Acute adrenal insufficiency is a disease in which the adrenal cortex stops producing hormones. In medical literature, this disease is called an addisonian crisis. To avoid serious consequences, adrenal insufficiency requires urgent medical intervention.
Causes and Symptoms of the Disease
Addisonic crisis most often occurs in people suffering from a chronic form of adrenal insufficiency. Termination of the course of corticosteroids may be one of the causes of the disease. Sharp climate change, injuries, surgeries, and the flow of infectious diseases can also provoke acute adrenal insufficiency.
In addition, the disease can occur:
- With severe bleeding. Injuries, injuries, births, which cause a great deal of blood loss, can provoke an addisonic crisis;
- For burn disease, meningitis and sepsis;
- With tissue necrosis and acute hemorrhage in the adrenal glands.
Because of the cessation of hormone production by the adrenal glands, there is a disruption in metabolism. The body is dehydrated, and the volume of circulating blood decreases sharply. The heart muscle starts to decrease more slowly due to a failure of the potassium exchange in the body. The glucose level decreases, which negatively affects the production of insulin, the functionality of the kidneys becomes threatened.
Addison's crisis occurs suddenly. The first signs of a growing crisis are:
- A person suddenly feels tired, weak muscles. The voice becomes quiet, speech is indistinct. There may be hallucinations, the condition borders on the half-unconscious. Often the patient falls into a coma.
- Blood pressure is falling rapidly. This is manifested by a strong sweating, cold extremities.
- Arrhythmia occurs.
- Vomiting, diarrhea, headache increases.
In just a few hours the patient's condition can deteriorate sharply, the likelihood of a lethal outcome is high. Therefore, if you have these symptoms, you should immediately seek help from a doctor.
Addison's crisis in children
Acute adrenal insufficiency in children is a serious threat to the child's life. It threatens the baby with disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, diseases of the cardiovascular system.
The disease can occur in a child for the following reasons:
- Necrosis of tissues in the adrenal gland that has arisen due to infection of the body, for example, of meningitis, and the course of the inflammatory-purulent process;
- Asphyxia in infants;
- Congenital adrenal insufficiency;
- Sharp abolition of glucocorticoids with a long course of treatment for other diseases;
- For large blood loss.
The first symptoms of a child's acute adrenal insufficiency may be:
- A sharp deterioration in the child's condition. When examining the doctor should alert deaf heart beats, rapid lowering of blood pressure, weak pulse, the skin acquires a marble shade;
- The child complains of abdominal cramps, vomiting, diarrhea. With frequent vomiting, dehydration of the body occurs;
- May cause seizures, loss of consciousness;
- In some cases, there are spots of purple on the body, bleeding from the injection sites.
The condition of the child can worsen with every minute, so when symptoms of the disease appear the doctor should provide emergency care and send the child to the intensive care unit.
Diagnosis
In order to give the patient an accurate diagnosis, it is necessary to find out whether he previously had Cushing's syndrome, adrenal gland tumors, chronic adrenal insufficiency.
Laboratory methods of investigation are also used:
- Delivery of a common blood test. The laboratory determines the number of erythrocytes and hemoglobin in the blood, the level of increase in leukocytes;
- Analysis for sugar. At an addisonic crisis, the blood glucose level is too low;
- Biochemical blood test. This analysis will most accurately show the content of sodium, potassium, and chloride in the patient's blood;
- The final stage of the diagnosis is the analysis of urine.
Ultrasound examination of the abdominal cavity will help to see the presence of a flowing inflammatory process, radiography will determine the condition of the lungs and the presence of internal injuries. With the help of an electrocardiogram, arrhythmia is detected.
When examining the patient, the doctor notes the threadlike pulse, the pallor of the skin, the limbs acquire a blue tint, frequent palpitation. The patient complains of incessant vomiting, diarrhea, sometimes with bloody veins, rare urination, bloating. There is also a retardation, lethargy, severe headache.
Symptoms of acute adrenal insufficiency are similar in many ways to signs of other diseases, therefore the doctor should rule out a heart attack or stroke, abdominal pathology, hyperparathyroidism. The faster the diagnosis is made, the more favorable the outcome of treatment.
Treatment of
The first day after the first signs of the disease are decisive. Delay can cost a patient a life. In the first hours after admission to the intensive care unit, the patient is injected with a large number of hormonal drugs. Usually intravenous injections alternate with intramuscular injections. Positive dynamics become noticeable in the next few hours after the initiation of therapy.
For the restoration of the body, the following preventive actions are used:
- With severe dehydration, the patient is given a dropper with a solution of sodium chloride;
- Glucose solutions help increase blood sugar levels;
- Low blood pressure is raised with mezaton, adrenaline;
- In the course of the inflammatory process, the patient is treated with antibacterial drugs;
- The injured nervous system will be supported by ascorbic acid.
The patient on the first day of admission to the intensive care unit is given a record amount of hydrocortisone. As the condition stabilizes, the dose of the drug decreases and is administered to the patient intramuscularly according to the prescribing physician. Closer to the completion of therapy, injections can be replaced with tablets.
The prognosis of treatment of a crisis is very favorable - with timely access to a doctor, a serious condition will stabilize after a few days. With delayed treatment or an incorrect diagnosis, an addisonic crisis can cause death.
The first time acute adrenal insufficiency is particularly difficult. After the patient's condition has stabilized, preventive measures should be taken to avoid repeated crises. Even after recovery, the adrenal glands can not fully fulfill their function. The patient must constantly take medication analogues of hormones, which produces the cortex of the adrenal glands.
For prevention, the patient is prescribed a course of taking corticosteroids. The endocrinologist appoints a dose of the drug depending on the age of the patient, his daily physical activity and the general state of the body. Independently to adjust or even more so to stop treatment it is impossible.
Together with drug treatment, widely used therapy with medicines prepared at home. However, it is worth remembering that folk recipes are more of an auxiliary character and can not replace the basic treatment.
Folk therapy
After the necessary measures in the hospital, you can speed up the process of recovery of the adrenal glands at home. This will help make tea from licorice root. For its preparation you need
- Take two teaspoons of licorice root and mix with a half liter of water.
- The resulting mixture boil for several minutes and close tightly with a lid.
- Prepare such a decoction better at night.
- In the morning, drain and drain tea four times a day for 100 gr.
- This tea improves the work of the adrenal glands, but it increases blood pressure. People who suffer from increased blood pressure should use this decoction with caution.
To increase the level of hormones, you can use a medicinal collection from the root of licorice, dandelion, parsley root and juniper berries. All ingredients are taken in equal parts and poured with boiling water. The broth should be drunk three times a day for half a glass.
To prevent acute adrenal insufficiency, you can use a decoction of black currant shoots:
- Chop the sprigs with boiling water and let it brew for two hours.
- To it is added a decoction of currant leaves, which are infused in a similar way.
- It is recommended to take the drug four times a day for a quarter of a glass.
- Total treatment takes a month, then a break takes about a week.
- Then the broth is taken again.
With the help of preparations prepared at home, not only the adrenal glands work well, but the human immunity also improves.
