insufficiency, or Addison’s disease. Essentially, my adrenal glands put out so much adrenaline that they ran out of cortisol. It feels like having the worst panic attack I’ve ever experienced, 100% of the time. The only treatment conventional medicine has for it is steroids -- hydrocortisone, in particular.

An adrenal insufficiency is something you can recover from, but it can also be deadly. In the three months before I met Gerald, I had been hospitalized at least 4 times and averaged about 2 ambulance rides per week. Doctors couldn’t figure out why my body was eating up all of the cortisol -- my adrenal glands should have recovered by that time, yet I continued to have adrenaline surges and crashes. The crashes were terrifying, and they’re the part that can be fatal.

I met Gerald while I was in Addison’s crisis, which is when your cortisol is dangerously low.  I hadn’t been able to take steroids in over 24 hours, which meant that I’d spent the past day in a state of terror, yet almost unable to move or talk. When someone is in Addison’s crisis, the standard treatment is what’s called a “stress dose” of steroids -- the minimum starting dose was five times my normal daily dosage. It’s drastic, but I’ve never before heard of someone not needing it. Usually, you either get a stress dose, or an ambulance ride to an ER who will give you a stress dose. Fun stuff, right?

The first time I met with Gerald was about an hour after I had finally been able to take a dosage of steroids that was even less than my normal dosage. Normally, that would have meant that I had staved off an ambulance ride for about an hour.

I left my meeting with Gerald laughing, and walking! I can’t explain it, but I don’t need to explain it to know the facts. Before I met with him, it was all I could do to sit upright in a chair without collapsing. Afterwards, not only was I in better physical condition than I had been in many months, I also didn’t even end up needing a stress dose for two weeks!! Two weeks!! That was far longer than I had gone without extra steroids for the entire time I had had an adrenal insufficiency.

I can now say that just two months later, I was able to go off of the steroids completely. My doctors were amazed -- my adrenal glands were functioning perfectly, far better than the average."

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- EV, Los Angeles, CA, USA