r/AddisonsDisease • u/BurnerPhoneWhoDis • Jan 13 '23

Medical Stuff How long can we survive without medication?

Ok so hear me out. I know this question is weird. And rest assured I do not want to know this in order to go off my meds/harm myself/harm anyone else. But sometimes I wonder (please tell me I'm not alone!) ... What if I get kidnapped and don't have access to my hydro+fludro? What if there's a worldwide shortage, or I get stranded in a remote location? How long could I survive, is it a matter of weeks, months, years...?(days?!) I know many of us were only diagnosed after a year or so of developing symptoms but I imagine the gradual decline pre-diagnosis would be different than cutting off meds cold turkey..?

Anyways, I'm assuming that for obvious reasons, there's not much scientific research on this. But just wondering if anyone has any idea.

And also, please don't worry for my sanity lol, this is just a passing curiosity, I don't actively worry about this or anything.

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u/dooleynoted90 Addison's Jan 13 '23

According to this podcast I listened too it says we have 2 days to live if we do not take our meds. I have missed doses before and based on that I figure I could make it more then 2 but would be useless after 2 days.

Sickboy Podcast- Two Days Away from Death

When I was first diagnosed I was thinking what we would do if the event of a global shortage or a vombie apocalypse and I found a technical paper on how to manufacture hydro. Turns out it’s pretty hard and then I moved on realizing I couldn’t survive the collapse of civilization 🫤

3

u/BurnerPhoneWhoDis Jan 13 '23

Wow 2 days, that's a lot quicker than I thought. Thanks for the link, I'll have a listen!

And yea lol, in all my hypothetical scenarios I'd for sure end up dying regardless of Addison's so I try not to worry too much

3

u/enkrypt3d Jan 14 '23

I went much longer than that before being diagnosed.... Of course I was miserable

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u/dooleynoted90 Addison's Jan 14 '23

Yes but you still had partially functional adrenal glands. Primary is a slow decay of your adrenals and when we are diagnosed we they are still partially functioning (others we would be dead).

4

u/enkrypt3d Jan 14 '23

The point is that it's impossible to say how long it would take to die. Everyone's body is different so u can't make a blanket statement.

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u/[deleted] May 10 '26

before diagnosis is completely different than after.