What is adrenal crisis?
Adrenal hormones are needed for life. The system that pumps blood throughout the body cannot work if there is a severe lack of cortisol or its replacement. Death can be very fast if there is too little adrenal hormone to help the body respond to illness, injury or other stress. People taking cortisol replacements must increase their hydrocortisone, prednisone, or dexamethasone when they are sick or injured to prevent adrenal crisis. • What are adrenal hormones? The same gland that makes growth hormone signals the adrenal glands to make cortisol, a hormone needed for life. If your adrenal gland doesn’t make enough cortisol, you need to take medicines to replace it. The usual replacement medicines are: • Hydrocortisone • Prednisone • Dexamethasone. • What are the symptoms of insufficient adrenal hormones? If you don’t have enough cortisol or its replacement, you may have some of these problems: • feeling weak • feeling tired all the time • feeling sick to your stomach • vomiting • no app
