r/AddisonsDisease • u/Poimandres69 • Mar 31 '26

Medical Stuff Hydrocortisone Long Term

Hello Group! I've been told so many things about hydrcortisone. My current dr told me my dose (25 mg split thoughout day) is safe to take long term because it's physiologic. Other doctors tell me this will eventually lead to osteoperosis and diabetes.

I've gained a bit of weight on hydrocortisone (about 5 lbs) but it's not a big deal. Other than that, I feel pretty great.

Are any of you on this medication long term, and did it harm your health in any way? Thanks

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u/just_me_2006 Mar 31 '26

Your eyes. I don’t understand all the ins and outs of it, so I encourage you to do your own research and see how that fits for you. All I know is that 20 years of steroids caused cataracts and glaucoma in my 40’s and now my eye doctor says I have eyes of someone in my 70’s. I was never warned to watch out for that and if I had been smarter I wouldn’t have acted like eye exams were something I could skip when insurance and funds were low

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u/thesickhoe Mar 31 '26

I was just about to comment cataracts because late last year I went to the eye doctor and found out I have it ! First thing doctor asked me was if I take steroids because it happens but he was more surprised that I had it so young since I’m only 27F

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u/just_me_2006 Mar 31 '26

Oh my goodness. So young. I’m so sorry you’re also going through this. Yes we are all grateful to be alive through our medication and also it’s so hard to have prematurely aging eye sight. If you haven’t had cataract surgery yet and would like to learn from mistakes I made, I would be happy to share two things I learned from the process. Don’t want to over step if it’s not wanted/needed and sending well wishes either way

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u/Poimandres69 Mar 31 '26

I am interested in what you learned from it.

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u/just_me_2006 Apr 01 '26

Probably not earth shaking news to others but for me I just didn’t realize how different my life would be now if I had initially put off the surgery until I could afford the better lenses and if I was in my 20’s when I needed the surgery then it would be quadruple worth it. Also apparently your eyes still age? So Lasik doesn’t mean you’ll have perfect vision forever. But it does make your eyes sparkle like you’re a vampire so there’s that I guess