Question for Wanda B - Addison's Disease Message Board

KFXrider88 · 05-07-2006, 02:11 PM

Hey Wanda B, I read a reply you wrote to trainwreck about her son possibly having addisons, And you really seemed to have a lot of info. I was wondering if you knew anything about determining secondary addisons. It seemed like there was something about that in your reply, but I didn't quite understand it all. Any info you can give me would be a great help. Thanks a lot. Chris

WandaB · 05-07-2006, 03:01 PM

I simply transferred info from another board I use. Part of it below. Are you suspecting secondary addisons? How are your salt & potassium levels? Have you been checked for autoimmune antibodies?

SECONDARY ADDISONIAN (Pituitary malfunction): Low cortisol production can be seen if the patient has "functional adrenal cortical atrophy" due to prolonged absence of normal ACTH secretion. This type of patient would not show the typical hyper-pigmentation of primary Addisons.