idea how long the withdrawal/detox symptoms last? My adrenals have bounced back wonderfully thank goodness, so it’s not symptoms from them. The doctor said he’s never seen anyone completely stop taking the steroids from 12mg a day to nothing & have my adrenals do as well as they have, my body was very ready to be off of them completely! I’m still on the Adrenal Factor supplement, so I’m sure that helps.
Any ideas are greatly appreciated! Thank you…Update:
I’ve started taking an adrenal support supplement called “Adrenal Factor” that I got from my doctor, twice a day. My adrenals have thankfully woke up after being suppressed for months, they are doing about 40-50% of the work now! I’m still weaning off of the dreaded hydrocortisone steroid, I’m taking 22mg of it a day now & hope to be off of it in a few more months of weaning.
I’m still housebound, (it’s been almost 6 months), very weak & tired still, but am slowly improving thankfully.
This has been the hardest journey of my life, but it will be WELL worth it in the end!
I am ready for this to be over once and for all….Update: I have been able to wean down off of the steroids by larger amounts with my doctors help, (with lots of mental & physical discomfort, crying, rage, flu like symptoms etc…), but I was having those symptoms anyway, so we figured I may as well power through it!
I’m down from 180mg of hydrocortisone a day to 65mg a day – yay! I have to get down to about 30-40mg a day to feel “normal”, then wean MUCH slower after that, because that’s when my adrenals will start “kicking in” to help.
I will continue my gluten/sugar free anti-inflammatory, high protein/fat diet, (eating every 2-3 hours to keep my blood sugar as even as possible), along with herbs/vitamins for adrenal support, lots of water, stretching & light exercise when possible. And lots of rest & sleep when I can.
I am doing lots of positive visualization, imagining my suppressed adrenals waking up happy & healthy, ready to take on the role that the steroids were playing. This is quite a recovery process & hard not to get discouraged at times, but I WILL get through this eventually!Thank you for all of your help! It means a lot….
I get outside every day, but am too weak to do much walking yet, other than around the house, my watch app says I walk about 2 miles a day, so that’s good, I’ll keep working at it, but don’t want to over do!
I meant I’m taking 5,000iu’s of Vitamin A (NOT vitamin K) on my last post. Also, I’ve been told that Vitamin D inhibits the absorption of the steroids & to avoid it until you wean off.
I am allergic to Melatonin unfortunately…I’ve tried all of those things on the sleep hygiene list & they help some, but I’m pretty sure once I’m off of the steroids it will take care of itself.
I was able to wean down another 15mg yesterday after seeing the doctor. I’m excited that my body is finally ready to get off of these steroids!
I’ve been eating all of those foods to gain weight, but I’m barely maintaining, it will all come back eventually, just have to keep a close eye on it for now.
One thing I’ve found that helps the muscle cramps is eating lots of protein & keeping my electrolytes high. I take 1 Tablespoons of “Selectrolytes” (you can find this online) in 16 ounces of water 2 times a day, it helps a lot.Sleep? What’s that? hahaha…Anyway, I’ve been told as long as I’m taking the hydrocortisone & going through this process, sleep will be hit & miss, which it has been. I go to bed around 7pm (only because I’m exhausted), sleep for about an hour or two, lay there for about an hour, sleep for another 2-4 if I’m lucky, then awake for a couple more, then I get another hour if I’m REALLY lucky. But I’ve been told not to stress about it, that the rest is just as important. What’s frustrating, is that I can’t get out of bed until after 6am when I take my first dose of pills, otherwise it messes everything up! Very frustrating, but nothing I can do about it at this time, I just lay there and do deep breathing or meditate, so no need to STRESS about it or my body will just need even more hydrocortisone!
I go outside several times a day regardless of the weather, but have been told to avoid vitamin D while in the adrenal recovery process. But I am taking 5,000 IU of Vitamin K & 1,000 Mg of Vitamin C, which is helping. I’m also in the process of balancing my blood sugar, which is a challenge, but I’m getting better at looking for the first signs of that, eating every 2 hours, low glycemic fruits 20-30 minutes before proteins helps with the digestive upset a lot. So does eating organic, gluten/sugar free!
Also, since my adrenals are fully suppressed, so is my immune system, so it’s very lonely not having visitors or family to visit, my doctor said “Don’t get sick!” Then I’d have to up the hydrocortisone even more for a stress dose!
He said no supplements until we get closer to waking my adrenals up, then we can support them then. My doctor is an MD, but studies mostly natural medicine, so I’m lucky as I can’t take hardly any medications at all.
I’ve lost 22 pounds, (which I didn’t need to lose), mostly muscle unfortunately, I may need physical therapy to get some of that back, but I WILL fully recover! I can’t wait until my new life starts!! Thank you for this website, it’s a life saver!Teesh, How long were you on Cortef, how many MG a day & how long did it take you to wean off? Did you have any side effects? I’m slowly weaning down, but it’s taking a long time, my body is done with it, but I realize I can’t hurry it either! Much luck to us all, we WILL get through this & be WELL!
NO! Unless it’s to save your life, hydrocortisone or cortef, is a steroid that i have been trying to wean off of for months, along with the drug withdrawal side effects and the side effects from the drug itself, it’s something I would never do again unless it was life and death, i would be more on the road to recovery if it wasn’t taking so long to wean off of this stuff 🙁
