I've been having a pretty bad flare up of MM symptoms (fullness/tinnitus, nausea, and unsteady feeling alternating with dizziness but no vertigo attacks) for the last couple weeks since my last Dex injection. I went to my PCP to start an antidepressant because I've been really struggling with coping with all of this and how it has affected my life for the last couple of years and being only 39.... so, I've had lots of crying, not doing much of anything, little driving, etc. I thought maybe that would help. During my visit he diagnosed low cortisol levels and added Cortef twice a day to my regimen. Does anyone know of a correlation between low cortisol and Meniere's? I couldn't really find anything online but thought I would throw it out there to see if anyone else is on Cortef/Cortisol/hydrocortisone and see if you've seen any difference in symptoms while on it.
I have used Cortef several times. Don't expect to just wake up one day all better, it doesn't work like that at all. If your adrenals are stressed it will in turn affect your other hormone levels. Google hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA or HTPA axis) to read more. In general, if your adrenals are low you will feel very run down and depressed. The amount you are taking is probably 5mg a day, divided into 2 doses, one in the morning and one around 2pm? Sleep plays an important role in adrenal health. You need to be in bed before 11pm. A hormone/chemical is made while you sleep, if you are awake it is used up and you will awake exhausted. Pay attention to your sleep hygiene. Your room should be completely dark and cool and hopefully quiet and uninterrupted. You should be dreaming at night signaling you have had REM sleep. If not, you are not getting the complete, restorative rest you must have to repair/regenerate. A sleep study might be helpful in determining why you are not sleeping ( if you aren't). The antidepressant you are taking might help with sleep, initially. Most of them can cause some form of sleep disruption, strange as that sounds. Well, those drugs really do mess around with brain chemicals, so it's not too far out there. There are other ways to help adrenals heal, you can google that also. Mostly alternative medical practitioners work with those type products but Cortef is one of the treatments. It just takes time and attention to other areas of your life that are causing stress and disruption. When one of our systems is not working properly, the others feel it which is why you and whoever is treating you need to consider the whole body and what's going on with it.
