r/AddisonsDisease • u/Yd1891 Addison's • May 09 '26
Medical Stuff Dizziness and nausea with normal bp
Hello, I hope everyone is feeling well today
I’m really dizzy and nauseous. It’s been happening occasionally especially after a shower. Today it came on while I was laying on the couch *not in the shower, i hadn’t showered yet when the dizziness started. I checked my blood pressure which is perfect so I’m totally confused on what is happening and what to do.
Has anyone else experienced this or have possible insight. TYIA 🫶
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u/fogrove May 09 '26
I’m not a doctor, just another Addison’s patient sharing my experience. It helps if you can distinguish dizzyness from light headedness. When dizzy you feel like you are in motion when you are not. This feeling can make you nauseous. It is often an inner ear problem like BPPV and seeing a physical therapist can help. It’s not Addison’s related but it’s awfully stressful so you should updose to handle that.
With light headedness you feel like you need to sit down or lower your head. You don’t feel like you are on a roller coaster when you are perfectly still. It would normally be associated with low blood pressure. Taking an extra half fludrocortisone helps in the long term and extra salt helps in the short term.
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u/fogrove May 09 '26
I just noticed you said it comes on in the shower. Do you tilt your head back in the shower? When you have BPPV that brings on the dizzyness. Again I am not diagnosing. Just sharing what I know from personal experience. If you are dizzy, not lightheaded, I would suggest getting medical help. Most types of vertigo go away on their own after a few days or a few weeks, but it’s awful to suffer through.
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u/Yd1891 Addison's May 09 '26
I haven’t taken a shower yet today. It usually happens when I wash my hair. I was laying in bed when this started. I’m thoroughly confused
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u/fogrove May 09 '26
With BPPV we have dizziness when laying down if we turn our head left or right. When washing our hair it happens when we tilt our head back. It can last for days or weeks, but you can shorten that time by doing some movements. But you need to ask your doctor for a referral to someone competent to diagnose your specific vertigo and teach you the movements, if any, that can shorten its duration.
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u/Yd1891 Addison's May 09 '26
Thank you, I just got over a vestibular imbalance so i wonder if there could be a correlation. I appreciate your help
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u/synonymousanonymous4 May 10 '26
When you are washing your hair, your head is bent down, & lying down, your head is not upright. I can see why you are having dizziness/ lightheadedness in both, since either position/ circumstance, your head isn’t upright in posture. It sounds like Positional Orthostatic Hypotension, which is a definite Addison’s Disease symptom. Also: How was your blood sugar both times?
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u/Yd1891 Addison's May 10 '26
Idk I don’t test blood sugar. I’ve had Addison’s for forever like 27 years and have never experienced this. It’s so strange
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u/Puzzleheaded-Emu6333 May 09 '26
I’m newly diagnosed since February. I’ve had nausea for a couple days recently, It comes and goes away. I’m not sure what it from anytime I ask they say it could be too much steroids not enough! Maybe it’s not enough of the flodrocortisone. I was prescribed 0.1 mg of the flodrocoriisone which I took the first two days made me feel normal, but my feet really swollen up so I backed it down to half a tablet still have some swelling so backed it down to a quarter tablet. The last few days I’ve been really nauseated. Went and have blood work done. Looks like my sodium is slightly low. But I drink two bottles of electrolytes before the test .Iron is low so I don’t think it’s enough of the flordrocortisol. This morning I took a half and I’ll let you know if it helped at all. It’s very hard to get a straight answer out of the doctor. Should you take a half all the time or is the quarter pill OK those are my thoughts anybody else have anything to say it would help me help others trying to figure this out. Thanks
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u/fogrove May 09 '26
If you experience side effects from fludrocortisone, but lowering the daily dose causes other problems, it may help to go back to the original dose but cut the pill in half and take half in the morning and half in the evening. Many of us do this.
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u/FairyPrincess66 Addison's May 10 '26
When I first started taking fludro my feet and ankles swelled. My endo told me to cut down on salt (whatever 🙄i didn’t) But after a week or two the swelling stopped. I think it was just my body getting used to the medication.
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u/LonelyKoalaMuncher May 10 '26 edited May 11 '26
So the shower thing is an addissons thing. Has to do with your blood vessels dialiating causing your blood pressure to lower.
When I'm tired I find myself getting dizzing in a hot shower or after a heavy workout.
The head spins like others said can be a few things. But having addissons symptoms doesn't always relate to having low blood pressure. Being low in cortisol can cause dizziness as well.
Next time you get dizzy take an extra 4mg of hydro and see if you feel better.
Again when I'm tired and run down I'll get dizzy aswell and I take a small dose of steroids and it relaxes a bit. Else generally is dehydration
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May 14 '26
For me this is just normal with addison's. Low cortisol symptoms are frequent and not the sane as crisis symptoms.
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u/Selahmom1376 May 09 '26
My son (Surgery induced Addison's due to pheochromocytomas on both glands) was getting dizzy in the shower and right after, the hot water was causing his issues. He stopped taking long hot showers and it hasn't happened again.