Sally has Addisons disease. Never heard of it? I'm not surprised, not many people have. It can be fatal within minutes, but treatment often takes longer than that.....

Sally is now one year on from a very dark place where she didn't think she could survive another year taking tablets that both kept her alive, and made her very ill.

Thanks to the amazing generosity of friends, family and complete strangers, Sally has spent a year taking the same life saving drugs that made her ill, in a different way - via a pump that provides the drugs 24/7, and mimics the bodies natural rhythm.

The NHS will not provide this treatment, despite it clearly making a difference to the quality of life of everyone that uses it, so we must continue to fundraise, and to raise awareness of the benefits of pump therapy, and the injustice of a postcode lottery that prevents the prescribing of this therapy, purely based on where we live.

Addisons disease...

....is uncureable, and is the failure of the adrenal glands to produce cortisol. They have one job, and don't do it. Cortisol is needed 24/7 in the body. Without it, you die.

It is produced on a circadian rhythm, building in the early hours of the morning, and differing throughout the day, dependent on the body's need. In times of fight or flight, extra is produced, to allow the body to cope. Without cortisol, the body turns on itself, and starts to shut down resulting in coma, and death.

Imagine a world where excitement makes you ill, where having a cold puts you in hospital. A lovely surprise meal for a birthday? Nope, extra medication needed. Travelling to a holiday? Extra medication. Had a fright, bad news, car accident? You need more, quickly, but as the body asks for it, you get confused, forgetful, you shake so hard, you couldn't pick up a tablet even if you hadn't already forgotten about the need for one or two. The tablets have to dissolve, make their way through the gut to the liver, and into the bloodstream - all this waiting, while you go into adrenal crisis, and nearly die, each time.....

Sally used to be a very successful head of department at a school and marathon runner. Now, within 3 years, she can't get out of bed on a morning without vomiting, unless she waits for the tablets to work. Vomit = hospital.

The diagnosis itself took a long time - despite the best efforts of the NHS, Sally was told she ate too much cheese, drank too much wine, and was making it up. Finally, in 2017, after a very close call, involving an ambulance, several days in hospital, and an amazing GP, Sally was diagnosed. Many blood tests later, and tablets were prescribed.

Currently, the only NHS funded treatment (there is no cure) is hydrocortisone tablets. One on waking, one at lunch, one at teatime. This does not match your bodys natural rhythm of cortisol production..

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