Other Hormone Disorders

1. Primary aldosteronism

Primary aldosteronism is a hormonal disorder that leads to high blood pressure. It occurs when your adrenal glands produce too much of a hormone called aldosterone.

Your adrenal glands produce a number of essential hormones, including aldosterone. Usually, aldosterone balances sodium and potassium in your blood. But too much of this hormone can cause you to lose potassium and retain sodium. That imbalance can cause your body to hold too much water, increasing your blood volume and blood pressure.
Treatment options include medications, surgery and lifestyle changes.

Symptoms

Primary aldosteronism often doesn't cause clear symptoms. The first clue that you may have primary aldosteronism is usually high blood pressure, especially hard to control blood pressure.
Sometimes, primary aldosteronism causes low potassium levels. If this happens, you may have:

• Muscle cramps
• Weakness
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Excessive thirst
• A frequent need to urinate

Causes

Common conditions that can cause too much aldosterone include:

• A benign growth in an adrenal gland
• Overactivity of both adrenal glands

There are other, much rarer causes of primary aldosteronism, including:

• A cancerous growth on the outer layer of the adrenal gland
• An inherited condition that causes high blood pressure in children and young adults

Complications

Primary aldosteronism can lead to high blood pressure and low potassium levels. These complications in turn can lead to other problems

• Problems related to high blood pressure
• Problems related to low potassium levels (hypokalemia)

2. Pheochromocytoma

A pheochromocytoma (fee-o-kroe-moe-sy-TOE-muh) is a rare, usually noncancerous (benign) tumor that develops in an adrenal gland. You have two adrenal glands —one located at the top of each kidney. Usually, a pheochromocytoma develops in only one adrenal gland. But tumors can develop in both.

If you have a pheochromocytoma, the tumor releases hormones that may cause high blood pressure, headache, sweating and symptoms of a panic attack. If a pheochromocytoma isn't treated, severe or life-threatening damage to other body systems can result.

Most pheochromocytomas are discovered in people between the ages of 20 and 50. But the tumor can develop at any age. Surgery to remove a pheochromocytoma usually returns blood pressure to normal.

Symptoms

Signs and symptoms of pheochromocytomas often include:

• High blood pressure
• Headache
• Heavy sweating
• Headache
• Rapid heartbeat
• Tremors
• Paleness in the face
• Shortness of breath
• Panic attack-type symptoms

Causes

Researchers don't know exactly what causes a pheochromocytoma. The tumor develops in specialized cells, called chromaffin cells, located in the center of an adrenal gland. These cells release certain hormones, primarily adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine), that help control many body functions, such as heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar.

The role of hormones
Adrenaline and noradrenaline trigger your body's fight-or-flight response to a perceived threat. The hormones cause your blood pressure to increase and your heart to beat faster. They prepare other body systems that enable you to react quickly. A pheochromocytoma causes more of these hormones to be released and causes them to be released when you're not in a threatening situation.

Complications

High blood pressure can damage multiple organs, particularly tissues of the cardiovascular system, brain and kidneys. This damage can cause a number of critical conditions, including:

• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Kidney failure
• Problems with the nerves of the eye

Cancerous tumors

Rarely, a pheochromocytoma is cancerous (malignant), and the cancerous cells spread to other parts of the body. Cancerous cells from a pheochromocytoma or paraganglioma most often travel to the lymph system, bones, liver or lungs.

3. Cushing Syndrome

Cushing syndrome occurs when your body has too much of the hormone cortisol over time. This can result from taking oral corticosteroid medication. Or your body might produce too much cortisol.

Too much cortisol can cause some of the hallmark signs of Cushing syndrome — a fatty hump between your shoulders, a rounded face, and pink or purple stretch marks on your skin. Cushing syndrome can also result in high blood pressure, bone loss and, on occasion, type 2 diabetes.

Treatments for Cushing syndrome can return your body's cortisol levels to normal and improve your symptoms. The earlier treatment begins, the better your chances for recovery.

Symptoms

The signs and symptoms of Cushing syndrome can vary depending on the levels of excess cortisol.

• Weight gain and fatty tissue deposits, particularly around the midsection and upper back, in the face (moon face), and between the shoulders (buffalo hump)
• Pink or purple stretch marks (striae) on the skin of the abdomen, thighs, breasts and arms
• Thinning, fragile skin that bruises easily
• Slow healing of cuts, insect bites and infections
• Acne
• In children, impaired growth
• Infections
• Depression, anxiety and irritability
• Cognitive difficulties

Causes

Too much of the hormone cortisol in your body causes Cushing syndrome. Cortisol, which is produced in the adrenal glands, plays a variety of roles in your body.

