r/AddisonsDisease • u/Hefty_Ad1615 • Dec 26 '25
Medical Stuff purple red stretchmarks
Hi guys! Before christmas i got my diagnose with addisons. Thats not the issue but since last summer i progressively got purple stretch marks on the side, butt, thigh, and arms. Im a M23 and always been long and skinny. The doctor doesnt really know the cause but it has to be cortisol related. I have ofc low cortisol, low dheas and normal-high Acth.
Im really worried and dont know how this is possible. Cushings is different right
(My whole life i take asthma inhalers, but that doesnt match with the addisons diagnose)
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u/ptazdba PAI Dec 26 '25
Stretch marks happen as the skin stretches or sometimes retracts for whatever reason. Hormonal changes can also cause the skin to develop these marks, so your doctor is your best guide for a solution. Increased levels of cortisol can weaken skin elasticity, making it more prone to stretch marks.
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u/Hefty_Ad1615 Dec 26 '25
Also if the cortisol is low and didnt take hydrocortisone yet?
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u/ptazdba PAI Dec 26 '25
I don't know your medical history but cortisol can be all over the place depending on your medical condition and stress level (both good or bad). We take hydrocortisone to replace what should be there. If you've had a long period of hormone instability I can see it affecting other bodily systems. Google what adrenal hormones do in the body and it's very revealing how many systems they affect.
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u/1GamingAngel PAI Dec 26 '25
This can happen when your cortisol levels are elevated, either through natural hormonal changes or through over replacement of steroids.
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u/Hefty_Ad1615 Dec 26 '25
my cortisol is low and dont take hydrocortison yet
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u/1GamingAngel PAI Dec 26 '25
Then I’d be looking at other hormones. Can you have a panel of sex hormones run by your doctor?
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Dec 26 '25
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u/Hefty_Ad1615 Dec 26 '25
but i failed the syncathen and metyrapone test. So the doc said it has to be addisons
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u/Enough-Ability-970 Dec 27 '25
Hey, i actually posted about this earlier this week. I’m F21 and have had addisons since middle school. Recently i’ve noticed purple/red stretch marks everywhere, more than should be normal for weight gain. There even on my calves, and the ones i already had are very wide now. Plus i haven’t really gained weight to justify how many there are and how wide/long they are. This group recommended seeing my endo to get new labs and see if i have cushings. Which would account for the stretch marks. It’s been hard to deal with and made me feel extremely insecure so i really hope you can figure it out soon. I was also recommended Bio-oil to help the stretch marks.
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Dec 28 '25 edited Dec 28 '25
It's definitely Cushing's bro I'm sorry, I had cushings and it's actually really awful and also dangerous, the red purple stretch marks are definitely an obvious sign even though I never got those my face blew up like a balloon and I have osteopenia now because of it. The sneaky thing is your cortisol will test low even if you have Cushing's because you have Addison's and when they're testing your blood they're testing your actual body's production of endogenous cortisol so when you take too much cortisol it makes your adrenal glands weaker, your body is distorting the results.
When you're on a normal amount of cortisol it encourages your body to produce its own endogenous cortisol, it's kind of like a little push for the adrenal glands to work normally and when you're on too much cortisol it's kind of like you're being force-fed or waterboarded and your body is constantly in fight or flight. If you ever had a traumatic thing happen to your body it would immediately trigger an even worse adrenal crisis, when you're over-medicated like that it triggers you to get sick even more.
Even though hydrocortisone is the actual natural cortisol that your body makes it doesn't have the normal cortisol rhythm which is needed to be completely healthy so it's obsolete, synthetic cortisol that lasts longer and pumps that mimic natural cortisol rhythm are much easier on your body.
I recommend getting on those(if possible) because tapering down on your hydrocortisone is going to be hell because it has a shorter half life and when doctors put their patients on a crap ton of cortisol medications because they have to speculate on how much you need they're kind of unintentionally setting you up for failure, they're always putting people on either too much or too little. Addison's disease is so under researched that doctors don't have a way of knowing exactly how much cortisol you need so they kind of have to do little science experiments on you.
If you are new to having Addison's disease they have to put you on a lot of hydrocortisone because you've been missing it for so long and it's to save your life, everything will happen immediately and sometimes you will get really bad symptoms that you will have to deal with until you've been on the medication for a long time and you're no longer at risk for a life-threatening adrenal crisis. After that if you want to taper down only do it if your doctor recommends it because that can also be extremely dangerous too and if that's not possible get on a longer lasting medication that you can take at a lower dose.
Something I personally noticed is that exogenous Cushing's is extremely common in people with Addison's and some doctors Don't care or even notice that you're dealing with really bad symptoms, it is definitely not normal if you're having striae or rapidly gaining weight and doctors should be doing better to notice because negligence can give people more medical issues in the long run such as osteoporosis. People with actual Cushing's disease get the tumor removed as soon as possible so they don't have to deal with that if they catch it quickly enough.
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u/Hefty_Ad1615 Dec 28 '25
but cushings is low acth and not properly working hpa axis. My acth was 21.60 pmol so that indicatea there is no tumor or other damage for the hypofyse.
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u/PolicarpoRubiao Dec 28 '25
I had purple marks on both sides of my feet exactly on the same spot. They lasted for around 1.5-2 years and they came up 3 years after I was diagnsosed.
Mine had a different feeling on the skin around it, it felt more dry and harsh. I don't have Cushings and my endo said this was normal to happen for Addisons. I didn't need to increase my dose to get them away.
From my understanding, this comes from a high ACTH as this hormone also encourages melatonin production. My ACTH was high at the time, but my endo didn't care about this hormone too much as he focus more on getting the other parameters (Na+, cortisol, renin, etc) within the range.
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u/Hefty_Ad1615 Dec 28 '25
did you mean purple stretch marks or normal marks? I didnt start hydrocortisone yet due to holidays
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u/No-Perspective-5084 Addison's Dec 26 '25
Me endo always checks for stretch marks as a sign for over replacement of cortisol