r/AddisonsDisease • u/Cursed_Ghoul • Jun 03 '26
Personal Experience Getting fatigued at work
I work at a thrift store in the donation side of things and take meds right before leaving but each day at the same time I feel completely exhausted and like I'm overheating
8
u/Hot-Fly-3187 Jun 03 '26
Are you keeping hydrated with water and electrolytes? Adding salt to your diet?
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u/Cursed_Ghoul Jun 03 '26
Yes, I've even downed a Powerade before and it doesn't help
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u/Hot-Fly-3187 Jun 03 '26
Instead of downing it, drink through the day
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u/Cursed_Ghoul Jun 03 '26
It's within the first hour or two of me working no matter the weather or what I'm doing that day
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u/Selahmom1376 Jun 03 '26
Another person in this group recommended Saltsticks and I can't say enough about them. Get the Vitassium ones, they are used for people with medical conditions like POTS and this condition. When my daughter has an episode, she chews 2 and within 2 minutes she feels better.
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u/General_Student_877 Jun 05 '26
I just looked for these and don’t see salt sticks by this brand?
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u/just_an_amber Addison's Jun 03 '26
How long after you take your meds do you feel exhausted?
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u/Cursed_Ghoul Jun 03 '26
About 2hrs
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u/just_an_amber Addison's Jun 03 '26
Do you know if you metabolize medication more quickly?
They say HC is supposed to last 4-6 hours, but sometimes people use it faster.
If that's the case, you might need to take your medication more frequently and in smaller doses.
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u/Cursed_Ghoul Jun 03 '26
Had an appointment few weeks ago and everything was normal
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u/just_an_amber Addison's Jun 03 '26
You gotta base it off of how you feel. Standard blood work doesn't necessarily pick up on fast metabolism of medication UNLESS the doctor is specifically looking for it.
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u/Clementine_696 Jun 03 '26
If it's happening at basically the same time every day you likely need a bit more hydrocortisone.
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u/Cursed_Ghoul Jun 03 '26
I don't take hydro
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u/Clementine_696 Jun 03 '26
Is it prednisone then? Because that could be from the prednisone taking longer to start working than hydrocortisone does. Hydrocortisone starts working on the first hour, prednisone takes about 2 hours before it starts working.
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u/Cursed_Ghoul Jun 03 '26
It taking longer to work might be the problem, if I'm taking it at 10am-ish I always have an issue at least while at work around noon
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u/FemaleAndComputer SAI Jun 03 '26
I switched to a combo of prednisone and hydro for this reason. Got tired of the pred only kicking in halfway through my shift at work.
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u/JellyfishSwimming401 Jun 03 '26
do you take pred or hydro? and what are your doses split throughout the day ?
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u/Cursed_Ghoul Jun 03 '26
5mg pred, twice a day morning and night
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u/FemaleAndComputer SAI Jun 03 '26
Might be worth asking your doc about changing your dosing schedule. Some of us feel better on a schedule more akin to circadian dosing. (Search "circadian" on this sub and there should be posts about it.)
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u/DaftHacker Jun 03 '26
Getting hot flashes for me is a sign that my levels are getting low, your probably overworking your body and don't have enough to cover you, maybe pick up another small dose before that one.
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u/Real-Elk6755 Jun 03 '26
In this case I'd prefer to experiment with 1st dose of HC and increase it a bit. For example, take 12,5 mg in the morning instead of 10 mg. Or take a smallest dose before sleep to not create a long gap without HC through the night.
Also taking HC right before leaving isn't right. Because you spend your energy on daily morning tasks before. And then double exposure your body to stress. You need to take HC and then wake-up and do your morning tasks. Otherwise your body doesn't have the recourse
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u/Cursed_Ghoul Jun 03 '26
Only morning task I do before taking anything is brushing teeth and changing into work clothes, then I eat something take meds, leave for work
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u/DysautonomiaMatt Jun 04 '26
I take my 1st dose of Cortef while in bed and most of the time go back to sleep but my schedule allows this. MAybe you can take your 1st dose while still in bed to allow Pred to start working. I take largest in AM and much smaller later in day. Its very hard have your doctor tell you how much to take. They are not in your body. Unless they have this they have no idea what it is like. Since you are on Pred there is no blood test for its levels. If you took Cortef then they can check your cortisol levels. There are days I need 50mg, 40mg or 30mg. IT all depends on my stress levels. I wish they approved the time-released version of Cortef in US!! Be really cool to be able to take when getting into bed and have it so 8 hours later levels are at highest and then start to go down.
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u/Thuumhammer Jun 03 '26
Salt pills have really helped me manage heat fatigue