Day 27, Cushing’s Awareness Challenge

So, in my haste to post a “Sunday post”, I inadvertently copied Day 6.

Luckily, AIU posted something today on Facebook that gave me the perfect information to share today:

 

They also shared this information, which I already knew and put into good use just yesterday:

Feeling overwhelmed? You’re not alone.

Managing adrenal insufficiency during extreme stress can feel like carrying the weight of the world — but tiny steps rebuild your strength.

We created this simple guide to remind you:

• Rest before exhaustion.

• Stay hydrated and balance your electrolytes.

• Breathe deeply to calm your nervous system.

• Celebrate every small win.

• Listen to your body if you need to stress dose or inject.

You are healing, even now. You are not alone.

Learn more and find community at www.aiunited.org

 

As a person with secondary adrenal insufficiency, I find often find myself in a situation when I need to stress dose and balance the electrolytes.  Many Cushies I know eat salt for this purpose but I don’t like salt.  If I’m eating pretzels or something else with removeable salt – i take it off.

I don’t know if I found it by myself on amazon or someone recommended it but I always have a product called – TaDa! – SaltSticks nearby.

Writing this post today, I actually looked at the directions and found that I’m supposed to take 2 at a time.  Oops!  One does help somewhat.  I’m sure that 2 will be even better.

To keep these and my hydrocortisone nearby, in addition to the actual bottles, I got some waterproof pill containers and keep them on my keychain.  The wider ones hold 2 of the SaltSticks exactly.

The narrower ones have hydrocortisone and Tylenol. The hydrocortisone is in the red pill container.

All 3 are on one ring which goes onto my larger carabiner clip so that they can be easily moved if necessary.

In my backpack, I have an adrenal insufficiency emergency kit of sorts that I got off ebay.  This also includes a bee sting kit.  If you want to know why, check out this post.  there is also information about my doctor, more hydrocortisone, benadryl, tylenol.

Both the keyring and the emergency kit have MedicAlert tags which include my member number so medics can find out just what I need, my DH number and my doctor’s number.

This info is also on my MedicAlert bracelet.  I bought this one years ago to honor Natalie’s memory – this is the same style she wore.

In the backpack is also a standard emergency kit that anyone might have. (boring!)

 

The image below sure looks like it was made by Sandra Boynton but I got it from another page on Facebook.

These tips are good for anyone who needs a little self-care – not just people with adrenal insufficiency!

 

What do you do for self care?  Please tell me in the comments.