What is adrenal insufficiency?Īdrenal insufficiency happens when the adrenal glands don’t produce enough cortisol and sometimes aldosterone. Within the individual conditions, some of them may happen more often to females than males, such as Cushing’s syndrome. If tumors are large enough, they may press on the normal pituitary cells and cause deficiency of ACTH and secondary adrenal insufficiency.Īdrenal disorders can happen to anyone. ACTH producing tumors cause Cushing’s disease. Abnormal growth on the pituitary gland can cause adrenal gland conditions by disrupting the amount of hormones made by the adrenal glands. If you have this condition, your glands make too much epinephrine and norepinephrine which can raise blood pressure or make your heart race. This rare condition refers to cancer forming in the adrenal gland’s outer layer. Tumors can disrupt hormone output, but are usually noncancerous. There are also conditions of the adrenal glands related to growths (tumors). This condition happens when your body produces too much of the male sex hormones and is only apparent in females or boys before puberty. If you have this condition, your body produces too much aldosterone which can lead to blood pressure elevation and potassium loss. This is a type of adrenal insufficiency that is related to outside sources of cortisol or related synthetic hormones such as prednisone or dexamethasone. Depending on the defect higher levels of male hormone might be made. This term refers to genetic condition in which your adrenal glands are not able to make cortisol well. This term can be applied when large doses of steroids are given to treat certain medical conditions. In this disorder, your levels of cortisol are too high. In this disorder, you don’t produce enough cortisol and/or aldosterone. Addison’s disease, also called adrenal insufficiency.There are different conditions related to your adrenal glands. What are common types of adrenal disorders? If something happens and the next domino doesn’t get the message, the effect is ruined. You can think of dominoes and how one movement by one domino sets off a chain reaction, making the next domino in line fall down. Hormones produced by the adrenals include hydrocortisone (also called cortisol), adrenaline and aldosterone. Their job is to make hormones that you need to keep your metabolism, blood pressure, immune system and stress response in balance.Īdrenal disorders are the result of your glands making too much or not enough of certain hormones. They are sometimes called suprarenal glands. The adrenal glands are small and shaped liked triangles and are located just above each kidney. There are many conditions that can lead to problems with the adrenal gland function.

Adrenal gland malfunction symptoms