 |  | | Shelley — Lafayette, Indiana USA |
| | | I have a similar experience to share. I am a respiratory therapist, had gone to many doctors over a 6-month period, and was getting very frustrated. I was going into crisis and couldn't walk, breathe, etc. I had had test after test: MRI, MRA, EEG, ECG, carotid Doppler, and so much blood taken, I felt like a pin cushion. They had no idea what was going on. I went to a rheumatologist, neurologist, family doctor, emergency, and still had no answers. At my worst, I used a shower bench because I couldn't raise my arms to wash my hair while standing. I was falling asleep practically standing. I was having migraine after migraine. I would take 2-3 steps and have to bend over to be able to breathe. I really began to think I was dying.
Finally, on a Sunday, after having slept 19 hours straight, my husband told me that he was taking me to the ER. I fought him, telling him that I had an appointment at my neurologist that Thursday. He wouldn't take no for an answer and took me to the ER. We didn't get far there either. The ER doctor told me that I was psychotic and anorexic and needed to go to a psychiatrist for treatment. My unsband went a little crazy in the ER and the doctor never came back.
We went home and waited until my Thursday neurology appointment. As I was practically lying in the chair in the waiting room, panting to get my breath from walking from the elevator to the office, a respiratory therapist came out. She told me that she thought she knew what was going on with me. She started telling me my symptoms without looking at my chart! I asked her how she knew this, and she told me that she had been diagnosed 3 weeks earlier with Addison's! I thought there was no way because she was practically bouncing off the walls! But I listened and ended up at an endocrinologist's office within an hour. I was diagnosed that day. The doctor prescribed Cortef 20 mg am and 10 mg pm, and by Sunday I went home and did 10 loads of laundry!!
It's amazing to have my life back! I can only thank my fellow respiratory therapist who diagnosed me!! I pray that she is doing as well as I am since being diagnosed.
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