Under dehydrated conditions, the cells may lose up to 28% or more of their water volume. This certainly undermines all cellular activities, whether they occur in skin cells, stomach cells, liver cells, kidney cells or heart cells.
In Addison's disease, the adrenal glands don't make enough of a hormone called cortisol, or less often, a related hormone called aldosterone. That's why doctors sometimes call the illness ''chronic adrenal insufficiency,'' or hypocortisolism.
When Addison's disease is the result of a problem with the adrenal glands themselves, it is called primary adrenal insufficiency. About 70% of the time, this happens because the body's self-defence mechanism-the immune system-mistakenly attacks the adrenal glands.