All About Adrenal Insufficiency

I am starting a new blog series where I will be writing out a "survival guide" for living with the conditions I live with. In this blog I will be focusing on Adrenal Insufficiency. *Please not, I am not a healthcare professional, I'm only using my experiences of living with these conditions and therefore anything I say should not replace your healthcare providers advice and recommendations*.

I was first diagnosed with adrenal insufficiency in April 2015. I was diagnosed by the use of a "short synacthen test". This is a test where they take a sample of your blood, inject you with a dose of synacthen and take a sample of your blood again, 30 minutes later. They compare the 2 samples to see the difference between the level of ACTH.

Two types of adrenal insufficiency exist, primary and secondary. Primary adrenal insufficiency is also known as Addison's Disease, it is not reversible as it's the body that is faulty. The second type of secondary adrenal insufficiency, this type is where another condition has to have occurred in order for the symptoms to develop.

My adrenal insufficiency is secondary adrenal insufficiency. Due to my brittle asthma and anaphylaxis, throughout the course of the years I have had a large amount of Prednisolone (a steroid medication). At one point I'd been on a very constant, high dose of Prednisolone due to my asthma and anaphylaxis symptoms. Each day the body produces 7.5mg of it's own, natural Cortisol (naturally-occurring steroid within the body). If you take over 7.5mg of steroids your body realises and due tot there being "artificial steroid" within the body it doesn't need to produce it's own, if this goes on long enough it essentially puts the adrenal glands to sleep and sometimes they don't recover instantaneously. 

Living with adrenal insufficiency can really become scary. The body requires cortisol to properly function and without it you risk going into "adrenal crisis". This is a potentially life-threatening situation which can be fatal. Usually people are placed on steroid courses to counteract their body not having enough cortisol.

The main symptoms of adrenal insufficiency are:

• Hypoglycaemia 
• Weight loss
• Dehydration 
• Disorientation
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Weakness 
• Tiredness 
• Dizziness 
• Low blood pressure 
• Cardiovascular collapse 
• Muscle aches

The main symptoms of adrenal crisis are

• Extreme fatigue 
• Weight loss 
• Decreased appetite 
• Hyper-pigmentation 
• Low blood pressure 
• Fainting 
• Salt craving 
• Hypoglycaemia 
• Nausea
• Vomiting 
• Diarrea 
• Abdominal pain 
• Muscle and/or joint pain 
• Irritability 
• Depression 
• Loss of body hair 
• In females loss of sex drive

This is not a complete list of all the symptoms of adrenal insufficiency or adrenal crisis but is a list of the main symptoms. Not everybody gets all of these symptoms, some may only have 1 or 2 symptoms. If there is any doubt that you may be in adrenal crisis you should seek emergency medical advice. Adrenal insufficiency is treated by taking steroid medications, if you find you're unable to take your dose you should seek emergency medical attention.

It would be a good idea to tell your family, friends, place of work, education supplier etc. about your adrenal insufficiency as it can leave you disorientated which may impact on your ability to seek help. If you were to collapse someone would be able to tell the medical professional/s about your adrenal insufficiency and they will consider if your symptoms fit adrenal crisis. It also could be a good idea to get a medic alert, many companies do stylish, classy, any gender alerts, it can really do the talking for you if you're unable to.

Here's a few sources of information if you've been diagnosed with the condition:

Addison's Disease Self-Help Guide: https://www.addisons.org.uk/
Adrenal Insufficiency United: https://aiunited.org/
Adrenal Insufficiency/Addison's Disease: https://www.facebook.com/groups/10322336355/?ref=br_rs
Adrenal Insufficiency Support: https://www.facebook.com/groups/184620951620985/
Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency Support: https://www.facebook.com/groups/100858467144753/
Woman's Adrenal Insufficiency Support: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1550015248576508/