Spotting the signs and diagnosis

By:  Katherine White & Paul Margulies  Thursday 8, August 2002

Addison’s disease is a rare, chronic condition brought about by failure of the adrenal glands. If untreated the condition is life threatening and unfortunately not always spotted very quickly.

Signs and symptoms

• The slowly progressive loss of cortisol and aldosterone secretion usually produces a chronic, steadily worsening fatigue, a loss of appetite, and some weight loss.

• Blood pressure is low and falls further when a person is standing, producing light-headedness.

• Nausea, sometimes with vomiting, and diarrhoea are common.

• The muscles are weak and often go into spasm.

• There are often emotional changes, particularly irritability and depression.

• Because of salt loss, a craving for salty foods is common.

• Finally, the increase in ACTH due to the loss of cortisol will usually produce a darkening of the skin that may look like an inappropriate tan on a person who feels very sick.

Unfortunately, the slowly progressive chronic symptoms are usually missed or ignored until a sudden event like a flu virus, an accident, or the need for surgery suddenly precipitates a dramatic change for the worse because of the deficient response from the adrenals to one of these stresses. This is referred to as an Addisonian crisis  and is a medical emergency.

 

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