Two years ago I started seeing an endocrinologist at JHU to find out if I could ever get off pred. I'd been stuck at 2.5 mg for several years and couldn't taper without my adrenals shutting down. (I didn't need it to control the Wegs.) She switched me to hydrocortisone for 3 reasons: it functions a bit more naturally than pred, you can do adrenal function lab tests while on it, and if the dose is low enough it allows the adrenals to start functioning.

I definitely felt better on HC right away. Pred--even at a very low dose--makes me very weak. I'm just really sensitive to it. Even at 2.5 mg I still had a moon face and couldn't lose any weight at all. My first adrenal function tests were awful. The endo was optimistic and said it can take a year for the adrenals to come back on. We re-tested every 6 months and they just wouldn't play. Finally last fall I started taking an adrenal supplement that doesn't contain cortisol, but heals the glands. (I'm not going to say which. You MUST do this under a holistic doctor's care. Someone who really knows adrenal stuff) Slowly my adrenals started waking up. And finally, as of this month they're awake! I've begun tapering the HC and should be completely off in 10 weeks. I sensed they were back on, as I'd begun to lose weight without really trying. I've lost 13 lbs since May!!

A bit of my history:
I first started pred with pulse steroids (ie, 1,000 mg IV solumedrol = 1,500 mg oral pred for 3 days) and went on to the usual high-dose regime after that. 60 mg, 40, etc... for several months. When I tapered off, I never felt okay again. No one would listen to me. Once when I was hospitalized for pneumonia a doctor did an AM Cortisol test (adrenal function) and I had zero. Zero adrenal function and I was walking around without being on steroids. No one would re-test me. I was off pred for 2.5 years like that. Even Dr Seo didn't believe that my adrenals were off but I knew they were. "Thanks" to a severe flare in 2009 I had to go back on pred and hadn't been able to get off again. Dr Seo was sure I'd never get off. I saw an endocrinologist who blew me off. Couple more years went by and I decided to see another. And there you have it. I haven't had functioning adrenals for SEVEN YEARS and they came back on.

I included all these details in case someone else out there can benefit.
Key points:
- You can't switch to HC while you still need steroids to control the Wegs

- If you've been stuck on low dose pred for awhile and you don't need it to control the Wegs, see an endocrinologist who specializes in adrenal issues

- Don't let anyone (even a world-famous Wegs doc ) tell you it's impossible until you've given it a good try.

- No one knows your body better than you.

- The body has an amazing ability to heal itself when given what it needs.

- No matter how long you've had Wegs and how much it's messed you up, you will be able to find something Woot-worthy.