Adrenal Insufficiency Support Group

I'm on a trial dose of hydrocortisone, just 5mgs twice a day. I notice that most people on here take their meds at certain times? I took 5mgs this morning and the other 5 with lunch, the endo didn't give me any specific instructions except to call him in a week and he may increase this dose.

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!

Susan

Hi Susan,

My daughter was initially taking 20 mg in a.m and 10 at night. Recently switched to 10 mg a.m 10 lunch 10 in evening. I hope that helps. Does really tell you what to do but shows our break down. I hope you start feeling better

sue

Hi Susan, I give my daughter 10mg in the am. and then 5 more at about 3pm.

Her endo said to spread it out as much as possible. i was giving to her at 7pm but she always had trouble sleeping so we moved it to 3 pm.

I hope your feeling better too.

Kim

For my son (who is five) we do 2.5 at 6am, and another 2.5 at 6pm.

Our Endo told us to keep it as close to 12 hours apart as possible, but if we give him his evening dose any later then 6 he has a lot of trouble falling asleep.

I was originally on 20 mg in the morning, and 10 in the mid-afternoon. I was then decreased to. and still am on, 10 mg am, and 5 mg pm. I personally was told NOT to take it too close to bedtime. I began at 3:00 pm....and now am up to 1:00 pm. On that dosage, I'm sooo wired, and am having trouble sleeping. Being wired isn't too bad when I need to think or make decisions, but come bed time it's the pits. Are you feeling OK on this dosage? or do you collapse mid-afternoon. I'm not an expert, but from my experience, I had to experiment to what is good for me. I'm not a doctor, just sharing my experience. GOOD LUCK!

My endo told me the "normal" dose for adrenal insufficiency is 20 in the am and 10 in the evening or at supper time. Because of my malabsorption issues I take 20 in a.m., 10 at lunch and 10 at supper. Bob thinks they don't know what they are talking about most of the time and I tend to agree but we gotta start somewhere right?

Thanks for all of the responses! I am taking a lower dose than all of you (except for the little one), and I feel that I may have a little more energy, but that's about it. The endo said this is a "test dose". I have to have a bunch of bloodwork on Saturday, after a week on the hydrocortisone, and I'm supposed to call him next week and we'll kind of go from there.

He said I'm a bit of a difficult case, I have very low cortisol numbers, but I also have low potassium and my BP tends to run high, AND I also have very bad allergies and fatigue. He said he's going to try to treat me based more on my symptoms for now.

This is such a wonderful place to come for support! Thanks again!

Susan

HI Susan, my daughters endo told me 10-15mg is a maintenance dose. This is what your body would make if you had no stressers. I think that makes sense too. You do not want to over do it because then you will have problems with wieght gain.

Hope thats helpful

~~~HUGS~~~

Kim

My son takes 5 mg HC when he first gets up. 5 mg at noon and 2.5 mg at 5 pm. He has no trouble going to sleep at night. We used to only take 2 doses one in the AM and one in the evening, but he was having a hard time making it through the school day so we added the 3rd dose. It has worked out well for him.

Lora-Joy

Susan,

Another note on blood pressure - Bob told me once that when you're cortisol insufficient, it constricts the vascular system. That causes high blood pressure. So adjusting your dose to optimum level should help to stabilize that as well.

And yes, you must keep a close eye on potassium issues.

Deb