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People who have Addison’s disease may experience the following symptoms:

• muscle weakness
• fatigue and tiredness
• darkening in skin color
• weight loss or decreased appetite
• a decrease in heart rate or blood pressure
• low blood sugar levels
• fainting spells
• sores in the mouth
• cravings for salt
• nausea
• vomiting

People living with Addison’s disease may also experience neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as:

• irritability or?depression
• lack of energy
• sleep disturbances

If Addison’s disease goes untreated for too long, it can become an?Addisonian crisis. Symptoms associated with an Addisonian crisis can?includeTrusted Source:

• agitation
• delirium
• visual and auditory hallucinations

An Addisonian crisis is a life-threatening medical emergency. Call 911 immediately if you or someone you know begins to experience:

• mental status changes, such as confusion, fear, or restlessness
• loss of consciousness
• high?fever
• sudden pain in the lower back, belly, or legs

An untreated Addisonian crisis can lead to shock and death.

Causes

The adrenal glands are small hormone-releasing organs located on top of each kidney. They are made up of an outer portion, called the cortex, and an inner portion, called the medulla.

The cortex produces 3 hormones:

• Glucocorticoid hormones (such as cortisol) maintain sugar (glucose) control, decrease (suppress)?immune response, and help the body respond to stress.
• Mineralocorticoid hormones (such as aldosterone) regulate sodium, water and potassium balance.
• Sex hormones, androgens (male) and estrogens (female), affect sexual development and sex drive.

Addison disease results from damage to the adrenal cortex. The damage causes the cortex to produce hormone levels that are too low.

This damage may be caused by the following:

• The immune system mistakenly attacking the adrenal glands (autoimmune disease)
• Infections such as?tuberculosis,?HIV, or fungal infections
• Hemorrhage into the adrenal glands
• Tumors

Risk factors for the autoimmune type of Addison disease include other autoimmune diseases:

• Swelling (inflammation) of the thyroid gland that often results in reduced thyroid function (chronic thyroiditis)
• Thyroid gland produces too much thyroid hormone (overactive thyroid,?Graves disease)
• Itchy rash with bumps and blisters (dermatitis herpetiformis)
• Parathyroid glands in the neck do not produce enough parathyroid hormone (hypoparathyroidism)
• Pituitary gland does not produce normal amounts of some or all of its hormones (hypopituitarism)
• Autoimmune disorder that affects the nerves and the muscles they control (myasthenia gravis)
• Body does not have enough healthy red blood cells (pernicious anemia)
• Testicles cannot produce sperm or male hormones (testicular failure)
• Type I diabetes
• Loss of brown color (pigment) from areas of the skin (vitiligo)

Certain rare genetic defects may also cause adrenal insufficiency.