What is Addison’s disease?
Addison’s disease is a chronic condition where your adrenal glands, also called suprarenal glands, are small, triangle-shaped glands on top of your two kidneys that are part of your endocrine system. Cortisol is a hormone that helps your body respond to stress, including illness, injury, or surgery. It also helps maintain your blood pressure, heart function, immune system, and blood glucose levels. Aldosterone is a hormone that affects the balance of sodium (salt) and potassium in your blood, which in turn controls how much fluid your kidneys remove as urine (pee), which influences blood volume and blood pressure.
Addison’s disease is a rare condition that happens when the body doesn’t make enough of some hormones. Another name for Addison’s disease is primary adrenal insufficiency. With Addison’s disease, the adrenal glands make too little of the hormone cortisol. Often, they also make too little of another hormone called aldosterone.
Damage to the adrenal glands causes Addison’s disease. Symptoms can start slowly. Early symptoms may include excessive weariness, salt cravings, and weight loss. Anyone can get Addison’s disease. It can become fatal if left untreated. To replenish the lost hormones, treatment entails taking synthetic hormones.
Signs and symptoms
The symptoms of Addison’s disease typically appear gradually over several months. People who with the condition may initially disregard its symptoms because it progresses so slowly. A sickness or accident that causes physical stress might exacerbate symptoms quickly.
You may experience different effects from early Addison’s disease symptoms. The following early signs may make you uncomfortable or deplete your energy:
- Fatigue is another name for extreme tiredness.
- standing up after sitting or lying down and experiencing lightheadedness or fainting. Postural
- Hypotension, a form of low blood pressure, is the cause of this.
- Sweating due to low blood sugar, also termed hypoglycemia.
- Upset stomach, diarrhea, or vomiting.
- abdominal pain, sometimes referred to as stomach pain.
- weakness, joint discomfort, muscle spasms, or generalized pain.
What causes Addison’s disease?
The most common cause of Addison’s disease is an autoimmune response, which occurs when your immune system attacks healthy tissues for an unknown reason.
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. In the past, tuberculosis was a major cause of Addison’s disease. Other less common causes of Addison’s disease include:
- Repeated infections, including HIV/AIDS-related infections and fungal infections. When cancer cells from another part of your body invade your adrenal glands.
- Bleeding (hemorrhaging) into your adrenal glands. Surgical removal of your adrenal glands.
What tests will be done to diagnose Addison’s disease?
To determine if you have Addison’s disease, your healthcare provider may order the following tests:
Blood tests:
Your provider will likely order certain tests to measure the levels of sodium, potassium, cortisol, and ACTH in your blood.
ACTH stimulation test:
This test measures your adrenal glands’ response after you’re given a shot of artificial ACTH. If your adrenal glands produce low levels of cortisol after the shot, they may not be functioning properly.
Insulin-induced hypoglycemia test:
Your provider may order this test to determine if your symptoms are due to problems with your pituitary gland (secondary adrenal insufficiency) instead of your adrenal glands.
How is adrenal insufficiency treated?
Your healthcare professional will figure out the optimal treatment for you based on:
- Your age, general well-being, and previous health
- How ill you are
- Your ability to manage specific medications, treatments, or procedures
- The anticipated duration of the ailment
- Your preference or opinion
To replace the hormones your adrenal glands aren’t producing, you’ll need to take supplements. That basically means cortisol. However, you might also need to take aldosterone if you have Addison’s disease.
It can be fatal to have Addison’s disease. Treatment frequently starts with IV (intravenous) fluids and drugs called corticosteroids. These medications can be administered intravenously or orally.