I have been apart of this community since I got diagnosed in July 2025. It has really helped me wrap my head around it and little tips and tricks to make it easier. I still have a long way to full recovery. So more tips would be awesome, the big thing for me right now is I’m still experiencing a persistent brain fog. It’s very hard to measure so some days it could be better but all I know is that it sucks. If anyone has a similar story please share.
3.5 years before I got diagnosed I was on vacation and started getting this really bad brain fog, which gave me a lot of anxiety, and I started losing sleep. I went to the doctor and they gave the common answer that it’s just anxiety and put me on antidepressants. After 8 weeks of taking those I was way worse so I got off of them. Had a few more doctor appointments over that first year but they all thought it was anxiety.
The next year I saw a holistic nurse who did hair testing. She told me a I had “leaky gut” and needed to go gluten free which I did. I started seeing a nutritionist got my diet dialed in and it still didn’t help. I felt healthy but the brainfog was just as bad. At this point I started feeling very hopeless and lonely. I was crying a lot.
Then 6 months before I got diagnosed I got really sick, couldn’t stand or walk for more than a few seconds without running out of breath, I was throwing up most mornings just dry heaving since I had nothing in my systems. It was really scary so I went and saw a new doctor. After some blood tests we discovered my liver enzymes were high and my sodium was a little low so we thought my liver was going bad. I got MRI’s, ultrasounds, and was going to do a biopsy. Then in June of 2025 my liver doctor called me and said “hey your sodium is really low if you get any of these symptoms please go to the ER” by the end of that week I had all of the symptoms.
I went to the hospital my blood pressure was really low, my heart rate was high, and I weighed 120lbs(I’m a 6ft 24yr old M) The doctor said I was a grey color and was pretty nervous they wanted to put me in the ICU for low sodium. Luckily before I could get admitted into the hospital my sodium went up half a point from 120-120.5 and they decided to put me in the unit below the ICU.
When I got out of the hospital my doctor decided to check my ACTH and cortisol. My morning cortisol was really low and ACTH was really high. We decided to check again and do the test for the Addison’s disease enzyme or whatever it is. I tested positive for Addison’s disease in the beginning of July 2025.
I have come a long way since I got diagnosed. Put on 40 pounds since I was in the hospital. My energy and strength are coming back. Just can’t quite get rid of the brain fog yet. I also can tell I’m not a 100 percent yet. I still have days where I cannot do anything and periodic crashes on other days. Just taking it 1 day at a time.
I appreciate all of you who have put your stories out there and where you are now to give me some hope when I felt alone and was scared. Can’t wait to make Addison’s disease my b*tch and get back to my new normal life.