Bio question on kidneys and antidiuretic hormone?

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you would get addisons disease- i wrote this assigment


Addison’s Disease and Hormone Replacement Therapy-

Addison’s disease is created when the adrenal glands on a person do not produce enough of the hormone cortisol and in some cases, the hormone aldosterone. For this reason, the disease is sometimes called chronic adrenal insufficiency, or hypocortisolism. This results in the person’s nephrons fail to reabsorb salts, making the osmotic balance of the body becoming chronically out of balance.

Cortisol is normally produced by the adrenal glands, located above the kidneys. Cortisol belongs to a class of hormones named glucocorticoids, which affect almost every organ and tissue in the body. Scientists think that cortisol has possibly hundreds of effects in the body, most of which are unknown. Cortisol's most important job is to help the body respond to stress. Among its other vital tasks, cortisol:
− helps maintain blood pressure and cardiovascular function;
− helps slow the immune system's inflammatory response;
− helps balance the effects of insulin in breaking down sugar for energy;
− helps regulate the metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.

This disease is treated successful through Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).
The HRT releases appropriate doses of steroid hormones. The hormone normally used is cortisone, but the person can never totally be cured, but can live symptom free on HRT.

Addison’s disease is quite rare, affecting 1 in 100,000 people. Addison’s disease affects people of all ages and genders equally. The disease causes weight loss, muscle weakness, low blood pressure, darkening of the skin inside and out of the body and fatigue.

Due to the fact that cortisol is so vital to health, the amount of cortisol produced by the adrenals must be precisely balanced. Like other hormones, cortisol is regulated by the brain's hypothalamus and the pituitary gland. Firstly, the hypothalamus sends "releasing hormones" to the pituitary gland. The pituitary responds by secreting other hormones that regulate growth, thyroid and adrenal function, and sex hormones such as estrogen and testosterone. One of the pituitary's main functions is to secrete ACTH (adrenocorticotropin), a hormone that stimulates the adrenal glands. When the adrenals receive the pituitary's signal in the form of ACTH, they respond by producing cortisol. Completing the cycle, cortisol then signals the pituitary to lower secretion of ACTH.Aldosterone belongs to a class of hormones called mineralocorticoids, also produced by the adrenal glands. It helps maintain blood pressure and water and salt balance in the body by helping the kidney retain sodium and excrete potassium. When aldosterone production falls too low, the kidneys are not able to regulate salt and water balance, causing blood volume and blood pressure to drop.
The problem may be due to dysfunctions of the adrenal glands themselves (primary adrenal insufficiency) or to inadequate secretion of ACTH by the pituitary gland (secondary adrenal insufficiency). Though in most cases of Addison's disease are caused by the gradual destruction of the adrenal cortex, the outer layer of the adrenal glands, by the body's own immune system. About 70 percent of reported cases of Addison's disease are due to autoimmune disorders, in which the immune system makes antibodies that attack the body's own tissues or organs and slowly destroy them. Adrenal insufficiency occurs when at least 90 percent of the adrenal cortex has been destroyed. As a result, often both glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid hormones are lacking. Sometimes only the adrenal gland is affected, as in idiopathic adrenal insufficiency; sometimes other glands also are affected, as in the polyendocrine deficiency syndrome.
Treatment of Addison's disease involves substituting the hormones that the adrenal glands are not producing. Cortisol is replaced orally with hydrocortisone tablets, a synthetic glucocorticoid. If aldosterone is also deficient, it is replaced a mineralocorticoid, called fludrocortisone acetate (Florinef). Patients receiving aldosterone replacement therapy are usually advised by a doctor to increase their salt intake. Because patients with secondary adrenal insufficiency normally maintain aldosterone production, they do not require aldosterone replacement therapy. The doses of each of these medications are adjusted to meet the needs of individual patients.During an addisonian crisis, low blood pressure, low blood sugar, and high levels of potassium can be life threatening. Standard therapy involves intravenous injections of hydrocortisone, saline (salt water), and dextrose (sugar). This treatment usually brings rapid improvement. When the patient can take fluids and medications by mouth, the amount of hydrocortisone is decreased until a maintenance dose is achieved. If aldosterone is deficient, maintenance therapy also includes oral doses of fludrocortisone acetate....Show more

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