Always see your healthcare provider for a diagnosis. Your healthcare provider will ask about your medical history. You will also need an exam. Tests that can diagnose adrenal insufficiency include:. You will need to take hormones to replace those that your adrenal glands are not making. That mainly means cortisol. But if you have Addison's disease, you may need to take aldosterone as well.
Addison's disease can be deadly. Treatment often starts with IV intravenous fluids and medicines called corticosteroids. You may take these medicines by mouth or by IV. You may have to take them for the rest of your life. You may also need to take other medicines fludrocortisones. These can help keep your body's sodium and potassium levels normal. You may have sudden severe symptoms.
This is called acute adrenal insufficiency, or Addisonian crisis. This can occur when your body is stressed. That can happen for many reasons, such as an illness, fever, surgery, or dehydration. Often, the disease progresses so slowly that symptoms are ignored until a stress, such as illness or injury, occurs and makes symptoms worse.
Signs and symptoms may include:. Sometimes the signs and symptoms of Addison's disease may appear suddenly. Acute adrenal failure addisonian crisis can lead to life-threatening shock. Seek emergency medical treatment if you experience the following signs and symptoms:. Perched atop each of your kidneys, your adrenal glands produce hormones that help regulate your metabolism, immune system, blood pressure and other essential functions. Addison's disease is caused by damage to your adrenal glands, resulting in not enough of the hormone cortisol and, often, not enough aldosterone as well.
Your adrenal glands are part of your endocrine system. They produce hormones that give instructions to virtually every organ and tissue in your body. Your adrenal glands are composed of two sections. The interior medulla produces adrenaline-like hormones. The outer layer cortex produces a group of hormones called corticosteroids. Corticosteroids include:. When the cortex is damaged and doesn't produce enough adrenocortical hormones, the condition is called primary adrenal insufficiency.
This is most commonly the result of the body attacking itself autoimmune disease. For unknown reasons, your immune system views the adrenal cortex as foreign, something to attack and destroy.
People with Addison's disease are more likely than others to have another autoimmune disease as well. The pituitary gland makes a hormone called adrenocorticotropic hormone ACTH. The adrenal glands are located just above the kidneys.
Adrenal insufficiency can be primary, secondary, or tertiary. With treatment, most people with adrenal insufficiency can have a normal, active life.
Secondary adrenal insufficiency starts in the pituitary—a pea-sized gland at the base of the brain. The pituitary makes adrenocorticotropin ACTH , a hormone that tells the adrenal glands to make cortisol. Over time, the adrenal glands can shrink and stop working. Tertiary adrenal insufficiency starts in the hypothalamus, a small area of the brain near the pituitary.
Cortisol also helps. Aldosterone helps maintain the balance of the minerals sodium and potassium in your blood. People who take medicines to replace cortisol also need plenty of calcium and vitamin D. A health care professional or dietitian can tell you how much you should have.
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