For example, cortisol helps regulate your blood pressure, reduces inflammation, and keeps your heart and blood vessels functioning normally. Cortisol helps your body respond to stress. It also regulates the way your body converts proteins, carbohydrates and fats in your diet into energy.

Complications

Without treatment, complications of Cushing syndrome may include:

• Bone loss (osteoporosis), which can result in unusual bone fractures, such as rib fractures and fractures of the bones in the feet
• High blood pressure (hypertension)
• Type 2 diabetes
• Frequent or unusual infections
• Loss of muscle mass and strength

Hormonal Imbalance

Hormonal imbalances occur when there is too much or too little of a hormone in the bloodstream. Because of their essential role in the body, even small hormonal imbalances can cause side effects throughout the body.

Hormones are chemicals that are produced by glands in the endocrine system. Hormones travel through the bloodstream to the tissues and organs, delivering messages that tell the organs what to do and when to do it.

Hormones are important for regulating most major bodily processes, so a hormonal imbalance can affect a wide range of bodily functions. Hormones help to regulate:

• metabolism and appetite
• heart rate
• sleep cycles
• reproductive cycles and sexual function
• general growth and development
• mood and stress levels
• body temperature

Men and women alike can be affected by imbalances in insulin, steroids, growth hormones, and adrenaline.

Women may also experience imbalances in estrogen and progesterone levels, while men are more likely to experience imbalances in testosterone levels.

Symptoms

Common hormonal conditions affecting both men and women could cause any of the following signs or symptoms:

5 Hormone Imbalances to Be Aware Of

The endocrine sys­tem secretes 50 dif­fer­ent hor­mones through­out your body and each plays a vital role in main­tain­ing home­osta­sis, or sta­ble body functions.
Due to the inte­gral role of each hor­mone, it’s no sur­prise that a slight imbal­ance of one hor­mone could be the cat­a­lyst of your nag­ging headache, unpre­dictable mood swings, increased sweat­ing or weight gain.

The fol­low­ing are five hor­mones and the most com­mon imbal­ances in both men and women.

1. Cortisol

What is cortisol?
Cortisol is a hor­mone pro­duced in your adren­al gland that helps regulate your blood sugar, metabolism, inflammation and memory formation. Most commonly referred to as the ​‘stress hormone’ cortisol is released during times of stress or cri­sis and, as a result, temporarily shuts down your digestion and reproduction systems.

What are symptoms of high cortisol?
If your adren­al gland is producing too much cortisol, you may experience symptoms such as a flushed, round face, high blood pressure, increased thirst, irregular menstruation, mood swings, muscle weakness, reduced sex drive and/​or weight gain. If too much cortisol is secret­ed over a prolonged period of time, it may increase your risk of developing Cushing’s syndrome.

What are symp­toms of low cortisol?
When too little cortisol is secret­ed, you may expe­ri­ence symp­toms includ­ing dizzi­ness, fatigue, mood swings, mus­cle weak­ness and/​or weight loss. Too lit­tle cor­ti­sol may be caused by Addis­on’s dis­ease, a con­di­tion where your adren­al gland does­n’t secrete enough hormones.

2. Estrogen

What is Estrogen?
Estrogen is one of the main sex hormones in women. While men have estrogen too, they secrete smaller amounts and do not experience the same effects from estro­gen that women do. In women, estro­gen is respon­si­ble for the phys­i­cal changes dur­ing puber­ty, reg­u­lat­ing your men­stru­al cycle and sup­port­ing your bones, heart and mood dur­ing preg­nan­cy. In both men and women, estro­gen helps to reg­u­late cho­les­terol and bone health.

What are symptoms of high Estrogen?
Too much estro­gen in women may result in breast lumps, fatigue, feel­ing depressed or anx­ious, reduced sex dri­ve and/​or weight gain. With men, high estro­gen can pro­duce enlarged pec­torals, infer­til­i­ty and/​or a reduced sex dri­ve. High lev­els of estro­gen could be the result of a tem­po­rary, nat­ur­al fluc­tu­a­tion of your hor­mones or a response to med­ica­tion, such as con­tra­cep­tives or cer­tain antibiotics.

