Fiducia TogetherAddison's disease
Also called Primary adrenal insufficiency
The adrenal glands stop making enough cortisol. Rare, manageable, and genuinely dangerous if missed.
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice, and it is not a diagnosis. If you are worried about your health or someone else's, speak to a GP, pharmacist, or call 111. In an emergency, call 999.
What it is
Addison's is one of those conditions that spends years being mistaken for something vaguer. Tiredness. Low mood. A bit run down. People are treated for depression, or for a stomach problem, while the real cause goes unnoticed.
The adrenal glands sit on top of the kidneys and make cortisol, the hormone that gets you through stress, illness and simply standing up. In Addison's, they stop making enough. Usually because the immune system has attacked them.
It affects roughly 8,400 people in the UK. That rarity is exactly why it gets missed.
Signs you might notice
Fatigue that rest does not fix. Weight loss without trying. Salt cravings that feel oddly specific.
Dizziness on standing, because blood pressure drops.
Patches of skin that darken, often on scars, knuckles or the inside of the mouth. That is the sign most likely to make a doctor think of Addison's, and the one people rarely mention.
How it can affect day-to-day life
Well managed, Addison's fades into the background. Daily replacement hydrocortisone, taken on time, and most people work, travel and live normally.
The danger sits in one specific place: illness. When the body is under stress it needs far more cortisol, and a person with Addison's cannot make it. Vomiting, a bad infection, an accident or an operation can tip into an adrenal crisis, which is a medical emergency. Blood pressure collapses. Without an injection of hydrocortisone, it can kill.
Every person with Addison's should carry an emergency injection and know how to use it. So should the people around them.
Supporting someone well
Learn the sick day rules and write them somewhere everyone can find them. Doubling the usual dose during a fever is not a decision to make from memory at three in the morning.
Know where the emergency injection is kept, check the expiry date, and make sure more than one person can give it.
Check the medical alert jewellery is actually worn. In a crisis the person may not be able to explain anything at all.
Never let anyone stop the steroids abruptly. Not for any reason.
For a supported person, Fiducia Guardian holds the medicines, the emergency plan and the care team in one place, which matters most on the day a paramedic asks a relative a question they cannot answer under pressure.
Where to get help
An endocrinologist manages this, not a GP alone. Ask for a written steroid emergency card and a sick day rule sheet, and ask to be shown the injection technique rather than told about it.
If someone with Addison's is vomiting and cannot keep tablets down, that is a 999 call. Say the words "adrenal crisis" to the operator.
Tools we make that might help
These are our own products. We have put them here because they do something specific for this condition, not because every page needs a list.
Fiducia Guardian
Medicines, the emergency plan and the care team in one place, readable by whoever is there on the day.
Where to read more
Last reviewed 2026-08-28 by Fiducia Together · Next review due 2027-08-28
Important: This page is general information, not medical advice, and it is not a diagnosis. If you are worried about your health or someone else's, speak to a GP, pharmacist, or call 111. In an emergency, call 999.