Just What Is Addison’s Disease, Cushing’s Syndrome, and Plechner’s Syndrome and Why Are They So Important?

Posted on February 25th, 2013

This post was originally published on Healthy Pet Network, January 29, 2013

Not common terminology but occasionally brought up at the veterinarians office, so I felt this was a good time to help with a distinction between these diseases. If you hear this at the doctor office, you will have a better understanding of their significance. Even though we don’t hear these terms very often, it is important to understand them as there is a direct relationship with Catastrophic Disease in our pets so of course you want to have at least a basic understanding with the connection of the terms.

Please keep in mind that the body produces 30-35 mg of “active” cortisol “naturally”, in the Adrenal Glands, on a daily basis so if you or your dog CANNOT produce this or what is being produced is bound or defective then there is a cortisol deficiency causing an imbalance which can cause major consequences. If you did not know, cortisol is a “steroid” and is also a hormone. My point here is that in this day and age there is a tremendous fear and bad reputation of steroids but in reality, it’s ABUSE and a misunderstanding of its importance and its use, that is the problem and it’s important that you understand that a certain amount of cortisol is produced naturally and is needed by the body and in essence, it’s all about BALANCE.

This leads me to a third option, not well recognized YET but in my humble opinion is a factor in many more cases than either Addison’s or Cushing’s, this is Plechners Syndrome. Dr Plechner does a better job of describing this in his article so I will defer to him but I think it very important to point out that the term “Plechners Syndrome” is not his choice or preference BUT no matter how he tries to change the terminology to a more appropriate ACIS (Atypical Cortisol Imbalance Syndrome), people always refer to it as Plechners Syndrome. The Good doctor has close to 50 years of experience studying and successfully treating thousands of cases of this “Imbalance” so it is important to listen to what he has to say.

I have included the Wikipedia definition of the terms “Addison Disease & Cushings Disease” below and then we will go to Dr Plechners article which will better connect the dots, looking at the diseases and their connection.

To read the article please go to: http://drplechner.com/learn/specific-diseases/addisons-disease/

Yours in Health,

Michael Goldman
www.HealthyPetNetwork.org