With Addison's disease, your immune system attacks the outer portion of your adrenal glands (the adrenal cortex), where they make cortisol and aldosterone. Symptoms don't usually develop until 90% of the adrenal cortex has been damaged, which can take several months to years.
Addison's disease can be a life-threatening condition, but it is often not diagnosed until weeks or even months after the first vague symptoms present themselves.
Because cases of Addison's disease may go undiagnosed, it is difficult to determine its true frequency in the general population. Addison's disease can potentially affect individuals of any age, but usually occurs in individuals between 30-50 years of age.
If Addison's disease is suspected, blood tests will be carried out to measure the levels of sodium, potassium and cortisol in your body. A low sodium, high potassium or low cortisol level may indicate Addison's disease.
Symptoms tend to come and go and may include abdominal pain, dizziness, fatigue, weight loss, salt craving, and the darkening of the skin.
Mild symptoms may be seen only when a person is under physical stress. Other symptoms may include weakness, fatigue, and weight loss. You will need to take hormones to replace those that the adrenal glands are not making.
Medicine for Addison's disease
A medicine called hydrocortisone is usually used to replace the cortisol. Other possible medicines are prednisolone or dexamethasone, although these are less commonly used. Aldosterone is replaced with a medicine called fludrocortisone.
Too little cortisol may be due to a problem in the pituitary gland or the adrenal gland (Addison's disease). The onset of symptoms is often very gradual. Symptoms may include fatigue, dizziness (especially upon standing), weight loss, muscle weakness, mood changes and the darkening of regions of the skin.
If Addison's disease is suspected, blood tests will be carried out to measure the levels of sodium, potassium and cortisol in your body. A low sodium, high potassium or low cortisol level may indicate Addison's disease.
These may include unexplained fatigue, poor appetite, chronic abdominal pain, or weight loss. Hyponatremia with or without hyperkalemia and/or hypotension can often be seen in Addison disease. Addisonian crisis is often manifested by severe dehydration, confusion, refractory hypotension, and shock.
Addison's disease can cause irritability and depression because of salt depletion, resulting in craving for salty foods. In women, menstrual periods become irregular or stop altogether; loss of pubic and axillary hair may also occur.
In its early stages, adrenal insufficiency can be hard to diagnose since symptoms come on slowly. Your health care professional may suspect it after reviewing your medical history and symptoms. The next step is blood testing to see if your cortisol levels are too low and to help find the cause.
Women are more likely than men to develop Addison's disease. This condition occurs most often in people between the ages of 30 and 50, 2 although it can occur at any age, even in children.
Ocular Features: Virtually all patients have visual symptoms. Loss of acuity, hemianopia, visual agnosia, optic atrophy, and strabismus are the most common features.
Addison's disease can develop if your immune system attacks your adrenal glands and severely damages your adrenal cortex. When 90% of the adrenal cortex is destroyed, your adrenal glands will not be able to produce enough of the steroid hormones cortisol and aldosterone.
Addison's disease (primary adrenal insufficiency) is a rare and progressive (worsening) disorder that affects one in every 10,000 people. It affects people of all ages. The human body has two adrenal glands, one on top of each kidney.
Long-term disturbances in cortisol levels might affect brain structure in individuals with autoimmune Addison's disease (AAD).
With Addison's disease, your immune system attacks the outer portion of your adrenal glands (the adrenal cortex), where they make cortisol and aldosterone. Symptoms don't usually develop until 90% of the adrenal cortex has been damaged, which can take several months to years.
Initial signs and symptoms are nonspecific, such as nausea, vomiting, fever, and lower chest/abdominal pain along with hypotension, altered mental status, and obtundation.
What is unique about the fatigue associated with cortisol levels? People who have low cortisol often speak of a pattern: They have relatively decent or somewhat better energy level in the morning, and then as the day goes on, they tend to have lower amounts of energy.
Lack of cortisol can cause adrenal crisis, a preventable condition that can cause death if treated improperly. Deaths from adrenal crisis can be prevented if patients and their families recognize the condition and are careful to treat it right away. Adrenal crisis is a medical emergency.
Symptoms include: weight loss, fatigue, low blood pressure, abdominal pain, dark patches of skin. You may also have hypopituitarism, which occurs when cortisol production by the adrenal glands is low because the pituitary gland is not sending proper signals.