Hi Amber,

Cortef is the brand name for Upjohn's hydrocortisone product and hydrocortone is the brand name for Merck's product.  Both companies produce these brands under licence from the FDA. Upjohn do the better marketing job here in the US and also produce the 5mg tablet which Merck do not.  When we lived in the UK and France I never came across cortef and my son was taking the hydrocortone. We need a 2.5mg split at the moment so he is on both the cortef and hydrocortone while our supply overlaps.  He is doing very well and I have noticed no problems over the last 2 months.

If you posted the question on the addisons board you would get some people saying they felt fuzzy headed and did not do well on the cortef and prefered the hydrocortone.  Others  prefer the cortef so it is a prefernce thing which is not ideal given that both should be the same.  The feeling there is that the cortef is absorbed quicker than the hydrocortone.

It is worth trying the hydrocortone if your endo thinks there may be a benefit. because if the cortef is absorbed a little quicker and your daughter metabolises the hydrocortisone a little quicker than the average, this could be the problem.  I hope her numbers are sorted quickly.

ShaunP.