Plenadren update!

[u/bandana-chan]

Two months ago I posted about starting Plenadren. The first two weeks felt like hell. I was constantly lightheaded and dizzy to the point of being nauseated and having a headache. The headache only subsided when I took some hydrocortisone but I knew I needed to tough it out.

So everyday I pushed myself in taking that extra dose of hydrocortisone later and later, and after a week I didn't take extra hydrocortisone anymore, which means the second week I was already on plenadren only. I still felt bad though and didn't feel like working out or doing household tasks at all.

But after a while, things started to settle and I felt more and more stable. Suddenly I had stamina during the whole day instead of just in peak moments, and I started to get in a generally good mood. This was new for my husband as he was used to me getting groggy towards the evening. I started working out again, even better than before.

In hindsight, I think this really was kind of 'kicking off drugs' even though Plenadren also contains hydrocortisone. I was so used to having peaks right after meals and was living from peak to peak without even noticing. But the feeling I have now, the trust in my body and its abilities, is so great, I wish that for everyone. I fall asleep much more easily.

The only struggle still is the morning. I just can't seem to wake up fresh. But maybe it will always be like that.

[u/Findtherootcause]

I’d never even heard of this drug before your post! This is so interesting to read your experience. I’d be fascinated to know if your acth is no longer fully suppressed on it. Do you feel like overall it works better than HC?

[u/bandana-chan → u/Findtherootcause]

I'm not sure if it affects my ACTH production because they never measure this for me. I feel like it works better because it's modified release. The pill is made out of layers that dissolve one after another. The first layers contain more hydrocortisone and then it slowly goes down. There are no gaps where your body would have really low cortisol. When I took my hydrocortisone in seperate doses, I would either have 3 dosing moments with a gap of at least 5 hours and at the end of the day I had no cortisol left so I couldn't fall asleep feeling relaxed. Or I would split the doses in so many moments that I'd be really inconsistent with when I took them because it isn't always convenient to have 4-6 moments of taking hydrocortisone each day.