I recently have been diagnosed with adrenal insufficiency?
My endocrinologist says i will need to take steroids for the rest of my life and if i don't I will die - is this true? I cannot find any definitive answer to this. I refuse to take steroids as they cause bad side affects. HELP - only serious answers please. Thanks.
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Honey, It's not the same type of steroid you hear athletes taking. No, these are life giving steroids. These are steroid hormones produced to help regulate organs in the body.. primarily, cortisol. There is another steroid involved called mineralcorticoid, which regulate sodium, potassium, and water retention. If you're not treated or refuse to take these things, your condition could turn into Addison's disease which is a worse condition but brought on by adrenal insufficiency. If not treated, you could experience severe abdominal pains, diarrhea, vomiting, profound muscle weakness, fatigue, extremely low blood pressure, right down to kidney failure, shock and you could die. I know you don't want all these things but not taking that medication would be the worse decision of your life, what will be left of it. Am I trying to scare you, Darn right I am, This is serious. It's not just a passing thing. Just because you heard the word steroids, trust me, it's not the one everyone else takes. These are special and so life giving. So take your medicine. You're our future and we need you around. Good luck and God bless you (
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Is rapid heart rate and low blood pressure with the shakes a sign of adrenal insufficiency?
Sounds more like the symptoms of shock
The most common symptoms of shock include:
A fast, weak pulse, low blood pressure, feeling faint, weak or nauseous, dizziness, cold, clammy skin, rapid, shallow breathing.
The symptoms of adrenal insufficiency usually begin gradually. Early symptoms may include:
Unusual fatigue and muscle weakness
Dizziness when standing
Nausea, vomiting and/or diarrhea
Loss of appetite
Stomachache (
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I have been put on cortef for adrenal insufficiency?
My body was barely making any not sure why it all started, but in order for me to have my back surgery they put me on this stupid steroid around the clock. I am depressed and don't want to take it anymore - what happens if I decide I don't take it.
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Can you get home tests which tell you if you have adrenal insufficiency or problems with the gland?
That is not something you want an amateur to do. Get a professional endocrinologist through your primary care doctor. Kid's; don't try this at home. (
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what is the common way to treat adrenal insufficiency?
TREATMENT
Treatment of Addisons disease involves replacing, or substituting, the hormones that the adrenal glands are not making. Cortisol is replaced orally with hydrocortisone tablets, a synthetic glucocorticoid, taken once or twice a day. If aldosterone is also deficient, it is replaced with oral doses of a mineralocorticoid, called fludrocortisone acetate (Florinef)), which is taken once a day. Patients receiving aldosterone replacement therapy are usually advised by a doctor to increase their salt intake. Because patients with secondary adrenal insufficiency normally maintain aldosterone production, they do not require aldosterone replacement therapy. The doses of each of these medications are adjusted to meet the needs of individual patients.
During an addisonian crisis, low blood pressure, low blood sugar, and high levels of potassium can be life threatening. Standard therapy involves intravenous injections of hydrocortisone, saline (salt water), and dextrose (sugar). This treatment usually brings rapid improvement. When the patient can take fluids and medications by mouth, the amount of hydrocortisone is decreased until a maintenance dose is achieved. If aldosterone is deficient, maintenance therapy also includes oral doses of fludrocortisone acetate. (
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Is it o.k. to get pregnant if you are on steriods for Adrenal Insufficiency?
I have been on Cortef 3 times a day for a total of 30mg a day - will that harm a fetus?
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If you were to stop your steroids it would precipitate an Addisonian (adrenal) crisis which as I am sure you have been warned may be fatal. Since there is inadequate evidence of safety in human pregnancy, this drug should be used in pregnancy only if clearly needed. In your case it would be essential. (
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Does adrenal insufficiency have anything to do with miscarriages?
Questions in the Maternal and Child Health Forum have been answered by doctors from Henry Ford Health System.
