What is adrenal crisis and why is it a risk when stopping corticosteroids?

Adrenal crisis, or acute adrenal insufficiency, is a life-threatening emergency that occurs when the body cannot produce enough cortisol to meet physiological demands. Chronic corticosteroid therapy suppresses the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis through negative feedback, causing adrenal atrophy. If corticosteroids are stopped abruptly, the atrophied adrenal glands cannot produce adequate cortisol, leading to severe hypotension, shock, hyponatremia, hyperkalemia, hypoglycemia, and potentially death. ---