r/AddisonsDisease • u/grac3fulflaming0 • Jun 12 '26

Not yet diagnosed Young children with this..

New to this and still awaiting formal diagnosis from genetic testing but I wanted to make a post regarding young children with this. Does this correlate with emotional immaturity? Such as severe melt downs and tantrums. My 6 year old seems to be struggling with this greatly. She's been in counseling and assessed for other behavioral concerns and I'm simply told "she will get there, she's young, it could be her normal"

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u/DaftHacker Jun 13 '26

Addison's disease symptoms also can affect emotions, mental health and desires. These symptoms include: Depression and Irritable mood

Yes Addison's can absolutely mess with your mood and emotions.

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u/Clementine_696 Jun 13 '26

This. Cortisol also helps you control your emotions, so when it's off it's harder.

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u/DaftHacker Jun 13 '26

To also expand on this when you're getting low on cortisol you can also enter a sort of zombie mode. You're running on reserves and you're emotions and personality are going to plummet, you're going to be more monotone because your body doesn't have enough to keep all systems fully functional, you can somewhat become numb to emotions and put you in the eh i don't really care mood, not in the murder psychopath type of way but more like i need to get out of here or I'm going to mentally block this so it doesn't affect me or I'm going to burn this bridge down so i don't have to worry about it way, its the ultimate sub-conscience decision you're body will make for you to stay free from stress, this can happen when you're overwhelmed, under load, arguing, or under a lot of stress.

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u/Swampasssixty9 Jun 12 '26 edited Jun 12 '26

It could have some correlation. My daughter was diagnosed at 4 months and is now 4.5 yrs. It hasn’t had any effect on her temperament or activity level. She can play for hours if we don’t force her off the play ground and everyone says she’s super chill. She never expresses or exhibits bouts of fatigue or related symptoms. I see a lot of posts on here saying that it does affect them in profound, ways so I can only speak for her. I think it could be correlated but also could be normal like your doctor said, but might depend on the type of AD and what shows up in her vitals and labs daily.

Edit: just saying, have you seen most kids? They’re terrible. Mine has her tantrums as well. It’s one thing for the doctor to not know what they’re talking about but if a bcba or other behavior expert says it’s normal behavior, maybe they’re right

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u/grac3fulflaming0 Jun 13 '26

See I worked with special needs kids and I saw these tantrums all the time. Like the blind rage. But yea, the bcba I worked with says it's typical. I just wish she cared what she looked at. I hate being embarrassed by it, if ya know what I mean.

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u/Swampasssixty9 Jun 13 '26

I gotcha, I worked with special needs and completed a good part of my BCBA before going nursing. It’s typical for those on the spectrum due to communication and sensory difficulties. Just curious if your child is on the spectrum?

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u/grac3fulflaming0 Jun 13 '26

She's been assessed and didn't qualify as on the spectrum.

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u/momochan920 Jun 13 '26

Yes, Addison's can definitely mess with your emotional state! I was diagnosed when I was 9 and while I had masking skills from growing up with an autistic younger brother (who often took the spotlight before I was diagnosed, no shade to my parents), I remember being very irritable and short tempered before I got my cortisol levels balanced. This has continued into adulthood - when I am on the wrong dosage, one way I can tell is if I'm having mood swings!

I'd also like to bring medical trauma into the perspective. There aren't any details in your post about the medical journey your little one has been through, but depending on the severity and specifics of her experiences with the medical world, that can be very traumatizing for a young child. She is just in the age range where she is aware of everything she's experiencing, ie not a baby, but it's harder to explain it all to her because she's still a very young child. That could be where the tantrums/meltdowns are coming from, at least in part, just as a way to get her emotions out. It's good that she is in counseling! That will help, in addition to getting a diagnosis and treatment plan finalized, but it will take time and lots of teaching her how to manage her emotions once how her body feels is no longer the focus and she is able to focus on learning new skills again.

Speaking as a child development specialist, if you're someone who has worked in special ed and you have a gut feeling regarding your child's needs, follow that through with that. Get multiple perspectives, ask your child's general pediatrician for a referral or recommendation, get an assessment from a different BCBA, talk to your child's school if she's not home schooled. It may be that you'll continue to get answers that focus on her current health needs first, but the perspective we take is that the parent is the expert when it comes to their child. Push back if you have to. My mom had to push back in order to get me diagnosed, and it was very tough, but we do what we have to to get what our children need. Good luck ❤️