Adrenal gland hyperfunction

Overview

Excessive activity of the adrenal gland which causes excessive production of one or more adrenal hormones (aldosterone, corticosteroids, androgenic steroids, epinephrine and norepinephrine). The increased adrenal gland activity may be caused by an adrenal gland tumor or by excessive stimulation of the gland. Pituitary hormones stimulate adrenal gland activity. 

When cortisol is overproduced, it is called Cushing's syndrome and when aldosterone is overproduced, it is called hyperaldosteronism.

Symptoms

  • Excessive fat on top of back - excess corticosteroids
  • Increased libido - excess androgenic steroids
  • Loss of scalp hair - excess corticosteroids
  • Increased body hair - excess corticosteroids
  • Increased facial hair - excess corticosteroids
  • Large face - excess corticosteroids
  • Round face - excess corticosteroids
  • Excessive body fat in torso - excess corticosteroids
  • Muscle weakness - excess corticosteroids
  • Reduced muscularity - excess corticosteroids
  • Thin skin - excess corticosteroids
  • Easily bruised skin - excess corticosteroids
  • Poor wound healing - excess corticosteroids
  • Increased blood pressure - excess aldosterone
  • Osteoporosis - excess corticosteroids
  • Increased risk of infection - excess corticosteroids
  • Kidney stones - excess corticosteroids
  • Diabetes - excess corticosteroids
  • Mental disturbances - excess corticosteroids
  • Depression - excess corticosteroids
  • Hallucinations - excess corticosteroids
  • Menstrual cycle irregularities - excess corticosteroids
  • Short stature - excess corticosteroids
  • Poor growth - excess corticosteroids
  • Nervous system dysfunction - excess aldosterone
  • Excessive thirst - excess aldosterone
  • Frequent urination - excess aldosterone
  • Personality changes - excess aldosterone
  • Low potassium level - excess aldosterone
  • Weakness - excess aldosterone
  • Tingling - excess aldosterone
  • Muscle spasms - excess aldosterone
  • Paralysis - excess aldosterone
  • Water retention - excess aldosterone
  • Increased facial hair growth - excess androgenic steroids
  • Baldness - excess androgenic steroids
  • Increased body hair growth - excess androgenic steroids
  • Deep voice - excess androgenic steroids
  • Increased muscle bulk - excess androgenic steroids
  • Virilization - excess androgenic steroids
  • Reduced uterus size - excess androgenic steroids
  • Reduced female breast size - excess androgenic steroids
  • Menstrual irregularities - excess androgenic steroids
  • Increased androgen level in blood - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Infertility - excess androgenic steroids
  • Increased adrenalin level
  • Increased noradrenalin level
  • High blood pressure - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Headache - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Heart palpitation - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Flushed face - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Nausea - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Vomiting - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Palpitations - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Tachycardia - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Rapid breathing - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Tremor - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Sweating - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Emesis - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Fatigue - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Chest pain - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Weight loss - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Pallor - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline
  • Decreased gastrointestinal motility - excess adrenalin and noradrenaline

Causes

Adrenal hypofunction occurs when more than 90% of both adrenal glands are destroyed, an occurrence that typically results from an autoimmune process in which circulating antibodies react specifically against the adrenal tissue.

Other causes include tuberculosis (once the chief cause; now responsible for less than 10% of adult cases), bilateral adrenalectomy, hemorrhage into the adrenal gland, neoplasms, and infections (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, histoplasmosis, and cytomegalovirus). Rarely, a familial tendency to autoimmune disease predisposes the patient to adrenal hypofunction and other endocrinopathies. Secondary adrenal hypofunction that results in glucocorticoid deficiency can stem from hypopituitarism (causing decreased corticotropin secretion), abrupt withdrawal of long-term corticosteroid therapy (long-term exogenous corticosteroid stimulation suppresses pituitary corticotropin secretion and results in adrenal gland atrophy), or removal of a nonendocrine, corticotropin-secreting tumor. Adrenal crisis follows when trauma, surgery, or other physiologic stress exhausts the body’s stores of glucocorticoids in a person with adrenal hypofunction. Adrenal hypofunction affects 1 in 16,000 neonates congenitally. In adults, it affects 8 in 100,000 people, and males and females are affected equally. There’s no racial predilection.