Have you ever thought you had a perfect grasp on understanding something, and all of your understanding comes apart with one word? Gatorade. That did it for me. Mind you, I am a rookie at this, but it has been my understanding from day one that an Addison's patient has high potassium levels and therefore should avoid Gatorade like the plague. What led to the undoing of my comprehension was a blood test. I had several occurrences of the lunch incident that I mentioned in my last post. For the past few weeks I have noticed that every time that I get hot or begin to sweat just a little bit, the symptoms kick in violently. Vice grip headache between the eyes, my hearing fades, my vision becomes blurry, and I feel like I'm about to faint. Taking fludrocortisone seems to rectify the situation in a matter of minutes, but never the less, the symptoms are unpleasant, even more so when it occurs in public.
My doctor phoned me, not an assistant, or nurse. That is a magical event in itself. Of course I missed the phone call, and he left me a message on voicemail. "But wait! I have so many questions!" He let me know that he wanted me to reduce my fludrocortisone intake, and that my DHEA, sodium, and potassium were low. He suggested that I take 25mgs of DHEA and drink Gatorade. Gatorade! Low potassium! Whaaaa?
I'm still trying to contact my doctor and kicking myself for missing the phone call. However, I'm happy to report that after taking my DHEA supplement and sipping on a potassium filled drink the symptoms seem to have eased.
One of the questions that still remains is, could any of my symptoms be related to a small 6mm pituitary tumor? I suspect that will take time and observation to know for sure.
There is one thing that occurs to me in my mass confusion of the inner workings of the human body. It takes trial and error, stabs in the dark, and best guesses to try and maintain a body at a functioning level when one of our glands isn't doing it's work properly. For all of my "human knowledge" I'm humbled at the great design of my Creator who fashioned our bodies to work so intricately.
I'm reminded of a time when I was doing some interim bookkeeping for a church. This church had very difficult accounting software that was completely foreign to me. The look of frustration must have been decorating my face one afternoon, when the Pastor poked his head inside the door. "You may not know how to understand that software, but it's nothing for God." He whistled his way down the hallway, leaving me to ponder his comment. Every time that I became frustrated with my lack of understanding, I repeated the Pastors words. In time, I tackled that software. In time, with God's help, I will understand how this foreign internal programing works as well!
Blessings!
Alicia
This disease can be very frustrating and confusing at times can't it? I am secondary adrenal insuffiency and I generally have low possasium, especially in the summer. Last summer I was close to crisis and my sodium was low too, which is usually not the norm in secondaries. Low potassium levels knocks me out, I feel very ill when it happens. This summer I started taking florinef to hopefully help me with the sweating and heat, and it has helped. If your pituitary is functioning it will mess with all your levels. I will drink Gatorade in the summer because of the heat, but I need to be aware that my potasium could go up because of the florinef now. I don't even know if what I am saying is making any sense....like I said, this stuff is confusing. I hope you are feeling better, and you and your doctor can keep you feeling good. (I take 12.5 mg DHEA everyday.
ReplyDeleteHi, Mo! Thank you for sharing! I have been told that I am primary, but yet I also have the small pituitary tumor. I am wondering if I could possibly be secondary due to the tumor. Have you ever known a primary Addison to have low pottassium?
DeleteI have been keeping up with a yoga class and a couple of pilates classes a week. I have to stop and take a drink of my gatorade, and catch my breath if I start to exert too much, but I make it through.
How are you doing? Hope your having a good week! We can be counting down for cooler weather together! I've never been so eager for October and November to arrive in my life! LOL!