@psumm33 Your story is interesting and I'm glad you were able to advocate for yourself! I was on hydrocortisone for years for my low cortisol (fibromyalgia, chronic infections), but I never noticed it doing a lot for me. When I decided to wean off of it I found out just how dependant I was on it. Getting off of it was so horrible that I regretted ever starting on it in the first place. When I was finally off it, I started taking Adrenal Cortex (5 capsules per day) and I did that for a couple of months but wasn't sure how much it was helping. Then I went down to 2 capsules per day and gained 11 lbs in two weeks with no changes to diet or exercise. It wasn't until today seeing this thread that it occurred to me that could be why! I'm going to increase back to 5 Adrenal Cortex per day and see if the water weight comes off. Actually, over about 3 months of taking 2 Adrenal Cortex per day, I have lost 3 lbs of the water weight which now makes me wonder if my system is gradually improving on its own ask I fight the chronic infections. By the way, I have been a personal trainer in the past as well so I guess we both know the "standard" ideas and advice don't always (imo often) work.

I wanted to give you a heads up on maybe trying Adrenal Cortex as a more long term solution and also ask you if you think the water weight gain could be from reducing it. (Although I will find out soon as I go back up to 5 per day.)