Addison's Disease
First described by the 19th-century English physician Thomas Addison, this condition occurs when the adrenal glands do not produce sufficient quantities of the hormones called corticosteroids. In most cases this drop in the production is caused when the body’s defenses react against the adrenal glands, slowly destroying them. Occasionally the glands may be damaged by tumors or by chronic infection such as tuberculosis.
Symptoms are weakness, tiredness, vomiting, weight loss, low blood pressure and a darkening of the mucous membranes and those areas of the body, like the elbows and palms, where there is friction on the skin. Treatment is by replacement of corticosteroids orally, by injection or by implantation under the skin.
Adenitis
Inflammation of any glands, but the term usually refers to the lymph glands (lymphadenitis) in the neck, armpit and groin (sentinel lymph glands). These glands help the body’s defenses against infection. Mostly adenitis is caused by spread of bacterial infection from parts of the body drained by the lymph glands. Lymphadenitis also occurs in generalized viral infections such as infectious mononucleosis (glandular fever) and rubella German measles).
