A.B. Lucas Secondary School
Too Much Adrenaline
The body may experience too much adrenaline if there is a tumor compromising the adrenal glands, causing it to secrete more adrenaline than is needed. In some cases, the body will release adrenaline when it is not facing a true danger, which can also lead to an excess amount of epinephrine. This can cause dizziness, lightheadedness, and vision problems. The glucose being released during this process (when not helpful in these situations where there is not a real threat) can cause an individual to feel restless or irritable due to the excess amount of energy.
Although very uncommon, it is a very serious and dangerous disease. When the body is incapable to properly react to harmful situations, you are putting yourself in additional danger and a higher risk of injury. See Polyglandular Addison's Disease for more effects of too little adrenaline.
Not Enough Adrenaline
Polyglandular Addison's Disease
A very uncommon disorder also referred to as adrenal insufficiency. Along with epinephrine, the adrenal glands produce too little aldosterone (release in the zona glomerulosa layer of the adrenal glands) and cortisol (released in the zona fasciculata layer of the adrenal glands). This disease is caused by damage to the adrenal glands. This is very serious because the adrenal glands are apart of the endocrine system and produce hormones that essentially give instructions to basically every organ and tissue found in the body. When individuals with this disease are subjected to external stress, they can possibly die instantly. As well, since they cannot modulate blood pressure and electrolyte concentrations in response to stress, often times they also experience a variety of both kidney and gastrointestinal (relating to the stomach and intestines) conditions.
There are two types of adrenal insufficiency:
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Primary Adrenal Insufficiency: Occurs when the cortex is damaged and does not produce enough hormones. Often this results in the body attacking itself (an autoimmune disease) where, for unknown reasons, the body views the adrenal cortex as a foreign object that is must attack.
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Secondary Adrenal Insufficiency: ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone- released by the pituitary gland) stimulates the adrenal cortex to produce hormones. When things like benign pituitary tumors, inflammations, and prior pituitary surgery occur, the pituitary may not be able to produce enough ACTH which in turn negatively affects the adrenal glands.
Addisonian Crisis: when Polyglandular Addison's Disease goes untreated, the inability to produce the hormones needed to deal with stress leads to an addisonian crisis - a life-threatening situation resulting in low blood pressure and sugar, and high blood levels of potassium.