24 years old
An article from the April 1997 Newsletter.
I was 23 years old when I was diagnosed with Addison’s Disease in July of 1995. Prior to that I completed 3 out of a 4 years of a Physical Education Degree. Towards the end of that course I believe the initial signs of Addison’s began as at the time I was playing competitive cricket, golf, basketball and volley ball and had to cut back to just basketball and cricket. I didn’t have my usual endurance and thought it was because I wasn’t as fit as I should be. I dropped out of the course and went to Leeton where I got a job at the local rice mill as a labourer packing rice. I had held this job for a year, but towards the end of that period I had a particularly physically tough night, where I had to hand stack 30kg bags onto pallets for 2 hours straight. In the following week I started getting periods of diarrhoea and vomiting. Over the next 2 months I missed nearly 2 weeks of work with these complaints and as a result I was fired!
I was on my way to Ebor to live with my Dad when I managed to get food poisoning and after this, the other signs of Addison’s started. Surprisingly I had only very minimal change in my pigmentation but I had an ever increasing list of foods I could not eat, as I immediately threw up. I was extremely weak and not able to do simple tasks like put the clothes on the line or do the washing up. This continued for a month until one morning I got out of a hot bath and collapsed on the floor. Dad took me to the local doctor in Dorrigo but as he couldn’t find my blood pressure, pulse or temperature I was ferried to the Dorrigo hospital and then on to Coffs Harbour Base Hospital. After three days in Intensive Care and heaps of blood tests the doctors were still puzzled. I thank God for the young resident doctor fresh out of university who thought of Addison’s Disease. After a week I was released from hospital with absolutely no information about Addison’s Disease. I was just told to take the tablets. When I asked the physician for some information he said, "What do you need to know that for?"!
For the following couple of months I just got used to the disease, trying to accept I had it and learning when I needed to up the dose. I wanted to go back the university to finish the Physical Education Degree, but my doctor advised against it, because of the big increase in the cortisone that would be required to sustain the level of exercise involved in teaching P.E.. I considered my options and decided the Bachelor of Health Science (Rehabilitation Counselling) degree at Sydney University would be better for my health.
I have recently finished the first year of this degree, and got into trouble with Addison’s and the course only once, EXAMS!!! I walked into my first exam with a bottle of water and my tablets only to be stopped by the lady in charge of the exam who said, " You can’t take water inside". I explained I needed the water to take my cortisone tablets. She said, "I know nothing about you taking tablets . You will have to wait until I see the supervisor." I ended up starting the exam 15 minutes behind the rest of the class. From then on I took my tablets before I entered the exam or I carried a letter from my doctor explaining why I had to have the tablets.
The second instance occurred when I had a nose bleed which caused me to lose 15 minutes out of a one hour exam. I don’t know if the nose bleed was caused by the extra cortisone I was taking or the stress of exam time.
I played competition basketball in the main Sydney competition but found I needed to adjust my tablets to allow for the physical activity. The first few games I played I had to sub off early . I realised because of the physical effort involved I needed to prepare for the game before hand. This meant 1-2 nights before a game I would boost my nightly cortisone to a full tablet and on game day I took one tablet two hours before the game started. I still don’t play like I used to (pre-Addison’s), I jog up and down the court instead of sprinting but at least I now make it through the whole game. I also have 1-2 Florinef as well as Gatorade type drink after the game to help with the salt balance. If I don’t have the extra Florinef I have difficultly standing after the game. I am not saying this would work for everyone but it is what I did. At present, my exercise program includes regular walks as well as sit-ups and push-ups in the mornings.
More recently I have had two crisis’s (in February). There was a break in the basketball season and I was feeling so good that I thought "maybe I don’t have this disease". It took five days of not taking the tablets before my legs would not work properly. I got a friend to take me to the hospital where I was treated for an Addison’s crisis and given 100ml shots of hydrocortisone for 3 days. Obviously, I now know I need to take the tablets and have to deal with the disease day to day.
The second crisis was caused by not drinking enough water and as a result I dehydrated. I spent another 3 days in hospital with a catheter, on a drip and drinking lots of water.
I feel having Addison’s disease does change your life. You are not in the same condition you were in before. I think you have to change your goals sometimes if they are too stressful and in some cases, even change careers. I believe you can still do most of the things you want, just not to the same extent and intensity as before.
