🎯Three Content Types · One Force Field
Every square belongs to one of three content types — not three levels you climb. Track progress in your Course and Skills Lab.
📘 Learn It Content type
Concepts to absorb.
🛠 Live It Content type
Daily skills and habits.
📣 Share It Content type
Teach, advocate, carry forward.
🛡️Your Force Field — 16 Squares
Deeper detail lives in the Prepared Patient Adrenal Disorders course.
What Adrenal Disorders Are
Adrenal glands make too much (Cushing) or too little (Addison) cortisol. Or other hormones.
Learn ItWhy Daily Cortisol
Your body needs cortisol to handle stress. Without it, illness becomes crisis.
Learn ItSpot the Red Flags
Adrenal crisis = vomiting + weakness + low BP. Give injection. 911.
Learn ItTriggers
Illness, surgery, stress, missed doses, hot weather, intense exercise.
Learn ItKnow Your Type
Primary (Addison's), secondary (pituitary), congenital, iatrogenic from steroids.
Learn ItStress Dosing
Double on minor illness, triple on major, IV if vomiting. Written plan critical.
Live ItEmergency Injection
Solu-Cortef IM. Family trained. Refresh annually. Don't let it expire.
Live ItSalt & Hydration
Mineralocorticoid sometimes needed. Salt cravings can be a clue.
Live ItSurgery Prep
Tell anesthesia. Stress dose pre-op. IV cortisol intra-op.
Live ItMake Every Visit Count
Bring cortisol log, stress events, any near-crises.
Live ItYour Care Team
Endocrinologist, sometimes geneticist if congenital, PCP, surgeon if needed.
Live ItMedical Alert
Bracelet, phone medical ID, wallet card. Non-negotiable.
Live ItInsurance & Cost
Hydrocortisone is generic and cheap. Emergency kit usually covered.
Live ItTeach & Mentor
Adrenal patients are rare; community support is precious.
Share ItAdvocate
Crisis prevention requires education in ERs, schools, workplaces.
Share ItResearch & Trials
Modified-release hydrocortisone, dual-release formulations, gene therapy for CAH.
Share ItThree things to learn before you actually need them.
Workflow lives in the Prepared Visit Tool. Trackers in your Course.
Which door do I use?
Adrenal crisis can develop fast in stress, illness, surgery. The ladder catches it early.
Handle at home
- Stable on daily hydrocortisone or other meds
- Following stress-dose protocol when sick or stressed
- Carrying emergency injection kit
Log it. Never skip cortisol replacement doses.
Call the office / message the portal
- Mild illness with low-grade fever — double your stress dose
- New medication that may interact
- Running low on hydrocortisone
- Question about stress dosing
Same day. Stress dosing is precision work.
Urgent / Acute care
- Vomiting that prevents keeping pills down
- Persistent diarrhea
- Severe fatigue with low BP
- Surgery or procedure coming up
Urgent care. May need IV cortisol.
ER NOW / call 911
- Adrenal crisis — severe weakness, vomiting, low BP, confusion, abdominal pain
- Trauma or surgery without stress dosing
- Loss of consciousness
- Severe dehydration
Call 911 + give emergency injection (Solu-Cortef or equivalent). Wear medical alert.
How to describe a new symptom in 30 seconds
What is it?
Plain words.
How bad?
0-10.
When did it start?
Time + what you were doing.
What made it worse?
Movement · food · meds.
What helped?
Even a little.
What else was new?
Fever · med · supplement · stress. The forgotten detail often shifts the diagnosis.
“Severe fatigue and nausea for 12 hours, a 7, came on after I got the flu and didn’t increase my hydrocortisone, can’t keep fluids down, and my BP at home is 88/60.”
Questions worth asking
Four for every patient, every condition, every visit:
- “Could this be a side effect of one of my medications, a supplement, or something else I’m doing — and should we change that?”
- “Would any non-drug therapy help — physical therapy, meditation, rest, ice or heat?”
- “If I can’t afford this medication or this test, can we talk about samples, alternatives, or a social worker who can help?”
- “What should I be watching for between now and my next visit — and when do I handle it myself, when do I call your office, when do I go to urgent care, and when do I go to the ER?”
Questions specifically for Adrenal Disorders:
- “What’s my exact stress-dose protocol — double, triple, IV?”
- “Do I have a current emergency injection kit, and does my family know how to use it?”
- “What do I tell anesthesia before any surgery or procedure?”
- “Am I screened for other autoimmune conditions that cluster with adrenal disease?”
- “Pregnancy plans — how does cortisol management change?”