Bright & Breezy Hilary THIS DISEASE IS BEATING ME!

The popular broadcaster was living with chronic pain until her friends decided enough was enoughb

- Rebekah Hebenton

For most people, being diagnosed with an incurable illness is a challenging time, but when The Breeze radio host Hilary Muir was diagnosed with Addison’s disease, she felt relief. After years of mysterious health issues, she finally had an explanation.

“I thought, ‘I’m not going crazy imagining things and feeling like my life will never be the same.’”

Addison’s disease is a rare disorder that occurs when the adrenal glands don’t produce enough cortisol, the hormone that gives instructions to virtually every organ in the body. Eventually, the immune system starts attacking the body.

Symptoms come on gradually over time, which makes it difficult to diagnose, and, as Hilary shares, it also makes it easy to ignore.

“I’m one of those people who can’t stand being sick, and I didn’t acknowledge my own illness and the signs that I was getting for far longer than I should have.

“For the past couple of years, I’d go to work, then come home and go to bed. I became so tired, I had to sit down in the shower in the

20 New Zealand Woman’s Weeklymorning, and all the things that I’d loved doing physically, walking, running and Pilates, I had to stop.

“I had a shoulder problem and I couldn’t do up my bra anymore. I had to accommodate my life around these things and I just thought, ‘Oh, well, I’m getting older.’”