http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/endocrine.html
You might say endocrine (say: en-doh-krin) glands are a little bossy — they tell your cells what
to do! But that's actually a good thing. Without your endocrine glands — and the hormones they
release — your cells wouldn't know when to do important things.
For instance, your bones wouldn't get the message that it's time for you to grow and get bigger.
And your body wouldn't know that it's time to begin puberty, the body changes that turn kids into
grownups.
You have a variety of endocrine glands in different sizes and shapes located in different parts of
the body. You might be surprised to learn that the pituitary (say: pih-too-uh-ter-ee) gland, which
is about the size of a pea, is the "master gland" of the endocrine system. It makes and releases a
bunch of hormones that control other glands and body functions. Tiny and tucked beneath your
brain, the pituitary helps you grow big by producing growth hormone.
Your thyroid (say: thy-royd) gland is in your neck and it's shaped like a bowtie or a butterfly. It
makes hormones that are important for growth and it helps you stay alert and full of energy.
Your adrenal (say: uh-dree-nul) glands are really important to your body in times of trouble, like
when you're sick or under stress. Adrenaline (say: uh-dreh-nuh-lin), one of the adrenal gland
hormones, gives you the boost you need if you're being chased by a wild animal — or even your
brother!
Insulin Is Essential
Your pancreas (say: pan-kree-us) is your largest endocrine gland and it's found in your belly.
The pancreas makes several hormones, including insulin (say: in-suh-lin), which helps glucose
(say: gloo-kose), the sugar that's in your blood, enter the cells of your body. Your cells need to
be fueled with glucose to function, like a car's engine needs gas. And we all know what happens
when you run out of fuel!
Your body does an amazing job of making sure that hormones are released in just the right
amounts at just the right time. If there's a problem with the endocrine system, a person's body
might not grow like it should or it might not work the way it's supposed to.
Diabetes (say: dye-uh-be-tees) is one common problem with the endocrine system. It occurs
when a person's pancreas doesn't make enough insulin. It's also an endocrine problem if a kid
isn't growing as quickly as expected because his or her pituitary gland isn't making enough
growth hormone.
Fortunately, special doctors called endocrinologists (say: en-doh-krin-all-oh-jistz) know a lot
about the endocrine system and can help treat people with hormone problems. But most kids will
never need to worry about their endocrine system because it works fine on its own. How does
that make a kid feel? Gland-tastic!
Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD
Date reviewed: August 2009
Reviewed by: Steven Dowshen, MD - Date reviewed: August 2009
http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/body_basics/endocrine.html#a_Problems_With_the_Endocrine_SystemProblem
s With the Endocrine System
Too much or too little of any hormone can be harmful to the body. For example, if the pituitary
gland produces too much growth hormone, a child may grow excessively tall. If it produces too
little, a child may be abnormally short.
Controlling the production of or replacing specific hormones can treat many endocrine disorders
in children and adolescents, some of which include:
Adrenal insufficiency. This condition is characterized by decreased function of the adrenal
cortex and the consequent underproduction of adrenal corticosteroid hormones. The symptoms of
adrenal insufficiency may include weakness, fatigue, abdominal pain, nausea, dehydration, and
skin changes. Doctors treat adrenal insufficiency by giving replacement corticosteroid hormones.
Cushing syndrome. Excessive amounts of glucocorticoid hormones in the body can lead to
Cushing syndrome. In children, it most often results when a child takes large doses of synthetic
corticosteroid drugs (such as prednisone) to treat autoimmune diseases such as lupus. If the
condition is due to a tumor in the pituitary gland that produces excessive amounts of
corticotropin and stimulates the adrenals to overproduce corticosteroids, it's known as Cushing
disease. Symptoms may take years to develop and include obesity, growth failure, muscle
weakness, easy bruising of the skin, acne, high blood pressure, and psychological changes.
Depending on the specific cause, doctors may treat this condition with surgery, radiation therapy,
chemotherapy, or drugs that block the production of hormones.
Type 1 diabetes. When the pancreas fails to produce enough insulin, type 1 diabetes (previously
known as juvenile diabetes) occurs. Symptoms include excessive thirst, hunger, urination, and
weight loss. In children and teens, the condition is usually an autoimmune disorder in which
specific immune system cells and antibodies produced by the immune system attack and destroy
the cells of the pancreas that produce insulin. The disease can cause long-term complications
including kidney problems, nerve damage, blindness, and early coronary heart disease and
stroke. To control their blood sugar levels and reduce the risk of developing diabetes
complications, kids with this condition need regular injections of insulin.
Type 2 diabetes. Unlike type 1 diabetes, in which the body can't produce normal amounts of
insulin, in type 2 diabetes the body is unable to respond to insulin normally. Children and teens
with the condition tend to be overweight, and it is believed that excess body fat plays a role in
the insulin resistance that characterizes the disease. In fact, the rising prevalence of this type of
diabetes in kids has paralleled the dramatically increasing rates of obesity among kids in recent
years. The symptoms and possible complications of type 2 diabetes are basically the same as
those of type 1. Some kids and teens can control their blood sugar level with dietary changes,
exercise, and oral medications, but many will need to take insulin injections like patients with
type 1 diabetes.
