A Simple Guide to Adrenal Crisis, Diagnosis, Treatment and Related Conditions

By Kenneth Kee

This book describes Adrenal Crisis, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases

Adrenal crisis is an acute life-threatening disorder triggered by an internal or external process in the situation of known or unknown adrenal insufficiency and corticosteroid deficiency.

Adrenal crisis, also caused by acute adrenal insufficiency is an acute life-threatening disorder with a death rate of 0.5/100 patients/year.

An Adrenal crisis is a serious medical disorder produced by the body’s inability to produce a adequate amount of cortisol.

An Adrenal crisis is regarded as one of the endocrine emergency triggered by an internal or external process in the situation of known or unknown lack of production of the adrenal hormone cortisol, the major glucocorticoid.

People who have a disorder called Addison’s disease or who have damaged adrenal glands may not be able to produce enough cortisol.

Low levels of cortisol can produce weakness, fatigue, and low blood pressure.

The patient may have more symptoms if the patient have untreated Addison’s disease or damaged adrenal glands due to severe stress, such as from a car accident or an infection.

These symptoms are sudden dizziness, vomiting, and even loss of consciousness.

Early diagnosis and prompt management can save the patient's life and affect survival.

The doctors should be able to distinguish between adrenal insufficiency and adrenal crisis since the adrenal crisis is fatal if left untreated.

While this disease is well known, it is often difficult to identify, and treatment initiation may be delayed causing notable morbidity and mortality.

An Adrenal crisis can be very dangerous if cortisol levels are not replenished.

It is a life-threatening disorder that requires immediate medical treatment.

People with Addison’s disease are at a higher risk of having an Adrenal crisis, especially if their disorder is not treated.

Addison’s disease often happens when a person’s immune system accidentally attacks their adrenal glands.

Other causes of Addison’s disease are:
1. Prolonged use of glucocorticoids, such as prednisone
2. Severe infections, including fungal and viral infections
3. Tumors
4. Bleeding in the adrenal glands due to use of certain blood thinners that help prevent blood clots
5. Surgery on the adrenal gland

The cortisol levels will gradually decrease over time if the patient has Addison’s disease that is not treated.

When the patient does not have a normal amount of adrenal hormones, stress can overwhelm the body and lead to an Adrenal crisis.

The most frequent cause of the adrenal crisis is a sudden withdrawal of long-term corticosteroid therapy (normally more than 5 mg prednisone and greater than 4 weeks)

The symptoms of an Adrenal crisis are:
1. Extreme weakness
2. Mental confusion
3. Dizziness
4. Nausea or abdominal pain
5. Vomiting
6. Fever
7. A sudden pain in the lower back or legs
8. A loss of appetite
9. Extremely low blood pressure
10. Chills
11. Skin rashes
12. Sweating
13. A high heart rate
14. Loss of consciousness

The doctor may make an initial diagnosis by measuring the level of cortisol or adrenocorticotropic hormone in the blood.

The definitive treatment of adrenal crisis is the use of glucocorticoids, particularly hydrocortisone.

TABLE OF CONTENT
Introduction
Chapter 1 Adrenal Crisis
Chapter 2 Causes
Chapter 3 Symptoms
Chapter 4 Diagnosis
Chapter 5 Treatment
Chapter 6 Prognosis
Chapter 7 Adrenal Insufficiency (Updated)
Chapter 8 Life and Death of An Adrenal Gland
Epilogue

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenneth Kee
• Release date: May 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005499587

Kenneth Kee

Medical doctor since 1972.Started Kee Clinic in 1974 at 15 Holland Dr #03-102, relocated to 36 Holland Dr #01-10 in 2009.Did my M.Sc (Health Management ) in 1991 and Ph.D (Healthcare Administration) in 1993.Dr Kenneth Kee is still working as a family doctor at the age of 74However he has reduced his consultation hours to 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours inthe afternoon.He first started writing free blogs on medical disorders seen in the clinic in 2007 on http://kennethkee.blogspot.com.His purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of his patients which is also his dissertation for his Ph.D (Healthcare Administration). He then wrote an autobiography account of his journey as a medical student to family doctor on his other blog http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.comThis autobiography account “A Family Doctor’s Tale” was combined with his early “A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders” into a new Wordpress Blog “A Family Doctor’s Tale” on http://ken-med.com.From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 1000 eBooks.He apologized for typos and spelling mistakes in his earlier books.He will endeavor to improve the writing in futures.Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.The later books go into more details of medical disorders.He has published 1000 eBooks on various subjects on health, 1 autobiography of his medical journey, another on the autobiography of a Cancer survivor, 2 children stories and one how to study for his nephew and grand-daughter.The purpose of these simple guides is to educate patient on health disorders and not meant as textbooks.He does not do any night duty since 2000 ever since Dr Tan had his second stroke.His clinic is now relocated to the Buona Vista Community Centre.The 2 units of his original clinic are being demolished to make way for a new Shopping Mall.He is now doing some blogging and internet surfing (bulletin boards since the 1980's) startingwith the Apple computer and going to PC.The entire PC is upgraded by himself from XT to the present Pentium duo core.The present Intel i7 CPU is out of reach at the moment because the CPU is still expensive.He is also into DIY changing his own toilet cistern and other electric appliance.His hunger for knowledge has not abated and he is a lifelong learner.The children have all grown up and there are 2 grandchildren who are even more technically advanced than the grandfather where mobile phones are concerned.This book is taken from some of the many articles in his blog (now with 740 posts) A Family Doctor’s Tale.Dr Kee is the author of:"A Family Doctor's Tale""Life Lessons Learned From The Study And Practice Of Medicine""Case Notes From A Family Doctor"

