Essay On Addison's Disease

Addison’s Disease is a disease when adrenal glands don’t produce enough hormones. The adrenal glands also do not produce enough cortisol and aldosterone. Cortisol is a steroid hormone and aldosterone helps regulate blood pressure. There are less than 200,000 cases in the U.S per year, so it is a rare disease. It affects both sexes of all ages, and affects 1 in 100,000 people. Dr. Thomas Addison discovered the disease in 1849, and named it after himself. Addison’s Disease can be life-threatening. First and foremost, causes of Addison’s Disease. It is when a patient’s adrenal glands are damaged, causing hormones not be produced. Since adrenal glands are apart of the endocrine system, they control every organ and tissue in the body. Ways the adrenal glands can be damaged include, tuberculosis, infections of the glands, cancer in the glands, and bleeding in the glands. All of these can cause Addison’s Disease.
Secondly, symptoms of Addison’s Disease develop over time, often taking months. For example, severe fatigue and weight loss from reduced appetite can be signs of Addison’s. In addition to those, low blood sugar from not enough aldosterone being made. Hyperpigmentation or the darkening of skin, low blood sugar, muscle pains, depression, and irritability are all …show more content…
This includes, a blood test, this kind of test measures level of sodium, potassium, ACTH, and cortisol. It can decided if it is adrenal deficiency, and if antibodies associated with the disease are in the blood. Another is an ACTH stimulation test, this is where a dose of synthetic ACTH is injected to see if cortisol can be produced; if not then the adrenal glands are damaged. There is also the insulin-induced hypoglycemia test, where blood sugar and cortisol levels are tested. The final test is an imaging test, this is when the patient gets a CT scan of his or her abdomen to check the size of adrenal