Essay On Addison's Disease

What’s an Addison’s disease? Addison’s Disease is a rare condition men or women can get this disease. Only one in 100,000 people unfortunately have this disease. There are many different treatment option for this disease and symptoms.

Many people who have Addison’s disease can live a normal life as long as they take their medication. Did you know even John F. Kenney has this condition. The reason a person might get this disease is because, just above each of your kidneys is a small adrenal gland. The adrenal glands produce hormones that you can’t live without including cortisol. Cortisol has many other important functions in our body but the most important role that it helps us by responding to stress. It also helps control your body’s use of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. The Aldosterone helps your kidneys by regulating the amount of salt and water is in your body. This is the

main way you regulate blood volume and keep your blood pressure under control. Your kidneys cannot keep your salt and water levels in balance this makes your blood pressure drop. Hormones play a really important role in your body if you do not have enough hormones it leads to Addison’s disease.
The reason why Addison’s disease is caused is because of a problem with adrenal glands. Autoimmune disease is responsible for 70% of Addison’s disease. This happens when the body’s immune system attacks the adrenal glands. Which it destroys the outer layer of the glands. Infection such as HIV and fungal infections can damage the adrenal glands. Cancer cells can also cause Addison’s disease this happens when cancer spread from other parts of the body to the adrenal glands. The adrenal gland can be damaged by bacterial infection but it is really rare.
THere are many symptoms to Addison’s disease.

Some of the symptoms are chronic fatigue,and muscle weakness nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. You can also have low blood pressure which causes dizziness and you can even faint. Another symptom is dark tanning and freckling to the skin. Freckling skin is more noticeable when some of your body parts are exposed to the sun. There are many symptoms you should be aware about not all of these symptoms indicate you have addison’s disease it could also be another different type of disease. The symptoms of Addison’s disease progress slowly which means you won’t notice the symptoms till you get a stressful event such as an accident or illness. When this occurs it’s called Addisonian crisis. Addisonian crisis could be fatal so it is considered a medical emergency.Did you know one in four people with Addison’s disease is their first time they realize they are ill. Some symptoms of addisonian crisis includes that you may have a fever, low blood pressure, weakness and fatigue, loss of consciousness and also when your body does not get enough bloss

flow.
Addison’s disease can be hard to diagnose. This disease is often detected through routine blood test in a hospital or it could also be detected at a doctor’s office to check for potassium, sodium and white blood cells. The doctor will most likely check for darkening of the skin or gums. This a sign of long term addisons. The most successful way to diagnose the disease is to calculate hormone levels in blood before and after giving ATCH. If you don’t know already ATCH is a hormone in the brain. When this hormone is activated it increases the amount of cortisol being produced by the adrenal glands. When ACTH levels are measured they help recognized if Addison's disease is created by a problem in the brain or in the adrenal gland.