Book preview

A

Simple

Guide

To

Adrenal Crisis,

Diagnosis,

Treatment

And

Related Conditions

By

Dr Kenneth Kee

M.B.,B.S. (Singapore)

Ph.D (Healthcare Administration)

Copyright Kenneth Kee 2021 Smashwords Edition

Published by Kenneth Kee at Smashwords.com

Dedication

This book is dedicated

To my wife Dorothy

And my children

Carolyn, Grace

And Kelvin

This book describes Adrenal Crisis, Diagnosis and Treatment and Related Diseases which is seen in some of my patients in my Family Clinic.

(What You Need to Treat Adrenal Crisis)

This e-Book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader.

If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy.

Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Introduction

I have been writing medical articles for my blog: http://kennethkee.blogspot.com (A Simple Guide to Medical Disorder) for the benefit of my patients since 2007.

My purpose in writing these simple guides was for the health education of my patients.

Health Education was also my dissertation for my Ph.D (Healthcare Administration).

I then wrote an autobiography account of my journey as a medical student to family doctor on my other blog: http://afamilydoctorstale.blogspot.com.

This autobiography account A Family Doctor’s Tale was combined with my early A Simple Guide to Medical Disorders into a new Wordpress Blog A Family Doctor’s Tale on http://kenkee481.wordpress.com.

From which many free articles from the blog was taken and put together into 800 eBooks.

Some people have complained that the simple guides are too simple.

For their information they are made simple in order to educate the patients.

The later books go into more details of medical disorders.

The first chapter is always from my earlier blogs which unfortunately tends to have typos and spelling mistakes.

Since 2013, I have tried to improve my spelling and writing.

As I tried to bring the patient the latest information about a disorder or illness by reading the latest journals both online and offline, I find that I am learning more and improving on my own medical knowledge in diagnosis and treatment for my patients.

My diagnosis and treatment capability has improved tremendously from my continued education.

Just by writing all these simple guides I find that I have learned a lot from your reviews (good or bad), criticism and advice.

I am sorry for the repetitions in these simple guides as the second chapters onwards have new information as compared to my first chapter taken from my blog.

I also find repetition definitely help me and maybe some readers to remember the facts in the books more easily.

I apologize if these repetitions are irritating to some readers.

Chapter 1

Adrenal Crisis

Adrenal crisis is an acute life-threatening disorder triggered by an internal or external process in the situation of known or unknown adrenal insufficiency and corticosteroid deficiency.

Adrenal crisis, also caused by acute adrenal insufficiency is an acute life-threatening disorder with a death rate of 0.5/100 patients/year.

An Adrenal crisis is a serious medical disorder produced by the body’s inability to produce a adequate amount of cortisol.

An Adrenal crisis is regarded as one of the endocrine emergency triggered by an internal or external process in the situation of known or unknown lack of production of the adrenal hormone cortisol, the major glucocorticoid.

People who have a disorder called Addison’s disease or who have damaged adrenal glands may not be able to produce enough cortisol.

Low levels of cortisol can produce weakness, fatigue, and low blood pressure.

The patient may have more symptoms if the patient have untreated Addison’s disease or damaged adrenal glands due to severe stress, such as from a car accident or an infection.

These symptoms are sudden dizziness, vomiting, and even loss of consciousness.

Early diagnosis and prompt management can save the patient's life and affect survival.

The doctors should be able to distinguish between adrenal insufficiency and adrenal crisis since the adrenal crisis is fatal if left untreated.

While this disease is well known, it is often difficult to identify, and treatment initiation may be delayed causing notable morbidity and mortality.

An Adrenal crisis can be very dangerous if cortisol levels are not replenished.

It is a life-threatening disorder that requires immediate medical treatment.

What are the causes of an Adrenal crisis?

Cause

An Adrenal crisis may happen when a person who does not have properly functioning adrenal glands has a highly stressful situation.

The adrenal glands are located above the kidneys and are responsible for producing numerous vital hormones, such as cortisol.

When the adrenal glands are damaged, they cannot produce enough of these hormones.

This can trigger an Adrenal crisis.

People with Addison’s disease are at a higher risk