Forum: The Maternal and Child Health Forum
Topic: Pregnancy - Abnormal
Subject: adrenal insufficiency and asthma control during pregnancy
I have adrenal insufficiency and ashthma. Also chronic sinusitis. I want to get pregnant. What are the concerns related to these chronic conditions and their treatment during pregnancy on the fetus and for breastfeeding. Any special concerns for delivery? I am physically active, 42. I take regular replacement doses of hydrocortisone and oral zyflo and zantac for gastric reflux. Also medihalers including flovent, tilade, and combivent, as well as a regular antihistimine. Thank you for any information you can relate.
Dear Moise:
Adrenal insufficiency that is controlled with replacement corticosteroids will remain unchanged during pregnancy. The stresses that occur during labor will require increased corticosteroid coverage.
Asthma is more problematic. Approximately one third of women will experience a worsening of asthma during pregnancy and the reduced oxygenation of mother can be a threat to the baby (miscarriage, low birth weight, pre-term labor). Like most chronic diseases, if the disease is stable going into pregnancy the outlook is best; unstable chronic illness tends to exacerbate during pregnancy.
Whenever someone with chronic illness is contemplating pregnancy, a frank discussion with the physicians managing the illness and pre-pregnancy counselling with a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist (an obstetrician who manages patients with medical complications of pregnancy) is advised. MFM physicians practice at referral medical centers: there are 4 such physicians based at Henry Ford Hospital (313-876-2454).
Keywords: Pregnancy, chronic illness
This information is provided for general purposes only and is not a medical consultation. If you have specific questions, please contact your physician.
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Reply by: hfhs.md.rcs on 08/17/1998
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does adrenal insufficiency deplete steroids in the human body?
PITUITARY DISORDERS
Adrenal Insufficiency (Addison's Disease)
(Secondary Addison's or Addison's Disease)
Overview
Addisons 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 non-exposed parts of the body.
Addisons 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.
Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency
This form of Addisons disease can be traced to a lack of ACTH, which causes a drop in the adrenal glands production of cortisol but not aldosterone.
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Adrenal insufficiency is a condition in which the adrenal glands, located above the kidneys, do not produce adequate amounts of steroid hormones (chemicals produced by the body that regulate organ function), primarily cortisol, but may also include impaired aldosterone production (a mineralcorticoid) which regulates sodium, potassium and water retention.[1][2] Craving for salt or salty foods due to the urinary losses of sodium is common.[3]
Adrenal insufficiency can also occur when the hypothalamus or the pituitary gland, both located at the base of the skull, doesn't make adequate amounts of the hormones that assist in regulating adrenal function.[1][5][6] This is called secondary adrenal insufficiency and is caused by lack of production of ACTH in the pituitary or lack of CRH in the hypothalamus.[7] (
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is addisons disease and adrenal insufficiency one and the same,?
if a dr diagnoses you with adrenal insufficiency, is he suppose to let you know they are the same disease, or will they call it either one or the other
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They are slightly different things. "Adrenal insufficiency" means the adrenal glands aren't producing enough hormones. There are a few different things that can cause this. One of those causes is Addison's disease. Addison's disease is where your own immune system mistakenly attacks the adrenal glands and stops them from working.
So Addison's is a type of adrenal insufficiency. But you can have adrenal insufficiency without having Addison's disease.
However, some doctors do use both names to mean the same thing, which is confusing! (
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Is there a differnce between adrenal insufficiency and Addisons and . . .?
if so what is the difference. Also, are either of these related to a pituitary tumor (and if so, how)
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Addison's disease is far worse. You can google it. Yet, adrenal insufficiency or a functional percentage less than optimum, is irreversible. A pituitary tumor could cause it only by extrapolation, or a far stretch of the imagination, implying that a part of your body, or an organ did not grow to keep up with the rest of you. I'm sure there is more under pituitary tumors and pituitary hormone that I don't know that would shed some light, as this is uncommon. Namely, there is an insufficiency of cortisol, most common, and lack of blood flow TO the pituitary, least common. (
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