Addison's Disease: Symptoms, Causes, and How Medications Help Manage It

When your Addison's disease, a rare disorder where the adrenal glands fail to produce enough cortisol and aldosterone. Also known as primary adrenal insufficiency, it means your body can't handle stress, regulate blood pressure, or balance salt and water the way it should. This isn't just fatigue—it's your body running out of fuel it can't make on its own.

Most cases happen because the immune system attacks the adrenal glands, but infections like tuberculosis, cancer, or even certain medications can trigger it too. Without enough cortisol, the main stress hormone that keeps blood sugar, blood pressure, and inflammation in check, you’ll feel weak, dizzy, and sick to your stomach. Low aldosterone, the hormone that tells your kidneys how much salt and water to hold onto leads to dehydration, low blood pressure, and cravings for salty food. Left untreated, it can crash into an adrenal crisis—life-threatening and often mistaken for the flu.

Managing Addison's disease isn’t about curing it—it’s about replacing what your body can’t make. Most people take daily corticosteroids, synthetic hormones like hydrocortisone or prednisone that mimic cortisol to keep energy levels stable. Some also need fludrocortisone to help with salt retention and blood pressure. The key is consistency: missing a dose can make you feel awful. And during illness, injury, or stress, you’ll need to increase your dose—something your doctor will teach you to do safely. Many patients carry an emergency injection of hydrocortisone just in case.

What you’ll find in this collection isn’t just textbook definitions. These are real-world guides from people who’ve lived with it, pharmacists who manage the meds, and clinicians who’ve seen what happens when treatment slips. You’ll learn how to travel with your hormones, why some generic steroids work just as well as brand names, how to avoid dangerous drug interactions (like with NSAIDs or certain antibiotics), and what to ask your doctor when your symptoms don’t quite match the textbook. Whether you’re newly diagnosed, helping someone who is, or just trying to understand why someone keeps needing salt packets at lunch—this is the practical info you need.