Addison's Disease

Introduction: Addison's Disease

Addison's Disease: Addison's disease is a rare endocrine or hormonal disorder that affects about 1 in 100,000 people. It occurs in all age groups and ... more about Addison's Disease.

Addison's Disease: A rare progressive hormonal disorder characterized by insufficient production of certain hormones called adrenal corticosteroids. More detailed information about the symptoms, causes, and treatments of Addison's Disease is available below.

Symptoms of Addison's Disease

• Weight loss
• Muscle weakness
• Fatigue
• Low blood pressure
• Hyperpigmentation - dark skin tanning of both external and unexposed skin areas, most noticable on skin folds, elbows, knees, knuckles, toes, lips, and mucous membranes.

See full list of 61 symptoms of Addison's Disease

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Addison's Disease:

• Home Cholesterol Tests
• Home Triglycerides Tests
• Home Blood Pressure Tests
• Home Blood Pressure Monitors
• Home Heart Tests
• Heart Rate Monitors
• Irregular Heartbeat Detection
• Heart Electrocardiogram (ECG)
• Home Anemia Tests
• Home Thyroid Function Tests
• Home Adrenal Function Tests
• Home Calcium Deficiency Tests
• Home HIV Tests
• Home Thyroid Tests
• Home TSH Tests
• Home Bladder Tests
• Home UTI Tests
• Home Cystitis Tests
• Home Kidney Tests
• Home Urine Protein Tests (Kidney Function)
• Home Prostate Cancer Tests
• Home Weight Testing
• Home Body Fat Testing (BMI)
• Home Body Fat Monitoring
• Home Fitness Testing
• Home Microalbumin Tests (Kidney)
• Home Urine Protein Tests (Kidney)
• Home Diabetes Tests
• Home Blood Glucose Tests
• Home Urine Glucose Tests
• Home Urine Ketone Tests
• Home Diabetes HbA1c Tests
• Home Eye Tests

Medical Textbooks Online about Addison's Disease

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2007 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic Tests for Addison's Disease

• Physical examination - particularly for hyperpigmentation of the skin
• Cortisol levels blood test
• X-ray adrenal glands - detect calcium deposits from TB-related Addison's.
• X-ray pituitary glands
• CT scan pituitary glands

See full list of 8 diagnostic tests for Addison's Disease

Wrongly Diagnosed with Addison's Disease?

• Misdiagnosis of Addison's Disease
• Underlying causes of Addison's Disease (possibly wrongly diagnosed)

Misdiagnosis and Addison's Disease

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Heart attacks can be undiagnosed: Although the most severe symptoms of heart attack are hard to miss, there are varying degrees of severity. It is altogether too common for...more »

Heart attacks can be overdiagnosed: Although many people die from heart attacks, there are also many cases where people fear that they have a heart...more »

Adrenal gland disorder difficult to correctly diagnose: Addison's disease, a disorder of the adrenal glands, causes a variety of symptoms, and is often misdiagnosed in early stages. Common misdiagnoses...more »

Cushing's disease can be mistaken for depression: Cushing's disease (or similarly Cushing's syndrome) is a possible misdiagnosis for a person diagnosed with depression. It is...more »

Cluster of diseases with difficult diagnosis issues: There is a well-known list of medical conditions that are all somewhat difficult to diagnose, and all can present in...more »

Poorly healing leg rashes a classic sign of chronic disease: Recurring leg rashes, or poorly healing leg rashes, are a classic sign of undiagnosed diabetes,...more »

Leg cramps at night a classic sign: The symptom of having leg muscle cramps, particularly at night, is a classic sign of undiagnosed diabetes. However, there are also various other causes. See causes of leg cramps or $misdiagnosis of...more »

Obesity-related conditions undiagnosed in children: A variety of conditions are associated with obesity (see obesity), but these tend to be undiagnosed more often in child patients than in adults. Some of the overlooked conditions...more »

Addison's disease has a good prognosis: Addison’s disease when treated with adequate replacement therapy has a good prognosis and life expectancy approximates normal. Lifelong medical supervision is required for...more »

Rare cases of headache: Headache is one of the common symptoms presenting in general practice. It needs a sound diagnostic and management strategy as the problem can be confusing. The key to diagnosing the...more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Addison's Disease

Causes of Addison's Disease

• Tuberculosis
• Polyendocrine deficiency syndrome
• Chronic infections - mainly fungal infections
• Adrenal cancer
• Amyloidosis

See full list of 13 causes of Addison's Disease

More information about causes of Addison's Disease:

• Medications, drugs, or substances causing Addison's Disease (2 listings)
• Underlying causes of Addison's Disease
• Addison's Disease as a complication caused by other conditions
• Addison's Disease as a symptom
• Cause statistics for Addison's Disease

Treatments for Addison's Disease

• Hydrocortisone tablets - replaces cortisol hormone
• Fludrocortisone acetate (Florinef) - for aldosterone deficiency
• Salt intake - for aldosterone deficiency

Read more about treatments for Addison's Disease

Videos for Addison's Disease

Patient Surveys for Addison's Disease

• Patient Profile Survey
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• Survey about the symptoms of your Addison's Disease
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Reseach about Addison's Disease

Visit our research pages for current research about Addison's Disease treatments.

Clinical Trials for Addison's Disease

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Addison's Disease include:

• Phase III Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study of Dehydroepiandrosterone Replacement for Primary Adrenal Insufficiency - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - dehydroepiandrosterone
• Adrenal Function After Living Kidney Donation - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)

Read more about Clinical Trials for Addison's Disease

Statistics for Addison's Disease

• Medical statistics for Addison's Disease
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Addison's Disease
• Death and Mortality statistics for Addison's Disease
• Society statistics for Addison's Disease

Types of Addison's Disease

• Primary Adrenal Insufficiency - 70%, autoimmune destruction of the adrenal cortex
• Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency - caused by a tumor or another underlying cause.
• Tuberculosis-caused Addison's

Read more about Types of Addison's Disease

Medical Guidebooks and Ebooks for Addison's Disease

• Icon Health Sourcebook for Addison's Disease

See all guides and ebooks for Addison's Disease

Stories from Users Related to Addison's Disease

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User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Addison's Disease, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

• I can not get a diagnosis. Please help.
• Tell us your medical story.
• Share your misdiagnosis story.
• What is the best treatment for this?
• See all the forums.

Article Excerpts about Addison's Disease

Addison's disease is a rare endocrine or hormonal disorder that affects about 1 in 100,000 people. It occurs in all age groups and afflicts men and women equally. The disease is characterized by weight loss, muscle weakness, fatigue, low blood pressure, and sometimes darkening of the skin in both exposed and nonexposed parts of the body.

Addison's disease occurs when the adrenal glands do not produce enough of the hormone cortisol and in some cases, the hormone aldosterone. For this reason, the disease is sometimes called chronic adrenal insufficiency, or hypocortisolism. (Source: excerpt from Addison's Disease: NIDDK)

Definitions of Addison's Disease:

A glandular disorder caused by failure of function of the cortex of the adrenal gland and marked by anemia and prostration with brownish skin - (Source - WordNet 2.1)

Addison's Disease is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This means that Addison's Disease, or a subtype of Addison's Disease, affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
Source - National Institutes of Health (NIH)