Growth hormone problems. Too much growth hormone in children who are still growing will
make their bones and other body parts grow excessively, resulting in gigantism. This rare
condition is usually caused by a pituitary tumor and can be treated by removing the tumor. In
contrast, when the pituitary gland fails to produce adequate amounts of growth hormone, a
child's growth in height is impaired. Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) may also occur in kids
with growth hormone deficiency, particularly in infants and young children with the condition.
Hyperthyroidism. Hyperthyroidism is a condition in which the levels of thyroid hormones in
the blood are excessively high. Symptoms may include weight loss, nervousness, tremors,
excessive sweating, increased heart rate and blood pressure, protruding eyes, and a swelling in
the neck from an enlarged thyroid gland (goiter). In kids the condition is usually caused by
Graves' disease, an autoimmune disorder in which specific antibodies produced by the immune
system stimulate the thyroid gland to become overactive. The disease may be controlled with
medications or by removal or destruction of the thyroid gland through surgery or radiation
treatments.
Hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism is a condition in which the levels of thyroid hormones in the
blood are abnormally low. Thyroid hormone deficiency slows body processes and may lead to
fatigue, a slow heart rate, dry skin, weight gain, constipation, and, in kids, slowing of growth and
delayed puberty. Hashimoto's thyroiditis, which results from an autoimmune process that
damages the thyroid and blocks thyroid hormone production, is the most common cause of
hypothyroidism in kids. Infants can also be born with an absent or underdeveloped thyroid gland,
resulting in hypothyroidism. It can be treated with oral thyroid hormone replacement.
How to Keep the Endocrine System Healthy
http://www.ehow.com/how_2363704_keep-endocrine-system-healthy.html#ixzz1EwUfgQjN
Herbs such as goji can help promote a healthy endocrine system.
Your endocrine system is a very important part of your body's health. It is directly responsible
for hormone excretion. Processes like puberty are not possible without it! Not taking good care
of your endocrine system can lead to many health problems such as diabetes (a pancreatic
disorder) and hyperthyroidism (a thyroid disorder). Reading this article will teach you how to
keep your endocrine system healthy.
Instructions
1. Keep minor endocrine diseases under control. Some people let minor or controllable diseases
of the endocrine system go untreated. These diseases can develop into something much
bigger if untreated or unnoticed. Diabetes should be given attention on a daily basis. It is
recommended that you take special note and precaution to endocrine disorders.
2. Know your family history. Knowledge of your family history is a powerful tool to have. It is
especially useful when you get into your twenties. Many endocrine disorders develop in
people over twenty except type I diabetes. Knowing your family history can help you learn
the precautions, and you can often prevent an endocrine disorder through lifestyle changes.
3. Eat a healthy diet. It is always very important to eat a healthy and well balanced diet every
single day. Not eating healthy can lead to type II diabetes (an endocrine disorder), and type II
diabetes can later lead to blindness and kidney failure (a serious endocrine disorder). It is
recommended that you talk to your doctor if you need help developing and staying on a
healthy diet.
4. Minimize stress in your life. Having a lot of stress in your life can cause the overproduction
of hormones. This can lead to the failure or malfunction of many endocrine organs. It is
recommended that you get plenty of exercise. Allow six to eight hours of sleep per night in
order to reduce stress and keep hormones balanced.
5. Stay in touch with your doctor. You should especially stay in close contact with an
endocrinologist if you consider yourself to be a high risk for diabetes and other diseases.
Your endocrinologist can run tests, help you assess the disorders you are more at risk for and
help you keep your chances of getting these disorders low. Ask your medical doctor about a
referral to an endocrine specialist if you feel you are in need of one.
How to Take Care of the Endocrine System
By Ashlee Simmons, http://www.ehow.com/how_2364702_take-care-endocrine-system.html#ixzz1EwUrcsYl
The endocrine system regulates hormones within the body. Consisting of the pituitary gland,
adrenal glands, thyroid, parathyroid, pineal, ovaries, testes, and pancreas. These ductless glands
work together to secrete special hormones that produce different results. For example, ovaries
secrete estrogen and the pituitary secretes growth hormone. Without the endocrine system, the
body would not be able to function. Because the endocrine system is vital to human life, keeping
it healthy is important. There are certain things you can do to keep your endocrine system in top
condition.
Instructions
Avoid steroids. Steroids interfere with natural hormone production, such as males producing
testosterone. Steroid use can cause women to grow facial hair, men to have shrunken testicles
and behavioral problems such as aggression and unwarranted anger.
1. Get plenty of rest. Sleep is one of the best things you can do to stay healthy. Our bodies need
at least eight hours of sleep every night in order to function properly. While the body is
resting, the endocrine system secretes hormones and repairs different parts of the body.
2. Eat a healthy diet. Foods rich in vitamins, iodine, and calcium help to keep hormones at
proper levels. Overeating and consuming foods high in fat inhibit functioning of the
endocrine glands.
