Newly Diagnosed - What Is Adrenal Crisis Adrenal Crisis - Be Prepared Around 8% of people with Addison's disease experience an adrenal crisis each year; some people more frequently than others. It's vitally important you learn the signs of an impending crisis and what to do in this medical emergency. What can cause an adrenal crisis? Adrenal crisis occurs when a person with Addison's disease or adrenal insufficiency faces severe stress, and their current cortisol replacement cannot meet the body's increased demand for cortisol. Life-threatening symptoms develop as a result. This is a medical emergency and must be treated urgently. Triggers include: Becoming ill e.g. flu Physical body stressors, e.g. trauma Psychological body stessors, e.g. grief What are the symptoms of an adrenal crisis? Danger signs can be different for everyone, but common symptoms include: Extreme weakness, feeling terrible and nausea Light-headedness or dizziness on sitting up or standing up Confusion, drowsiness and loss of consciousness An adrenal crisis is a life-threatening situation and requires immediate medical treatment with an emergency injection of hydrocortisone. Always be prepared with extra cortisol medication, your emergency injection kit and a steroid emergency card. Educate those around you so they can help you, and always listen to your body - everybody is different. You can read more about treatment and next steps on our Emergency page. Emergency - Adrenal Crisis How do I know if I'm experiencing an adrenal crisis? Everybody is different. For some people it will be very obvious when they are experiencing an adrenal crisis. For others, it can be hard to learn what your low cortisol symptoms are, which then leads to an adrenal crisis. People can feel unsure about implementing the Sick Day Rules which may prevent an adrenal crisis. You will become an expert patient and learn to "listen to your body". Sick Day Rules If you need support in learning your low cortisol symptoms, we recommend keeping a symptom diary. One way you can do this is on the notes app on your mobile phone so it's always on you! If you feel ill one day, write down what has made you feel unwell (e.g. flu symptoms), what you did (e.g. doubled daily cortisol dose) and then if this makes you feel better or not and so on. This can help you learn more about your body, spot patterns and also helps others to help you. If you do then go into adrenal crisis even having taken extra medication (Sick Day Rules), you have written down how much you took which can be really helpful for the doctors and yourself with the brain fog. Our YouTube video below contains interviews with some of our members, who've experienced an adrenal crisis first-hand. You can also read our Blog article from members: Dan's Story: my adrenal crisis & hospital admission Philippa's Story: Stomach bug causes adrenal crisis You can also talk to others about how they have learnt their symptoms and their adrenal crisis experiences on our online forum. Get an emergency injection kit - it may save your life After diagnosis, you should be issued with an emergency injection kit which contains vials of hydrocortisone that either you or those who support you can administer if you are vomiting and unable to absorb oral tablets, or showing other signs of severe illness. These kits are usually prescribed by your endocrinologist or GP. If you are not offered one, you should ask your GP for this. Learn more about emergency injection kits In our online shop, we also sell emergency injection boxes (minus the drug preparations which your GP needs to prescribe). These come with photo instructions on how to give the injection and allow you to keep all the materials needed to give the injection in the same place. We ask our community to share their kits using the hashtag #ShareYourKit. Visit our #ShareYourKit blog People with Addison's and adrenal insufficiency require an emergency injection kit (100mg hydrocortisone) at home, when travelling and on holiday, for use in an emergency to avoid precipitating an acute adrenal crisis. This is so either you or those who support you can immediately administer if you are vomiting and unable to absorb oral tablets, or showing other signs of severe illness. Therefore if there is a delay in getting an ambulance to you or in a busy hospital A&E department, the hydrocortisone injection means that you will be safe from the adrenal point of view until you receive further medical attention. Provision of a hydrocortisone emergency injection kit is standard practice for the prevention of an acute adrenal crisis. If you're a medic and would like more information on this, please visit our 'Why should I give my Adrenal Insufficiency Patient an Emergency Injection Kit?' page. If you are a person living with Addison's or adrenal insufficiency and are being refused a kit, visit our webpage for more support and next steps, What to do if you are refused an injection kit Learn how to administer an emergency injection - practise makes perfect! Visit our Emergency Injection Guide now to learn how to use your injection kit, hear about personal experiences of using it, and watch video demonstrations to help you get it right first time. Together we will improve the lives of those with Addison's disease and adrenal insufficiency! Join Us Connect on social media! Follow us on X/Twitter, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Threads, TikTok and YouTube. Manage Cookie Preferences