Did you know that Addison's Disease is only one of more than 60 causes of adrenal insufficiency (AI)? There's an interesting article that describes some of the more common causes of AI, but one in particular is important for everyone to know: abrupt cessation of steroids, which can be in the form of asthma inhalers, steroid creams, or prednisone.
What this means is that AI can be caused by common medicines. That's why the instructions on most steroid medicines say to taper slowly, so your body has time to ramp up on the cortisol production that it may have decreased while you've been taking steroids. In other words, when you take steroids for a period of time, your body can be "tricked" into thinking it doesn't need to make it's normal amount of cortisol, because it is being supplied via whatever steroid you're taking. Another article I found explains this is more detail.
Good to know.
Jean
Showing posts with label adrenal insufficiency causes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adrenal insufficiency causes. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)