Thank you, rdf56. I’m doing better than I was four weeks ago. You are right — we already have a great deal to cope with and certainly do not need additional symptoms.

The reason I mentioned MRI imaging is that longstanding conditions can often be identified that way. At least then we know what we are dealing with instead of having symptoms dismissed or labeled as psychological.

My medical history is extensive. In addition to Addison’s disease, psoriasis, psoriatic rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and VWF types 2 and 5, a full-body MRI, including the head, performed in 2008 revealed Chiari I malformation, ankylosing spondylitis, Tarlov cysts at C3, T11, and T12, as well as in the sacral/coccygeal area, and an enlarged amygdala — not including additional comorbidities.

I cannot walk uphill or climb stairs easily. Unfortunately, 3 weeks ago I had to carry about 40 pounds of groceries up 24 steps. The strain aggravated my existing Tarlov/meningeal cysts. For more than two weeks, I could neither stand, walk, nor sit without excruciating pain. No pain medication or treatment provided relief. All I could do was lie on my right side in bed and wait for the pressure from the cysts and cerebrospinal fluid on the spinal nerves to subside.

We need to be our own advocates in order to reduce pain and manage symptoms.
wishing you well.

@rdf56
Hi, you mentioned, “Probably not too much iron.”
I forgot to ask, have you had your ferritin levels and thyroid hormones (Free T3 and Free T4) tested?