The household of TikTok influencer Taylor Rousseau Grigg is sharing extra concerning the well being issues that led to the 25-year-old’s loss of life final week.
Grigg, a life-style content material creator with greater than 1 million followers on TikTok and a number of other hundred thousand on Instagram, had opened up about her well being challenges in a TikTok reel in August. Grigg mentioned she had gotten sick shortly after her wedding ceremony, simply over a 12 months in the past, though she did not obtain a analysis till a couple of months in the past.
Rousseau’s household says her reason behind loss of life was issues from bronchial asthma and Addison’s illness, a uncommon continual sickness. Her husband, Cameron Grigg, posted on Instagram that his spouse had “handled extra ache and struggling than most individuals do in a lifetime” however continued to be “such a lightweight” and “at all times introduced pleasure to everybody round her.”
Asthma is the extra well-known of Grigg’s circumstances, a continual inflammatory illness that causes the airways to slim, making respiration troublesome. Greater than 30 million individuals within the U.S. have bronchial asthma, and whereas it typically may be managed with steroid medicines, bronchial asthma assaults or flares may be life-threatening.
Right here’s what we all know concerning the rarer Addison’s illness.
A more in-depth take a look at Addison’s illness
Addison’s illness is a uncommon situation that impacts the adrenal glands, small organs positioned on prime of the kidneys, in line with the Mayo Clinic. These glands produce necessary hormones, like cortisol and aldosterone, which assist regulate many bodily features, similar to sustaining blood stress, managing stress, and balancing salt and water ranges.
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The situation can have an effect on anybody and should turn out to be life-threatening with out correct therapy that replaces lacking hormones.
Causes
Though uncommon (it impacts 1 in 100,000 individuals within the U.S.), Addison’s illness is mostly brought on by an autoimmune response, per the Cleveland Clinic. That is when your physique’s immune system, which is meant to guard you from dangerous issues like viruses and micro organism, mistakenly assaults wholesome tissue. Within the case of Addison’s illness, the immune system assaults the adrenal glands, damaging them and making it exhausting for them to provide the mandatory hormones. That is referred to as “autoimmune adrenalitis.”
Addison’s illness can be brought on by infections, most cancers, harm, or genetic components, however these are much less frequent triggers, per the Cleveland Clinic.
Signs of Addison’s illness
Based on the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the signs of Addison’s illness may be sluggish to develop and could also be mistaken for different well being points at first. Widespread signs embrace excessive fatigue, weight reduction or urge for food modifications, low blood stress, craving salty meals, darkening of the pores and skin, nausea or diarrhea, and joint ache.
If left untreated, Addison’s illness can result in a life-threatening situation referred to as an “Addisonian disaster,” the place blood stress drops dangerously low, and the particular person might go into shock.
Remedy
Docs diagnose Addison’s illness by way of blood exams that examine hormone ranges, particularly cortisol, per the NIH. If cortisol ranges are low, there could also be extra exams to verify the analysis.
Addison’s illness can normally be managed with hormone substitute remedy. This includes taking medicines to exchange the lacking hormones, like hydrocortisone or fludrocortisone. With common therapy, most individuals with Addison’s illness can lead regular, wholesome lives.
Sadly, Grigg’s case appears to be have been an advanced one.
There’s not a lot data on bronchial asthma and Addison’s illness collectively, however a 1993 case report in Respiration describes a 14-year-old boy with each circumstances and notes that Addison’s illness might have worsened his bronchial asthma signs. The authors additionally notice that the boy’s bronchial asthma made his analysis with Addison’s tougher, which can at the least partly clarify why it took Grigg so lengthy to obtain her analysis.
Our deepest condolences exit to Grigg’s household throughout this time.
