Health

What the Heck is Addison's Disease

This is a question I spent a lot of my time trying to answer for myself.  It isn't easy to search for on the internet.  The first time I tried, all I kept find was results for Addisons Disease in dogs.  Imagine how that can make one feel.  Was beginning to wonder if this was the right name.  However, being a nurse I had a basic knowledge of the disease.  My memory (which was a bit impaired at the time) had remimded me of the day I sat in my Med/Sug class in nursing school and we were discussing disorders of the endocrine system.  I remember hearing about how rare this disease was.  Leave it to me.  I am like a magnet for rare disorders.  However, endocrine disorders do run in my family (mostly thyroid and diabetes), so there was one risk factor.  Top this with my autoimmune and asthma...I was a sitting duck.  I had been having symptoms for years.  Unfortunately, due to the rareness of this disease, no one knew to look for it.

Addison's is a disorder of the adrenal glands.  It occurs when these glands don't make enough cortisol or aldosterone.  Cortisol is the hormone that helps our body control the stress response, inflammation response, cardiovascular function, maintain blood pressure, and regulates use of protein, carbs, and fat.  One busy little hormone.  Aldosterone regulates salt and water to help maintain blood pressure.  In my case, my autoimmune system attacked my glands and as a result, they shutdown...completely.  What does that means for me?  It means, I have no fight or flight response.  I dehydrate extremely easily because I do not hang on to sodium.  If I get hurt, physically or mentally stressed, or sick I have to take my cortisol in pill or injection form.  I take maintenance steroids everyday.  Without them, I will die.  Harsh...maybe.  But it is fact.  My body can not function without them.  What happens if I don't take them?  Well the first thing I notice is extreme fatigue and muscle weakness.  This is usually followed by slurred speech, clumsiness(walking into walls, falling, etc.), confusion, shortness of breath, palpitations, and loss of appetite.  Nausea/vomiting usually comes next, my blood pressure starts to drop, my heart rate starts to raise, and usually I don't remember anything beyond that point.  Have been in this state and it is not a place I would like to visit again anytime soon.  It is not only scary for me, but my family as well.  Have managed to avoid intubation so far.  Knock on wood.  However, it is always a fear in the back of my mind.

The biggest issue with Addisons is that you mange it by how you feel.  It is not like diabetes where you can check your blood sugar.  Everything is more or less trial and error.  I often joke that it would be easier to be a diabetic.  If I feel like I am slipping, I take extra steroids hoping I am taking enough.  Steroids are not a drug you can just stop taking either.  You have to wean down or off them.  So it is a constant process.  Everytime I get sick, it seems to take even more to just keep a normal function.  One of my fears is that soemday, no amount will be enough.  I take in extra salt if I feel like I am getting dehydrated.  I have to carry simple sugars because Addisons also causes low blood sugar.  I get sick very easily, and don't heal fast at all.  My bones are brittle becuase of the steroids.  I burn very easily.  So I am always afraid of breaking a hip or burning myself, knowing healing from it will take forever.  Hopefully, this helps you to understand this disease better.  My autoimmune problems make this disease even that much harder to control, but it can be done.  it just takes a lot of work.  I am very blessed to have a family doctor, rheumatologist, and endocrinologist that are wonderful.