I have just read, on this forum, about someone intending to do a really quick end to prednisone. they were, quite rightly, warned against this because of the danger of an adrenal crisis. I was just wondering what an adrenal crisis looks/feels like?
Thanks in advance......
Speaking personally I had two types and what I call creeping crisis and sudden crisis. Creeping crisis is growing increase in symptoms of fatigue, weakness, feeling overwhelmed accompanied by abdominal pain and possible loose stool, nausea, anxiety, craving for sugar and salt, sweats and shaking. It just gets worse and worse until one crashes or passes if one rests and perhaps takes a mg or two. I had one like this when I was having a lovely day walking round some gardens. Suddenly my legs were useless. All I could do was take a few mg and wait while being very still which was over an hour. Then I had to rest for hours after I got back. Sometimes I had to rest horizontal for a day or two.
A sudden and severe crisis can be that one is coping but a rapid deterioration occurs over an hour or two or minutes. This means literally collapsing, a feeling of doom, a visceral knowing one is in deep trouble. At first I thought it was low blood sugar but a banana made no difference after 30 mins. Standing causes the blood pressure to drop. I felt a breathlessness. Abdo cramps turned into diarrhoea and mild wretching. I took 5mg of Pred but it was too late and there was nothing I could do at this point. An IV shot of hydrocortisone was like having life put back into me.
You do usually know about it and you feel dreadful as SnazzyD has said. Sometimes you are just confused so it is definitely a good idea to warn your family and friends to not politely ignore that. One PMR lady used to suddenly become confused, her husband would appear with an extra dose of 10mg pred and a drink and make sure she took it! If that didn't work in under an hour - 999 was called. As Snazzy says - an i.v. shot of hydrocortisone saves lives! As long as administered in time.
When it happened to me I felt really really unwell, no energy at all, in fact I had this strange feeling that felt like impending doom, that I was going to die. I was also very dizzy and unable to walk. I didn't have the classic vomiting and diarrhea listed in the text books
I don’t think you really want to know what an adrenal crisis feels like as there is the possibility that it can kill! I think most of us get frustrated with PMR and just want to stop taking the steroids.
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