The pains - and joys - of withdrawal...

As many of you know I've been going through a slow withdrawal from the medication used to raise my cortisol levels - Cortef - since the beginning of the year. I've been taking this medication since Nov 2001 as part of the treatment for a pituitary disorder. But when it was determined that the pituitary failure condition was actually an induced disorder (although this is still debatable...can you say 'miracle healing'?!!!) my doctor figured the condition might be reversible. The idea was to slowly decrease the daily dosage with the hope that at some point the pituitary gland would jumpstart - emerging from its long-dormant state and resume normal functioning. I started 2008 taking 30mg daily and by August was down to 20mg. That's when my little miracle occurred with the lab tests showing that the pituitary had restarted and was back to normal functioning. I could feel a huge improvement in my sense of well-being but I wasn't out of the woods yet...