addisons advisory panel

[pinhey]

Hello all
I learn't something new the other day while reading a doctors guide to diagnosing addisons written by professor John wass who is on the advisory panel,he states that one third of patient's are at first wrongly diagnosed as depressed and treated with antidepressant's,and that some anti depressant's can cause sodium depletion and can precipitate an adrenal crisis,I wonder how many people have been killed of by these clever doctors,just thought it was worth a mention.

[Paul Clarke]

Thanks for that pinhey. I thought I was an isolated case until now.

Regards,

Paul

[bob3bob3]

You dont look dead Paul.. Is there something we should all know? <grin>

I was also DX'd depressed. I felt far better crushing the packet of antidepressants under my foot that taking the one I did... Next time I'll use a 14lb hammer. Much more satisfying!

Cheers Bob

[lindajoy]

Okay, here's a horror story for you. I was initially diagnosed with anxiety / depression by a "wonderful" doctor of mine in 2006, when I had my first adrenal episode of significance (severe abdominal pain, tach, nausea, lethargy). He ordered a cat scan of my abdomen, found nothing, sent me home on pyridium for bladder pain. I went into tachycardia (severe, 160's), was hospitalized, put on Ativan and Cymbalta, and sent home as "anxious and depressed." I then saw my Dysautonomia doctor at Cleveland Clinic, who said POTS patients should not be on Ativan and wanted me off right now. So, I tried to quit taking it and my body flipped out. I tried to get hospitalized locally, to get off the drug safely, but my "wonderful" doctor called the hospital unit and told them to refuse me as I was "just an anxiety patient." I was then sent to de-tox (at Cleveland Clinic) by my then CC endo to get off the Ativan safely, was sent from there to a "chronic Pain Program" (at Cleveland Clinic) and told to "ignore my pain because all the docs and nurses who headed the program would," then sent home. I still have abdominal pain, weakness, etc.

I was thus labeled anxious and depressed, and those labels have followed me everywhere I've gone. At Mayo Clinic, within 15 minutes, the doctor said I had irritable bowel brought on by depression. Because of all of these mis-labels, I nearly died in May of 2009 from adrenal crisis. The ER doctor tried to send me home, saying it was irritable bowel.

I no longer listen to too much talk about anxiety as a cause of my symptoms, but certainly it can be a symptom when I'm having an adrenal episode. Big difference there.

Take care.

Linda