What are symptoms of low Estrogen?
Low estro­gen in women is typ­i­cal­ly a result of menopause. Symp­toms may include dry skin, an irreg­u­lar men­stru­al cycle, hot flash­es, mood swings and/​or reduced sex dri­ve. When men secrete too lit­tle estro­gen, they may expe­ri­ence reduced sex dri­ve and weight gain.

3. Insulin

What is Insulin?
The hor­mone insulin is pro­duced by the pan­creas and allows your mus­cles, fat and liv­er to absorb glu­cose, also referred to as blood sug­ar, and break­down fat and pro­tein in order to reg­u­late your meta­bol­ic process.

What are symptoms of high Insulin?
If the body secretes too much insulin, or if some­one with dia­betes injects more insulin than need­ed, they may devel­op hypo­glycemia, or abnor­mal­ly low blood sug­ar lev­els. The symp­toms of hypo­glycemia may include anx­i­ety, dizzi­ness, heart pal­pi­ta­tions, hunger, loss of facial col­or, sweat­ing and/​or tremors. To increase blood sug­ar lev­els, you can eat car­bo­hy­drate-rich foods or drink sug­ary beverages.

What are symptoms of low Insulin?
When your pan­creas is not pro­duc­ing enough insulin, it is typ­i­cal­ly a result of type 1 or type 2 dia­betes, which leads to high blood sug­ar. Symp­toms of high blood sug­ar may include dehy­dra­tion, dizzi­ness, fatigue, fre­quent uri­na­tion, hunger and/​or weight loss. Treat­ment for peo­ple with dia­betes can include insulin injec­tions or oth­er med­ica­tions. Your physi­cian will deter­mine the best treat­ment for your condition.

4. Progesterone

What is Progesterone?
The prog­es­terone hor­mone is gen­er­al­ly thought to be only present in women, but men have prog­es­terone as well. For women, prog­es­terone is cru­cial in men­stru­a­tion and sup­port­ing the ear­ly stages of preg­nan­cy. For men, prog­es­terone helps sup­port fer­til­i­ty and bal­ances the effects of estro­gen on the body.

What are symptoms of high Progesterone?
In men, high prog­es­terone lev­els will increase estro­gen lev­els, which can result in symp­toms such as depres­sion, fatigue and the devel­op­ment of heart con­di­tions. For women, high prog­es­terone is asso­ci­at­ed with symp­toms includ­ing anx­i­ety, bloat­ing, depres­sion, reduced sex dri­ve and/​or weight fluctuations.

What are symptoms of low Progesterone?
Low prog­es­terone lev­els in men may pro­duce symp­toms includ­ing bone loss, erec­tile dys­func­tion, fatigue, hair loss and/​or weight gain. When women have low lev­els of prog­es­terone, they may expe­ri­ence abnor­mal uter­ine bleed­ing, an irreg­u­lar men­stru­al cycle, fre­quent mis­car­riages, pain dur­ing preg­nan­cy, reduced sex dri­ve and/​or weight gain.

5. Testosterone

What is Testosterone?
Testos­terone is the main sex hor­mone in men. While women also have testos­terone, they have small­er amounts and do not expe­ri­ence the same effects from testos­terone that men do. For men, testos­terone sup­ports the phys­i­cal changes dur­ing puber­ty, such as deep­en­ing of the voice and growth of the gen­i­tals, hair and mus­cles. In women, testos­terone sup­ports bone health and repro­duc­tive tissue.

What are symptoms of high Testosterone?
It is eas­i­er to deter­mine when a child has too much testos­terone because it typ­i­cal­ly results in pre­co­cious puber­ty, or an ear­ly devel­op­ment of sex­u­al char­ac­ter­is­tics. When an adult devel­ops high testos­terone lev­els, it may increase the chance of infer­til­i­ty at a younger age.

What are symptoms of low Testosterone?
Signs of low testos­terone lev­els in men may include enlarged pec­torals, low sperm count, mood swings, poor erec­tions and/​or a reduced sex dri­ve. Women may expe­ri­ence fatigue, mus­cle weak­ness, reduced sex dri­ve and/​or weight gain.

As we age and our bod­ies change, our hor­mones fluc­tu­ate to adjust to these changes. It is nat­ur­al to feel some symp­toms relat­ed to fluc­tu­a­tion in hor­mones; how­ev­er, if your symp­toms per­sist or wors­en, your pri­ma­ry care physi­cian can help you man­age your condition.