Patients developed symptoms, and physical findings such as the development of Cushing's syndrome. Additionally, women may have less frequent menses or lose them altogether. Men may become impotent. There is also weakness, headache, high blood pressure, acne, and thinning of the skin. Patients may develop diabetic symptoms and easy bruisability as well as other problems.
Wound healing is impaired and patients are susceptible to infections.
Mental symptoms may range from increased fluctuation of mood to psychosis. Out of these findings, an irrational approach developed to the question of relative adrenal function. A person who suffers from total failure of the adrenal glands is said to have Addison's disease. So physicians approach patients as normal, or as suffering from Addison's disease or Cushing's syndrome. This discussion is directed only at the function of the adrenal glands.