adrenal insufficiency

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Adrenal Insufficiency Awareness Day June 6th 2014 – please help as I’m on the hunt for more information.


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As I mentioned in a post I made yesterday one of the objectives (or missions as they say in management consultancies) is to help raise the profile of different medical conditions. We do this through informational blogs such as this one on rheumatoid arthritis and help promote different Awareness Days/Months/Years/Nanoseconds run by various support groups such as World MS Day.

This means I have information coming into me on sort of “speed dial” about loads of different stuff. So as you can imagine I was very interested to discover that tomorrow is Adrenal Insufficiency Awareness Day according to the Awareness Days web site. But if you go to the site you will there that their is precious little information available on the page. So I thought I’d put myself in the hands of the mighty Google. All I could come up with was this for Just Giving page. This page it seems is owned by an outfit called the The Pituitary Foundation. A great looking site, no doubt, but I could find nowt about Adrenal Insufficiency Awareness Day. Which is odd as it is tomorrow.

Now I happen to know somebody with the related condition Addison’s Disease so I know how important such says are to adrenal insufficiency community. Which is why I’m blogging this. I’d like to know more and help promote the day. But I can’t because I can’t find anything remotely useful online apart from one page. Does anyone know anything? At all!

If you do please can you put more information and links in the comments box below to I can runa post later today or tomorrow on the subject.

Many thanks in advance.


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Addison’s disease: Signs, Symptoms and Diagnosis of Addison’s disease.

Addison's disease patient at rest

Addison’s disease patient at rest

The purpose of this blog is to help people with Addison’s share their experience of symptoms and diagnosis. It is worth mentioning that the condition is also known as Hypoadrenocorticism, primary adrenal insufficiency or hypoadrenalism.

As these names suggest this rare condition (maybe 1 in 10,000 people) impacts the adrenal glands.  More common in women than men it affects the production of two vital hormones called cortisol and aldosterone.

Initial symptoms are similar to other conditions, they include:-

a)       Fatigue

b)      Feelings of depression

c)       Poor appetite

d)      Increased thirst

e)      Weakness of the muscles

Addison’s disease is a chronic condition and symptoms can worsen to include dizziness, fainting and exhaustion.

In extremes cases the condition can lead to what is called either an Addisonian crisis or adrenal crisis.  Because this can end in a coma it is vital that if you have any concerns that you might have Addison’s disease you see a healthcare professional as soon as possible.

For more information on Addison’s disease can we suggest you visit the Addison’s disease UK Self Help web site at http://www.addisons.org.uk/?

As we said we are keen to find out how you were diagnosed and when you found out you were affected by Addison’s disease.  We would also like to explore whether you are supported emotionally by your family, friends and healthcare professionals and if you are working, by your employers.

The kinds of things you might like to include would be

1) Please tell us the story of your diagnosis! Who diagnosed you? When? What symptoms or events prompted your diagnosis of Addison’s disease, if any?

2) What tests were done to establish or confirm your diagnosis?

3) What physicians/specialists have you seen in connection with your Addison’s disease? Who do you see on an on-going basis? Who do you see occasionally?

4) Have you experienced an Addisonian crisis?

5) What kind of physical and emotional support do you receive from family, friends, physicians and the emergency services?

6) Have you had to change your diet and lifestyle routine to cope with the disease?

I look forward to your comments and ideas.  It would be great if you would use the comments box below to share your story!  Also if you have any links you have found useful in the past it would be great if you could share them!