Adrenal Disorders


Adren­al glands pro­duce hor­mones that reg­u­late the immune sys­tem, blood pres­sure and the stress response. Adren­al dis­or­ders can be detect­ed through blood work.

Addison’s dis­ease — Occurs when your body doesn’t pro­duce enough of aldos­terone and cor­ti­sol. Your immune sys­tem begins to attack the adren­al gland which is in charge of pro­duc­ing both hormones.

Adren­al nodules/​tumors — Many adren­al tumors are found acci­den­tal­ly on imag­ing done for oth­er con­di­tions. Most do not pro­duce symptoms.

Con­gen­i­tal adren­al hyper­pla­sia (CAH) - CAH is an inher­it­ed genet­ic dis­or­der caused by a muta­tion in the enzyme 21-hydrox­y­las gene. Screen­ing for CAH occurs once a baby is born but can also be found lat­er in life.

Cushing’s syn­drome — This dis­ease is known for its symp­toms of a round­ed face, pur­ple stretch marks and easy bruis­ing. It can be caused by a tumor in the pitu­itary or adren­al gland or from tak­ing high dos­es of steroids.

Hyper­al­dos­tero­nism — Occurs when the adren­al gland over­pro­duces aldos­terone and impacts your sodi­um and potas­si­um lev­els. Hyper­al­dos­tero­nism is also a com­mon cause of high blood pres­sure. Surgery and med­ica­tion are often used to treat hyperaldosteronism.

Pheochro­mo­cy­toma — A tumor that occurs in the adren­al gland that releas­es hor­mones that can cause symp­toms such as a headache and dif­fi­cult to con­trol blood pres­sure. Your provider may rec­om­mend surgery to remove the rare tumor.