Hi Justina,

The problems is that everybody is aware of the side effects of cortef and we just have to live with them because at one point or another the CAH person will be either undersuppressed or oversuppressed. It may not be for long if you are getting good medical attention but it is almost impossible to mimic exactly how the body makes it’s own cortisol.

The side effects from too much cortison can be weight gain, mood changes, decrease in growth (for those still growing) chipmunk looking face, hump on the back of the neck, discoloration of the the skin...too little cortisone can lead to possible crisis, again decrease in growth because of the excess androgens, mood problems...I think you can actually go into the archives of this message board and type in side effects or cortef side effects and you’ll get all the past discussions on the subject. The archives are a great resource if you are looking to find answers that might have already been discussed.

By the way, I have a 3 boys and one on the way. The youngest has SVCAH as well as the little guy I am going to have. Hopefully, I have helped you out a little, but I would recommend looking at the archives...it’s great.

Sandra