Quote from blondy2061h:

My asthma is definately hard to treat. I had to go to the ER last week, and I'm on 4 meds for it now.

I have seen an endocrinologist, but she didn't mention Addison's. I have had those thyroid tests, but it may be time for me to have them again. How is the one Addison's test done? I will look into the Osteopath.

Be sure, whoever tests you, that they measure baseline ACTH, and aldosterone baseline and stim'ed. It will be hard to get this information once they put you on steroids, and it's no trouble for them to draw it at the same time as they draw for cortisol in your ACTH stim test.

I have been free of the ER for asthma or other respiratory stuff for one year, as of tomorrow. As opposed to about once a month for the previous 3 years.

As time goes on, I'm becoming more and more confident that the main problem was adrenal insufficiency/Addison's, and that the asthma was secondary to that. (At first, most docs thought my adrenal insufficiency was due to the steroids -- still a possibility to consider).

I'm also diabetic and hypothyroid (and maybe a couple others), and have a daughter who appears to have vitiligo -- all closely linked diseases, so despite not having detectable antibodies, it's looking more and more like Addison's. If you do have Addison's, watch out for other endocrine issues, especially thyroid.

Antibody tests may help nail down your diagnosis if you "flunk" your ACTH stim test, but if they're negative, it does not prove that you don't have Addison's.

And I second Chris's advice to get thyroid testing as well. I was losing ground again for a while until I got on Levoxyl. But do the adrenal thing first -- replacing thyroid hormones when you're low on cortisol can make things much worse.

I think Chris meant to type "anti-TSH receptor antibodies", rather than "anti-TSI"?

BTW: it was my asthma doc who suggested testing my cortisol. That was almost a year ago -- I've only seen him once since -- just a checkup! Best spirometry results ever!