ADDISON'S DISEASE is a disorder that occurs when your body produces insufficient amounts of certain hormones produced by your adrenal glands. In Addison's disease, your adrenal glands produce too little cortisol and often insufficient levels of aldosterone as well. Also called adrenal insufficiency, Addison's disease occurs in all age groups and affects both sexes. Addison's disease can be life- threatening. Treatment for Addison's disease involves taking hormones to replace the insufficient amounts being made by your adrenal glands, in order to mimic the beneficial effects produced by your naturally made hormones. Anatomy and Physiology The endocrine system is considered as one of the body’s most complex systems. It affects functions of the different organs or organ system. It is greatly interrelated with the function of the nervous system, to coordinate body processes. Alterations in function of the endocrine system result in a variety of physiologic changes, which may be very serious and fatal, but at times may require minimal hospital care. The end result of most pathologic processes affecting the endocrine system is hypersecretion or hyposecretion of hormones. The endocrine system is composed of an interrelated complex of glands (pituitary, adrenals, thyroid, parathyroids, islets of Langerhans of the pancreas, thymus, pineal gland, ovaries, and testes) that secrete a variety of hormones directly into the bloodstream. Although the nervous and endocrine systems act together to coordinate functions of all body systems, their means of control are different. Exocrine glands (exo- outside) secrete their products into ducts that carry the secretions into body cavities, into lumen of an organ, or to the outer surface of the body. Endocrine glands, by contrast, secrete their products