Neuropsychiatric Manifestation of Addison's Disease: A Rare Case Report

Abstract

Addison's disease (AD), also known as primary adrenal insufficiency, is a rare autoimmune disorder affecting males and females equally. The most common cause of AD is autoimmune adrenalitis and other causes include metastatic cancers, tuberculosis and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. AD presents with a wide variety of signs and symptoms and thus, making a diagnosis challenging. The common symptoms of this disease include weakness and fatigability, orthostatic hypotension, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia and weight loss. Addison's disease often presented with other autoimmune disorders, such as autoimmune polyglandular syndrome. We herein report a case of a patient who presented in a hospital emergency department, with Addisonian crisis and predominant neuropsychiatric manifestation. On review of the patient's history, combined with biochemical testing, a diagnosis of Addison's disease was established. This type of presentation is relatively uncommon.