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Dermatology => Skin => Addison's Disease
Addison's Disease
Addison's Disease, chronic disorder resulting from insufficiency of the adrenal glands. The disease was first described by the British physician Thomas Addison in 1855. The insufficiency can occur after a severe infection, such as tuberculosis, after massive bleeding of the adrenals, or after surgery affecting the glands, such as removal of a tumor, but in most cases the origin of the disease is unknown. The resulting lack of hormone secretion causes such symptoms as weakness and fatigability, weight loss, low blood pressure, gastrointestinal distress, low blood sugar, depression and irritability, and increased skin pigmentation. Once inevitably fatal, the disease is now treated effectively with daily doses of cortisone or hydrocortisone and additional salt in the diet.
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