An adrenal disease characterized by the progressive destruction of the ADRENAL CORTEX, resulting in insufficient production of ALDOSTERONE and HYDROCORTISONE. Clinical symptoms include ANOREXIA; NAUSEA; WEIGHT LOSS; MUSCLE WEAKNESS; and HYPERPIGMENTATION of the SKIN due to increase in circulating levels of ACTH precursor hormone which stimulates MELANOCYTES.

The diminished production of adrenocortical hormones due to a pathologic process within the adrenal glands.

Your adrenal glands are just above your kidneys. The outside layer of these glands makes hormones that help your body respond to stress and regulate your blood pressure and water and salt balance. Addison disease happens if the adrenal glands don't make enough of these hormones. A problem with your immune system usually causes Addison disease. The immune system mistakenly attacks your own tissues, damaging your adrenal glands. Other causes include infections and cancer. Symptoms include Weight loss; Muscle weakness; Fatigue that gets worse over time; Low blood pressure; Patchy or dark skin . Lab tests can confirm that you have Addison disease. If you don't treat it, it can be fatal. You will need to take hormone pills for the rest of your life. If you have Addison disease, you should carry an emergency ID. It should say that you have the disease, list your medicines and say how much you need in an emergency. NIH: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

(addison's disease) A long-standing and persistent diminished production of adrenocortical hormones due to a disorder originating within the adrenal glands.

(addison's disease) Disease characterized by hypotension, weight loss, anorexia, weakness, and sometimes a bronze-like melanotic hyperpigmentation of the skin; due to tuberculosis or autoimmune induced disease (hypofunction) of the adrenal glands that results in deficiency of aldosterone and cortisol.

(primary adrenal insufficiency) Insufficient production of steroid hormones (primarily cortisol) by the adrenal glands as a result of a primary defect in the glands themselves.

Addison disease is an insidious, usually progressive hypofunctioning of the adrenal cortex. It causes various symptoms, including hypotension and hyperpigmentation, and can lead to adrenal crisis with cardiovascular collapse. Diagnosis is clinical and by finding elevated plasma adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) with low plasma cortisol....

Thomas Addison first described the clinical presentation of primary adrenocortical insufficiency (Addison disease) in 1855 in his classic paper, On the Constitutional and Local Effects of Disease of the Supra-Renal Capsules. Recent studies White and Arlt examined the prevalence of and risk factors for adrenal crisis in patients with...

Addison's disease, also called adrenal insufficiency, is an uncommon disorder that occurs when your body doesn't produce enough of certain hormones. In Addison's disease, your adrenal glands, located just above your kidneys, produce too little cortisol and, often, too little aldosterone.

Addison's disease occurs when the adrenal glands do not produce enough (or any) of the hormones, cortisol and aldosterone. These adrenal gland hormones are necessary for balancing water and energy in the body. Symptoms usually develop slowly over time, and may include fatigue, loss of appetite, abdominal pain, and dark patches of skin....

Addison disease, or primary adrenal insufficiency, is a disorder that affects the adrenal glands, causing decreased production of adrenocortical hormones (cortisol, aldosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone). This may be caused by a destructive process directly affecting the adrenal glands or a condition that interferes with hormone...

Addison disease, rare disorder defined by destruction of the outer layer of the adrenal glands, the hormone-producing organs located just above the kidneys. Addison disease is rare because it only occurs when at least 90 percent of the adrenal cortex is destroyed. In the mid-19th century when the...