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Adrenal Fatigue: Cortef and prednisolone

nomad

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I'm strongly suspecting adrenal fatigue, as I have inflammation which I think is undiagnosed autoimmune. I also have very chronic anxiety and cannot deal with any stress however slight.

I've recently been experimenting with 10 mg Predisolone and the difference has been remarkable, with painful muscle cramping easing, anxiety melting away and a burst of energy. However, I'm wary of Preds and want a safer alternative.

I've read that Cortef is a much safer alternative to prednisolone.

The only problem is I can't seem to find Cortef online in any of the usual pharmacies I'm using. Does anyone know where or how I can find it. I'm based in the UK.

Thanks
 

nomad

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Just to add that for the longer term I'm using anti inflammatory supplements, and this will include adrenal cortex supps. However, the Cortef/prednisolone is for acute stress situations where it makes the difference between being able to function or bed-ridden for another few months.
 

heapsreal

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Thats a big dose best for short term. Generally if one used pred it would be in the 1 to 4 mg. 5mg hc is equal to 4mg methyl pred and 5mg of pred. Some maths involved but 20 to 25mg in divided doses of hc is whats recommended in adrenal fatigue but many here do cine with 5 to 10mg in morning. Which is 1 to 2 mg of pred??
 

nomad

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Thanks heapsreal, yes the 10mg pred dose is only for 10-20 days as I'm having an asthma attack as well. I was led to understand that HC to Pred strength ratio was 1:4 so 20mg HC is equivalent to 5 grams pred?

but many here do cine with 5 to 10mg in morning
I'm not sure what this means?
 

Ema

Senior Member
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it should read "many here do fine with 5 to 10 mg in morning"...

but the ones who don't do well on 5-10 mg often find that they need a full replacement dose of 20-35 mg/day. It's best to take HC divided across the day as well due to the relatively short half life. With pred, it's not so crucial because of the longer half life.

Ema
 

Ema

Senior Member
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Midwest USA
Also make sure to wean down from that high dose slowly or switch to an equivalent amount of HC and wean down slowly from there. Weaning should typically be no more than 2.5-5 mg per week. It takes time for the adrenals to come back online. More time if they aren't working well in the first place.

Have you had any adrenal testing?

Hydrocortisone is bioidentical but it's still a steroid and excessive steroid use has negative implications no matter whether from HC or pred. It's really best to find out that you need them by testing first (saliva cortisol test 4x/day and AM cortisol, ACTH stim test) because you can't test once you are on steroids.

Ema
 

nomad

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Thanks Ema, I've had them tested and they were on the low side. However,given the severe stress over the last decade, the state of anxiety my cortisol levels should have been sky high to calm the inflammation.

The level relief I feel when I dose with preds is remarkable.

Regards my current dose of 10 mg, this will only be for 14 days and then my doctor has said to stop altogether. In fact she suggested 40 mg over 14 days to bring the asthma under control. But I'm taking as little as I can get away with.

I'm hoping that once I get the HC, I can switch to taking physiological doses, I'll start at 5mg in the morning and increase slowly if needed. I understand the half life of HC is only 4-5 hours so will split the dose.

I'm currently going through quite a terrible phase with muscle cramping, breathing problems extreme anxiety all caused by life stress. Once that's under control I'll look into trying adrenal cortex glands as an alternative to HCL, along with supplements for the inflammation.

Thanks for the help