Hormone imbalances can cause a variety of health problems and can be caused by cancers, diseases, toxins, and other factors. Diagnosis involves blood tests and medical imaging, and treatment focuses on addressing the underlying cause and may involve hormone replacements.
A hormone imbalance, more properly known as an endocrinopathy, is a medical condition that affects the endocrine system, causing a disruption in the production of hormones. The levels of various hormones in the body can be elevated or decreased with a hormonal imbalance, leading to a variety of health problems. A number of treatment approaches can be used to address endocrine disorders, depending on the nature and cause of the disorder in a given patient.
Hormones come in a variety of forms. These chemical messengers can be found throughout the body and perform a variety of tasks, from triggering ovulation to generating digestive enzymes. Hormones are secreted by endocrine glands, a family of specialized glands that make up the endocrine system. When an imbalance occurs, a gland produces too much or too little of a hormone, or an endocrine disruptor in the body interferes with the function of a specific hormone.
A wide variety of things can lead to an endocrinopathy, including cancers, disease, and environmental exposure to toxins. Many chemicals act as endocrine disruptors, causing imbalances in people exposed to these substances. Symptoms can also vary dramatically; while the stereotype is that hormonal imbalances lead to erratic behavior, they don’t necessarily impact mood. The patient may feel tired or restless, and symptoms such as hair loss, digestive difficulties, lack of appetite, easy bruising, loss of libido and nausea may occur, depending on the hormone(s) involved.
Doctors can diagnose a hormone imbalance by drawing blood from the patient and looking at the levels of hormones in the blood. For frame of reference, a graph of normal hormone levels can be compared to blood tests. Doctors may also request medical imaging studies or biopsies of specific endocrine glands to learn more about the imbalance. In combination with the symptoms experienced by the patient, this is usually sufficient to arrive at a diagnosis.
Treating an endocrinopathy usually involves treating the underlying cause of the problem, with the goal of healing the body so it can correct the imbalance on its own. Hormone replacements may also be provided to make the patient more comfortable, especially if treatment will take a long time. Throughout your treatment, you will be given periodic tests to monitor your hormone levels and the progress of your treatment, looking for signs that the hormone imbalance is resolving.
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