Addison's vs. Cushings, Electrolytes, Oh my

[BubbysMa]

does anyone have any tips/tricks in remembering the differences between addison's and cushings? they confuse the heck out of me. i read about them over and over, but still am having trouble.

also, any good tricks in remembering hypo/hyper electrolyes, like hyperkalemia..s/s, etc.?

any help is wonderful!

[Korleone]

ADDison's - the word add, meaning you have to add something, so meaning the person is "hypo"example, hyponathremia, hypokalemia,etc..read the notes, and Cushings they are hyper already so the mngment is to decrease..that's how i remember..

in hypo/hyper, you can classify, in hypo for example, constipation, dry, it's "down" s/s for short, and Hyper, diarrhea, wet,

that's how i remember them..

[LadySnyper]

Addisons- lacking s (steroid)

[LadySnyper]

Addison's- you have to ADD something (same as korleone's) ; this condition lacks S (salt, sugar, steroid)

Cushing's- Too much S

[aleena23]

thank you .its more easy for me to remember. :nuke:

[caliotter3]

Thanks for the useful tips. Good luck to the OP.

[BabyCatchr, ADN, ASN, RN]

But please note a correction to information mis-stated above: Addison's causes high potassium (hyperkalemia), not low - the opposite of the salt (Na).

[kristykat, BSN, RN]

I think of it like this:

AddisOns: "O" = HypO

Everything is hypo except for potassium: hyponatremia, hypotension, hypovolemic, hypoglycemia, and hypERkalemia

ADDisons: need to "ADD" steroid

CUshings: "U" = Up = Hyper

Everything is hyper and exactly the opposite of Addisons: hypernatremia, hypertension, hypervolemic, hyperglycemia, and hypOkalemia

CUSHings: too much "CUSHion" = too much steroid

[smilesalot]

Good tips!

[tanya2012]

Addisons: you have to ADD because it's lacking steroids

Cushings: you have to CUt because of too much steroids