Go Awry

The endocrine system orchestrates a delicate balance of hormones for the body to function at its best. If your body has too much or too little of a certain hormone, the endocrine system sends out a correction signal. But sometimes that feedback system is disrupted, leading to a possible endocrine disorder or disease. Factors that can negatively affect the endocrine system include aging, certain diseases or health conditions, stress, the environment, genetics, tumors or an injury to an endocrine gland. Endocrine diseases are typically put into two groups: a hormone imbalance or the development of nodules or tumors in the endocrine system.

“Aging, which affects the endocrine system, is just a natural process that everyone has to undergo,” says Anhalt. “We’ve seen a burgeoning anti-aging industry spring up in the last decade, promising the fountain of youth by taking certain hormones, like growth hormones. But the truth is that there is no scientific evidence to back these claims.”

Instead Anhalt recommends what he calls “the age-old advice of eating well, getting regular exercise and staying engaged in life to keep your endocrine system working well.” To which he also adds that “men and women need to get their regular health screenings, especially as we age, and follow their physician’s advice.”

And, according to Anhalt, the endocrine system could use a little more respect in health care.

“When it comes to patient care, doctors should look at the endocrine system’s impact on the body,” says Anhalt. “For instance, when the parathyroid malfunctions, it pulls calcium out of the body, and this can lead to osteoporosis. An adrenal gland issue can cause high blood pressure. In addition to insulin, the pancreas produces glucagons, and this has an impact on liver function. The best way to put this is that endocrine system malfunction can often be the underlying cause of myriad health issues.”

There are dozens of endocrine disorders with diabetes being the most commonly diagnosed one in the United States. Diabetes occurs when the endocrine cells in the pancreas do not produce enough insulin or the body doesn’t properly use insulin, becoming insulin-resistant.

“We live in a societal environment that over stresses the pancreas,” says Anhalt. “This includes diet issues and not enough daily exercise that have led to an epidemic of obesity and in turn type 2 diabetes. And while we endocrinologists admit we really don’t know what causes type 1 diabetes, it is also on the rise. Both types of diabetes are caused by malfunctioning of the overstressed pancreas’ insulin delivery system.”

In diabetes and other endocrine diseases, such as hypothyroidism, the patient is treated with synthetic hormones to restore the body’s hormonal balance.