Emergency Hydrocortisone Injection Instruction Video
This video explains how to give an emergency injection of Hydrocortisone 100mg Powder for Solution, with a separate water vial (diluent) (previously known as Solu-Cortef), to prevent or treat an adrenal crisis.
Read our emergency page for further support
For instructions to inject using ACT-O-VIAL we have a separate video:
Sick Day Rules Webinar, May 2025
With endocrine clinical nurse specialist, Aldons Chua
To mark our Addison's Disease Day 2025 theme "Know the Signs, Save a Life", we teamed up with The Pituitary Foundation to host a free Sick Day Rules webinar.
During the webinar, Aldons went through the Sick Day Rules for Addison's disease and other forms of adrenal insufficiency, discussing the signs of adrenal crisis and what to do if an adrenal crisis takes place.
Watch back to learn more about adapting your steroid medication dosing during times of illness or physical and psychological stress and hear the "Top 5" most asked questions, submitted by you, our community, ahead of the webinar.
Huge thanks to Aldons Chua for volunteering his time to host this webinar!
Rareminds Webinar, Sept 2025
"You and your emotional wellbeing"
Recognising the challenges of living with a rare condition, this webinar focused on emotional wellbeing, offering expert advice and practical coping strategies.
We were delighted to partner with Rebecca Hargreaves from Rareminds, who was joined by ADSHG's Philippa Sharman and trustee Katie Harris for a Q&A exploring issues such as adrenal crisis anxiety, and other attendee concerns.
Feedback
Following the event, attendees let us know how they found the session, with many describing the session as “empowering” and “reassuring.”
94% of people felt less isolated and 83% felt more resilient, having attended, so although it is easy to feel that there isn’t enough time, or it can wait for another day, your emotional wellbeing is really worth putting first.
Fantastic webinar this evening. Thank you so much to Rareminds and Addison's Disease Self-Help Group for hosting. It is wonderful to feel seen and supported, and to come away with lots of useful and practical suggestions to support our wellbeing.
Another commented,
Thank you, it was a fantastic webinar. Without sounding negative, hearing people say they have the same issues and feelings I have - anxiety, fear etc, made me feel better/more normal! So thank you.
Further resources
To explore all of our resources around psychological and mental health support, head over to our 'Coping with psychological stress' page. It includes links to Rareminds brilliant podcast covering all aspects of living with a rare condition, as well as helping you to seek professional support if you have ongoing symptoms of anxiety and/or depression.
ESE Adrenal Patient Forum, 2024
"Adrenal Insufficiency: daily living and adrenal crisis prevention"
The event attracted over 600 attendees from 50 countries and featured endocrinology experts from across Europe discussing life with adrenal insufficiency and the prevention and management of adrenal crisis.
Alongside session-specific Q&As, a general discussion covered topics including antibodies, menopause, symptoms on replacement therapy, and new treatments such as Efmody® and infusion pumps. ADSHG's Dr Alessandro Prete and Philippa Sharman helped organise the event and also presented, sharing both clinical and patient perspectives.
Recordings & summary of key points from each session
Session 1: Daily living with adrenal insufficiency |
Session 2: Prevention and management of adrenal crisis |
Supportive global community
By connecting people with adrenal insufficiency with medical professionals, we continue our aim of building a collaborative environment that ultimately aims to improve the quality of life for those affected by the condition. Translations from English to French, German and Italian helped ensure all with adrenal insufficiency are not only informed, but also felt part of a supportive global community.
A special thank you to the ESE for funding and organising this event, and all the speakers and chairs who volunteered their time to take part:
Prof. Stefanie Hahner (Germany), Prof. Eystein Husebye (Norway), Teresa Valencia (Spain), Dr. Alessandro Prete (UK), Jette Kristensen (Denmark),
Dr. Sofia Llahana (UK), Antonella Campodall'Orto (Italy), Philippa Sharman (UK), Dr. Irina Chifu (Germany)
CoMICsLite: Making Health Information Simple and Accessible for All
CoMICsLite's video aims to break down new joint clinical guidance from the European Society of Endocrinology and Endocrine Society: “Diagnosis and Therapy of Glucocorticoid-induced Adrenal Insufficiency.”
This is the first guideline developed and published jointly by the two Societies. It is also the first guideline focusing on this topic since glucocorticoids were first used in clinical practice in the 1940s, and it aims to standardise the approach to this challenging condition.
What is CoMICsLite?
CoMICsLite is on a mission to simplify complex medical information and make it accessible to everyone. Through short, engaging videos, they explain health topics in ways that are easy to understand. Their videos are translated into as many languages as possible, including Serbian, Brazilian Portuguese, Greek, Bengali, and Tamil, to ensure that people who don’t speak English can benefit, and breaking down barriers to healthcare.
Helping Explain Glucocorticoid-Induced Adrenal Insufficiency
Collaboration with Patient Groups
Working with groups like the Addison’s Disease Self-Help Group helps CoMICsLite make videos that truly address patient needs. Feedback from these groups ensures the content is not only accurate but also relatable and practical for everyday life. Collaborating with diverse communities also ensures the videos are inclusive, culturally sensitive, and meaningful for people from all backgrounds.
Authors:
Bogdan Milenkovic, Doctor of Medicine on Internship, University Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia, Ugljesa Barac, 6th year medical student, University Clinical Center of Serbia, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia, Amynta Arshad, Foundation Year Doctor, Warwick Hospital, Warwick, UK and Shams Ali Baig, 4th-year Medical Student, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
CoMICsLite website – X/Twitter - YouTube -
Read more about the topics raised in this article:
Steroid Replacement Therapy Sick Day Rules & Emergency Hydrocortisone Injection
When COVID-19 hit, the Endocrine Specialist Nurses at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital were no longer able to host their steroid education sessions for their patients with adrenal insufficiency.
Determined that their patients should still receive this invaluable and informative patient resource from the familiar faces of their Endocrine nurses, Kerrie, Amanda, Karen, and Michelle produced their own "Emergency hydrocortisone injections movie".
Being a nurse with Addison's
Kerrie Grounds, Lead Endocrine Specialist Nurse at the RLUH, also has Addison’s disease. She was diagnosed at the age of 18 and has lived with Addison's for 22 years.
I have always been a positive person and my glass is always half full. When diagnosed I weighed about 6 stone and had been unwell at home for 3 months, fading away. I could not stand up, eat anything, I was nauseous, vomiting, had headaches, the fatigue was so debilitating and it was frustrating for me and family as we did not know what was wrong. However a positive side to that was I had a fabulous tan!
When she was eventually admitted to hospital and diagnosed with Addison’s disease, she remembers being so thankful to all the nurses and doctors who had helped her.
This was when I realised I wanted to be able to give something back, so I trained to be an adult registered nurse and have never looked back. I can honestly say that when the ESN job post was advertised I thought I knew quite a bit about my Addison’s disease, but I knew nothing! This job has literally saved my life. This is why I will always be thankful to my Endocrinology Consultants and fellow ESN’s here at the RLUH for the education and training they provided me with, to be able to not only ensure I live a perfectly normally quality of life but to be able to provide specialist advice and empathy for my patients also.
In 2022, Kerrie was awarded 'Top Nursing Practice Abstract' under the Clinical Endocrinology Trust prizes at the Society for Endocrinology BES 2021 conference, for her work on this video. A huge achievement and fantastic recognition of her hard work. You can read her abstract here: “Assessing the effectiveness of the endocrine specialist nurses (ESN) hydrocortisone education video created during covid-19 pandemic”
Thank you to Kerrie and the endocrine nurse team for sharing this fantastic video resource, and the story behind it.