What is Addison's Disease?
Addison's disease, named after the London physician Thomas Addison, who first described it in 1849 and more fully in 1855, is an autoimmune disease. It's labeled as localized and is also called Adrenal Insufficiency. Addison's disease is rare in children and in those over 60 years of age. It affects about 4 people per 100,000, spread equally between men and women and can hit at any age.For the most part there is no inherent cause that has been found for just why this happens. Although some hereditary links have been discovered-in that a person who has a family member with some autoimmune diseases has a greater chance of contracting this disease than do others, a definitive link has yet to be identified. Some environmental and other high-stress life experiences also seem to be triggers for an autoimmune disease but again no precise cause has been nailed down.
There is no remedy for these forms of diseases and syndromes, but patients can live normal lives when given regular treatment with adrenal hormones. In other words, the medical community can treat a person with palliative measures, but cannot decimate the sickness from a sufferer.
Autoimmune disorders fall under two categories-systemic and localized. A systemic autoimmune disease will attack various organs and systems in the body while a localized one generally damages only one part of the body. However, the line becomes blurred between the two categories as localized autoimmune disease spreads beyond the first organ or system damaged and begins to spread.
Rare condition caused by destruction of the outer part of the adrenal glands, leading to reduced secretion of corticosteroid hormones; it is treated by replacement of these hormones. The condition, formerly fatal, is mostly caused by autoimmune disease or tuberculosis. Symptoms include weight loss, anaemia, weakness, low blood pressure, digestive upset, and brownish pigmentation of the skin.
The adrenal glands, located on top of each kidney are hypoactive and produce insufficient cortisol and sometimes aldosterone, both of these hormones work in concert with other hormones produced by the hypothalamus and the pituitary glands to control many body systems. Once their production is interrupted it can cause major illness within the body.
The cause in about 70% of patients suffering from primary adrenal insufficiency is due to an autoimmune process and in the other 30% of cases it's brought on by other illnesses such as tuberculosis, infections brought about by bacteria, viruses or fungi, adrenal hemorrhage or cancer that has spread to the adrenal glands. So when the term Addison's disease is used to refer to primary and secondary adrenal insufficiency it’s being used incorrectly. So although Addison's disease can be an autoimmune disease, it often times is not.