Adrenal insufficiency

Introduction: Adrenal insufficiency

Adrenal insufficiency is a failure by the adrenal gland to output enough hormones. Severe or chronic cases, see Addison's disease, which is a common cause of adrenal failure. Adrenal gland failure may cause an Addisonian crisis.

Symptoms of Adrenal insufficiency

• Fatigue
• Weakness
• Anorexia
• Nausea
• Vomiting

See full list of 11 symptoms of Adrenal insufficiency

Home Diagnostic Testing

Home medical testing related to Adrenal insufficiency:

• High Blood Pressure: Home Testing
  • Home Blood Pressure Tests
  • Home Blood Pressure Monitors
  • Home Heart Tests
• Heart Health: Home Testing:
  • Heart Rate Monitors
  • Irregular Heartbeat Detection
  • Heart Electrocardiogram (ECG)
  • Home Cholesterol Tests
• Fatigue: Related Home Tests:
  • Home Anemia Tests
  • Home Thyroid Function Tests
  • Home Adrenal Function Tests
  • Home Calcium Deficiency Tests
  • Home HIV Tests
• Bladder & Urinary Health: Home Testing:
  • Home Bladder Tests
  • Home Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Tests
  • Home Cystitis Tests
  • Home Kidney Tests
  • Home Urine Protein Tests (Kidney Function)
  • Home Prostate Cancer Tests
• Adrenal Gland Health: Home Testing:
• Kidney Health: Home Testing:
  • Home Microalbumin Tests (Kidney)
  • Home Urine Protein Tests (Kidney)
  • Home Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) Tests

Medical Textbooks Online about Adrenal insufficiency

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Wrongly Diagnosed with Adrenal insufficiency?

• Misdiagnosis of Adrenal insufficiency
• Underlying causes of Adrenal insufficiency (possibly wrongly diagnosed)

Misdiagnosis and Adrenal insufficiency

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...read 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 attack, but actually have something milder. Some of the...read more »

Rare heart condition often undiagnosed: The rare heart condition called long QT syndrome can lead to episodes of palpitations and rapid heartbeat....read more »

Heart attack can be over-diagnosed: Although heart attack is often undiagnosed, leading to fatality, it can also be over-diagnosed. People become concerned that a condition is a heart attack, whereas there are...read more »

Blood pressure cuffs misdiagnose hypertension in children: One known misdiagnosis issue with hyperension, arises in relation to the simple equipment used to test...read more »

Interstitial cystitis an under-diagnosed bladder condition: The medical condition of interstitial cystitic is a bladder condition that can be misdiagnosed as various conditions such as ...read more »

Hypertension misdiagnosis common in children: Hypertension is often misdiagnosed in adults (see misdiagnosis of hypertension), but its...read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Adrenal insufficiency

Causes of Adrenal insufficiency

• Isolated corticotropin deficiency
• Mycobacterium tuberculosis
• Adrenoleucodystrophy
• Autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 1
• Lipoid congenital adrenal hyperplasia

See full list of 28 causes of Adrenal insufficiency

Read more about causes of Adrenal insufficiency.

More information about causes of Adrenal insufficiency:

• Adrenal insufficiency as a complication caused by other conditions
• Adrenal insufficiency as a symptom

Treatments for Adrenal insufficiency

• Vitamin B5 - possibly used for related vitamin B5 deficiency
• Sodium - possibly used for treatment of related sodium deficiency

Read more about treatments for Adrenal insufficiency

Videos for Adrenal insufficiency

Patient Surveys for Adrenal insufficiency

• Patient Profile Survey
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• Survey about the symptoms of your Adrenal insufficiency
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Reseach about Adrenal insufficiency

Visit our research pages for current research about Adrenal insufficiency treatments.

Clinical Trials for Adrenal insufficiency

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 Adrenal insufficiency include:

• Adrenal Function in Critical Illness - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Adrenal Function in Patients With Newly Diagnosed Lung Cancer - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Hydrocortisone Versus Hydrocortisone Plus Fludrocortisone for the Treatment of Adrenal Insufficiency in Severe Sepsis - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Fludrocortisone
• Dose Response Relationship for Single Doses of Corticotropin Releasing Hormone (CRH) in Normal Volunteers and in Patients With Adrenal Insufficiency - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Ovine Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (oCRH)
• Impact of Hydrocortisone Administration on White Blood Cell Gene Expression in Patients With Severe Sepsis - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Hydrocortisone Administration (Standard of Care Therapy)

See full list of 19 Clinical Trials for Adrenal insufficiency

Types of Adrenal insufficiency

• Chronic adrenal insufficiency - usually Addison's disease.
• Acute adrenal insufficiency - may cause Addisonian crisis

Read more about Types of Adrenal insufficiency

Medical Guidebooks and Ebooks for Adrenal insufficiency

• Icon Health Sourcebook for Adrenal insufficiency

See all guides and ebooks for Adrenal insufficiency

Stories from Users Related to Adrenal insufficiency

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• advice on how and where to proceed, (low adrenal)I
• Severe adrenal rushes
• misdiagnosis or failure to diagnosis

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User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Adrenal insufficiency, 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.

Definitions of Adrenal insufficiency:

Conditions in which the production of adrenal CORTICOSTEROIDS falls below the requirement of the body. Adrenal insufficiency can be caused by defects in the ADRENAL GLANDS, the PITUITARY GLAND, or the HYPOTHALAMUS. - (Source - Diseases Database)

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