Doctors have warned that cravings for salty foods, from pickles to potato chips, could indicate a rare and fatal health disorder that requires immediate treatment.
According to a medical case report, a 15-year-old girl from Toronto was admitted to hospital after months of suffering from unexplainable symptoms, including severe dizzy spells, fatigue, dehydration, and cravings for salty snacks.
The girl's doctor noticed that her skin was unusually dark with dark spots under her tongue, as it became clear that her adrenal glands had stopped working, a health crisis that could be fatal.
She was eventually diagnosed with Addison's disease, a 1 in 100,000 disorder in which the adrenal glands do not produce enough hormones to regulate important minerals and hormones in the body, leading to nausea, abdominal pain, weight loss, salt cravings, and dark spots on the skin. Known as hyperpigmentation.
This condition can be controlled with hormone replacement therapy, but it may lead to death if left untreated.
Addison's disease upsets the delicate balance of hormones in the body, as well as sodium and potassium, two vital minerals that help regulate blood pressure, muscle and kidney function, and cell nutrients.
An estimated 80% of Addison's disease patients suffer from a strong desire to eat salt because the disease causes them to lose an excessive amount of sodium through urine.
Excessive potassium in the blood disrupts the important electrical impulses that regulate the heartbeat. This makes the heart vulnerable to abnormal electrical activity, which increases the risk of life-threatening arrhythmias.
Increased thirst can be an early sign of Addison's disease, because the disease interferes with how the body regulates water levels.
Patients also suffer from loss of appetite, low blood pressure, dizziness when standing, unexplained weight loss, muscle pain, and nausea.
Addison's disease occurs when the adrenal glands do not function properly. These multi-layered glands are located above the kidneys, and each layer produces a different important hormone.
The upper layers of the glands produce aldosterone, a hormone that signals the kidneys to retain sodium while signaling the release of potassium through urine.
When the adrenal glands don't produce enough aldosterone, the sodium that enters the body through salty snacks comes out just as quickly in the form of urine, leaving the person dehydrated, extremely dizzy, thirsty, and craving more sodium.
The second layer produces cortisol, commonly referred to as the stress hormone, which helps regulate blood sugar and blood pressure and helps the body deal with stress. Hormone deficiency can cause nausea, abdominal pain, weight loss, and hyperpigmentation.
Addison's disease also affects the third layer, which usually produces DHEA and androgenic steroids, which are precursors of hormones that are converted in the ovaries into female hormones and in the testicles into male hormones.
Addison's disease can be fatal if left undetected and untreated, but it can be managed with hormone replacement therapy to return aldosterone and cortisol levels to normal.
This condition usually arises from an autoimmune disorder, and in the case of Addison's disease specifically, the body attacks the outer part of its own adrenal glands.
In developed countries, autoimmune diseases cause between eight and nine out of every 10 cases of Addison's disease.
Tuberculosis is the most common cause of Addison's disease worldwide, but TB is generally rare in the United States.
Other less common causes of Addison's disease include a history of infections, especially HIV and fungal infections, severe bleeding in the adrenal glands, migration of cancer cells into the adrenal glands from other parts of the body, surgical removal of the adrenal glands and certain genetic mutations.
Wow! Fascinating!
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