What PE taught me about my Rare Disease

https://soundcloud.com/sunny-ammerman/what-pe-taught-me-about-my-rare-disease I had originally planned for this article to be about my history of failing Physical Education (PE) classes. I suspected that because I was not properly educated on the health issues caused by my rare disease at the time, and had an inability to exercise like my peers, that this had a negative impact …

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Another Adrenal Insufficiency patient has died from inadequate care.

I’m sad to report that a fellow adrenal insufficiency patient has died recently due to inadequate care from hospital staff who did not immediately administer the stress dose steroids her body needed. Her death never would have occurred if they had administered the steroids IMMEDIATELY. Instead, they insisted on making her wait while they ran …

Life updates ahoy! (+”Subtember”)

It has been a hectic past few months. H E C T I C .  I was transitioned from the Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) version of Medicaid to Traditional Medicaid, and the change created some chaos with the coverage of one of my important medications, Growth Hormone. I am GH deficient (among other things), so I …

Learning to enjoy life with a Disability

I haven't written an article in quite some time. I'll be honest, I've been grappling with something since I won my disability case. After the initial feelings of overwhelming relief started to wear off, I realized that I could now fully accept my status as a disabled individual and move on with my life. With …

Adrenal Insufficiency Awareness Month

Adrenal Insufficiency United has named April as Adrenal Insufficiency Awareness month. In honor of that, I’ll share some facts about my condition, Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency (SAI): 🔹My SAI was caused by my congenital panhypopituitarism. Basically, my pituitary gland does not function sufficiently enough for survival without assistance. This means my Adrenal glands do not receive …

Why I decided to celebrate winning my disability hearing by going bowling:

“I felt guilty because I myself have been exposed to the (incorrect, mind you) preconceived notion that if I can not work, I should not be able to do anything physical, ever.”

Late Night Confessions

It's going on 11pm. I've been contemplating sleep since 8. Rather than catching some sweet sweet "Z"s however, my mind is fixated on a regret I have, and now I feel the need to write about it so I can get this off my chest. I regret that I never reported one of my ex-bosses …

Stress Dose (definition)

Stress dose: A "stress dose" is an increase in the amount of corticosteroids taken in response to a stressful situation or illness. This is a treatment for adrenal insufficiency, and must be prescribed by a doctor. Occasionally, a stress dose is taken preemptively in anticipation of exercise or increased physical activity or predictable emotional distress …

I tried. (Puppy love VS Chronic Illness)

Puppies. ❤ They are adorable, entertaining, and in this case, intelligent, balls of energy. They can also grow up to be the perfect service dog and companion, under the right circumstances. That was my hope when Justin and I adopted Kubrow, a 9 week-old pure-blooded German Shepherd puppy, last Friday. His boss at work told him …

Dismissed and in Crisis: When an ER turns away patients with Adrenal Crisis, they risk lives.

I have written an update to this post on 8/23/2018. I am not going to name the hospital I went to in this article. My intention is not to shame this particular hospital for how they handled the situation that I am about to describe, but to share my experience personally. There are many stories …