13 Facts About Addison's disease

Addison's disease, known as primary adrenal insufficiency, is a rare long-term endocrine disorder characterized by inadequate production of the steroid hormones cortisol and aldosterone by the two outer layers of the cells of the adrenal glands, causing adrenal insufficiency.

Addison's disease arises from problems with the adrenal gland such that not enough of the steroid hormone cortisol and possibly aldosterone are produced.

In developed countries, the etiology of Addison's disease is often attributed to idiopathic damage by the body's own immune system, and in developing countries most often due to tuberculosis.

Addison's disease is generally diagnosed by blood tests, urine tests, and medical imaging.

Addison's disease can be described in association with chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis, acquired hypoparathyroidism, diabetes mellitus, pernicious anemia, hypogonadism, chronic and active hepatitis, malabsorption, immunoglobulin abnormalities, alopecia, vitiligo, spontaneous myxedema, Graves' disease, and chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis.

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Addison's disease is associated with the development of other autoimmune diseases, such as type I diabetes, thyroid disease, celiac disease, or vitiligo.

Treatment for Addison's disease involves replacing the missing cortisol, sometimes in the form of hydrocortisone tablets, or prednisone tablets in a dosing regimen that mimics the physiological concentrations of cortisol.

People with Addison's disease are advised to increase their medication during periods of illness or when undergoing surgery or dental treatment.

Someone with the disease should be observant of symptoms of an "Addison's crisis" while the body is strained, as in rigorous exercise or being sick, the latter often needing emergency treatment with intravenous injections to treat the crisis.

Death from individuals with Addison's disease often occurs due to cardiovascular disease, infectious disease, and malignant tumors, among other possibilities.

Addison's disease is named after Thomas Addison, the British physician who first described the condition in On the Constitutional and Local Effects of Disease of the Suprarenal Capsules .

Addison's disease originally described it as "melasma suprarenale", but later physicians gave it the medical eponym "Addison's disease" in recognition of Addison's discovery.

The Addison's disease is most often diagnosed in dogs that are young to middle-aged, but it can occur at any age from 4 months to 14 years.