susan first of all i am sorry you had to go through so much- thanks for telling me your story and i hope things are better for you now. i was not diagnosed until age 6 or 7 when i began premature development. my mother had a horrible time finding out what was wrong with me. numerous doctors until she finally found out (philadelphia childrens hospital) actually bc my body didn't make enough cortisone i was always sick. they actually had me scheduled to take my tonsils out 3 days before they figured out what was wrong with me. ironically if they would have done the surgery without steroids i would have been in big trouble. so i guess i was lucky. all my doctors say i have it mildly. i have only taken hydrocortise at differnt levels. right now i am only on 10mg/day.i have not really had major problems (thank god) or at least i didnt think i did. since reading this board i am figuring out that alot or all of my problems throughout my life could have been related. i also go through times of terrible headaches but i had no idea it could be related so i never said anything. i also have a terrible time dealing with emotional stress (moody and HIGHSTRUNG) but i am italian and just thought it was my personality. but my question to you is that you say about going into a crisis after you got married being very stressed out. I know the doctor always tells me about stress and cortisone but i thought he meant fevers, surgery etc. does he mean emotional stress too?!!!!!! i have had a horrible couple of years emotionally (death in my family, family illnesses and i too got married-not that that is horrible but very stressful) anyway i have been feeling pretty bad and just thought it was the situations i was dealing with- can it be that i need more meds? i only give myself a stress dose of meds only if i am vommiting or with a fever(which is very uncommon) from reading all these posts i was wondering maybe i should take more meds when i am under such emotional stress. i too went through about 3 years with anxiety attacks(they are rare now) and i do have a very fast heartbeat and high blood pressure- i take hbp medicine but no meds for the other symptoms- thanks for the info and for sharing your story!