Addison's disease affects about one person in TWENTY MILLION. In
United States there would be about ten to twelve cases, with similar numbers in Europe.A quick check on search engines at time of writing reveals 14,440 websites on MSN and 83,800 on Google. All deal with subject of this rare disease.
Does EACH patient in States need between 1,444 and 8,380 pages of information to help him?
And is information GOOD?
A quick check of first entry on Google list delivered NIDDK page which has no AUTHOR NAME.
There were plenty of pronouncements about what anonymous author believed facts to be, but ABSOLUTELY NO ACADEMIC REFERENCES. The page ended with suggested reading, which left most important author out - Thomas Addison himself.
The Internet is a rumour-mill, with one person of dubious accuracy taking word of an anonymous publisher and on strength of that, publishing again.
This is a very dangerous situation in world of medicine.
The popularity of Addison's disease has never been higher. It was announced in press that John F. Kennedy had condition, and suddenly everybody has "I AM JFK" mentality. Similarly, Elvis Presley became addicted to steroids, so many people have "I AM ELVIS" death-wish.
True Addison's disease is HORRIBLE. Those who have it want to be free of it - but it has never been cured.
When bad doctors declare people to have this condition, true sufferers are outnumbered by phoneys - true condition is RARE, RARE, RARE!
So when each person who IMAGINES that he has got it writes a page on Web, truth becomes totally buried.
THE ONLY THING TO DO IS TO REPUBLISH ADDISON.
That is what I did. Dr. Thomas Addison discovered condition. If you don't believe him, who will you believe?
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MISCONCEPTION 1. BLACK SKIN
Thomas Addison first noticed anemia of two patients who died and two more who walked away from hospital. The dead patients had damaged "suprarenal capsules". He assumed that two who left must have had these too.
A report - not in Addison's words - appeared (http://wehner.org/addison/first ), in which he made NO MENTION of dark skin. HE HAD NOT NOTICED.
Just over five years later he published a book (http://wehner.org/addison ), in which he mentioned pigmentation of skin. You can see his signature at http://www.wehner.org/addison/x0.htm .
It was James Wootten (http://wehner.org/addison/images/wootten.jpg ) who was first seen to have a SUBTLE discoloration of skin, followed by James Jackson (http://wehner.org/addison/images/jackson.jpg ), Henry Patten (http://wehner.org/addison/images/patten.jpg ) and John Iveson (http://wehner.org/addison/images/iveson.jpg ).
NONE of these patients was in any way discoloured so as to draw attention to themselves in a crowd. Nor was any of them emaciated or otherwise sick-looking.
This is a collection of healthy, good-looking corpses!
It is true that Louis Martineau published a black image of patient Gaget (http://wehner.org/addison/images/gaget.jpg ), but this appears to be because he could not afford proper colours. The text of Martineau thesis emphasises that hair was blond, turning to chestnut and that eyes were blue - unlike picture.
MISCONCEPTION 2. ADDISON CRISIS
There is NO SUCH THING as an "Addison Crisis". That is to say, even an expert does not know what it is.
The author nearly died of untreated Addison's disease several times. At no time did some phenomenon take place that would draw attention.
A doctor said to author "If you had SEEN an Addison Crisis"... SEEN? The author felt it on his own body! A steroid addict may panic, and become hysterical before his energy disappears and he goes from paranoia to coma, but true Addison sufferers simply fade away.
In Greenhow table of 128 uncomplicated cases, Case 55 and 56 (http://wehner.org/cgi-bin/mark.pl/addison/greenhow able15.htm?sink ), Case 107 (http://wehner.org/cgi-bin/mark.pl/addison/greenhow able33.htm?sink ), Case 147 (http://wehner.org/cgi-bin/mark.pl/addison/greenhow able48.htm?sink ), Case 167 (http://wehner.org/cgi-bin/mark.pl/addison/greenhow able55.htm?sink ), Case 169 (http://wehner.org/cgi-bin/mark.pl/addison/greenhow able56.htm?sink ) and 173 (http://wehner.org/cgi-bin/mark.pl/addison/greenhow able57.htm?sink ) all were described as dying from "SINKING". Other cases describe same thing in different words.
The impression that bad doctors seem to have is that patient "collapses unconscious". This never happens. A blood-clot usually seals patient's fate. According to Greenhow "In every case in which I have witnessed post-mortem examination, firm, discoloured fibrinous clots were found in right cavities of heart" (http://wehner.org/cgi-bin/mark.pl/addison/greenhow/p62.htm?fibrinous ).