3. Engage in a regular exercise program. People who lead a sedentary life are prone to obesity
as inactivity and overeating usually go hand in hand. Obesity retards the influence of insulin
and leads to Adult Onset Diabetes.
4. Relax and slow down. Stress causes illness and disease. Quite often a disorder is the result of
long term stress. By the time the patient seeks treatment, the body has already been
compromised. Take care of yourself by getting plenty of rest, drinking eight glasses of water
daily, exercising, and eating a healthy diet
Exactly why is your thyroid so important?
http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/endocrine/why-thyroid-important.htm/printable
by Jessika Toothman
Purestock/Purestock/Getty Images
Chances are rather good you've heard the news that you have a thyroid -- but chances are also
pretty decent you're not completely up to speed on exactly why you have one.
The human body operates like a complex factory, and like any factory, there's lots of assembly
lines, machines and moving parts, not to mention all the workers going about their business.
The thyroid plays an important role in all this activity; it has something of a managerial position.
Without the thyroid bossing everybody around, lots of work around the plant wouldn't get done - or at least wouldn't be up to quality standards. Don't go thinking the thyroid is the top dog,
however. It gets its marching orders from the pituitary gland, which in turn answers to the part of
the brain called the hypothalamus. But instead of memos to conduct all this communication, the
body uses hormones.
If you're a teenager, you probably wish everybody would just shut up about hormones, but
they're vital for the body to function properly. In general, hormones are molecules that signal the
cells of the body to perform certain actions. A variety of hormones are produced in the various
glands around the body; some of them affect many types of cells and others are more specialized.
But before we get into all that medical mumbo jumbo, let's take a step back for a second. Can
you point to your thyroid? Need a hint? Thyroids are located in peoples' throats right below the
larynx (also known as the voicebox), although in very rare instances they can migrate while a
person is in fetus-mode. If that happens, the person ends up with his or her thyroid by the back of
his or her tongue or all the way down in his or her chest. Assuming your thyroid made the trip all
right, it should have set up camp right in front of the trachea (commonly called the windpipe).
Shaped a bit like a butterfly's wings, the thyroid has two lobes that curl around the trachea
connected by a narrow isthmus (think of the strip of land split by the Panama Canal).
It usually weighs in at less than an ounce, but it sure can pack a punch when it comes to your
health. Want to find out if your thyroid's doing all right in the ring? Go to the next page to learn
the basic operations of this glorious gland.
Thyroid Function
Your thyroid works in concert with a whole team of glands to keep your body running smoothly.
Like mailmen, they deliver messages (hormones) between themselves and other parts of your
body so all those tiny cells are regulated and functioning at the proper levels.
The thyroid's main job is to produce two very special hormones.
They both have deliciously unpronounceable names, but luckily,
they also have abbreviations if you're not in the mood for a
tongue twister. The first one is triiodothyronine and the second
one is thyroxine (or tetraiodothyronine) -- but to their friends,
they're known respectively as T3 and T4. The method behind
the moniker madness stems from the fact that T3 gets three
atoms of iodine, while T4 gets -- ready for this? -- four atoms of
iodine. Take a couple tyrosine amino acids, slap on a few other
ingredients and you've got yourself some hormones ready to hit
the town.
After they're released by the thyroid, these little guys hitch a ride
in the bloodstream and get to work. Like door-to-door salesmen
or restaurant flyer distributors, the hormones stop at each and
MedicalRF.com/ MedicalRF.com/Getty
every cell, knock on the door and tell the cell if it needs to be
Images
consuming more oxygen and nutrients -- thereby stepping up its
Your thyroid is always hard at work, but
what tasks are making it so busy?
rate of metabolism -- or vice versa. The hormones also have a
hand in stimulating heart muscle contraction and nerve function,
increasing the utilization of cholesterol and nutrients, ensuring normal growth and brain
development -- some pretty important stuff!
Most of the cells in the thyroid are called follicular cells, but there are others called
parafollicular cells (or C cells) which produce another important hormone called calcitonin.
The thyroid also has four teensy glands called the parathyroid glands, which are embedded in
the back of the thyroid and produce the hormone creatively called parathyroid hormone. These
two hormones, calcitonin and parathyroid hormone, work in tandem to keep your body's calcium
level in check. We all know how important calcium is to prevent diseases like osteoporosis, but
too much of a good thing isn't ideal either. That's where calcitonin comes in; it decreases how
much calcium is in your blood, while parathyroid hormone works to beef those levels up.
Ready to find out how these microscopic masterminds impact you in the bigger scheme of
things? On the next page, we'll learn what an unruly thyroid affects and what you can do to turn
it around.
Thyroid Problems
On the last page, we talked about how the thyroid has an impact on your body's metabolism;
now, let's take a closer look at what that, and other functions of the thyroid, means to you in your
day-to-day life. If your thyroid is going on a rampage, you have what's known as
hyperthyroidism; if it's slacking off, you've got hypothyroidism. It's not until things start going
wrong with their thyroid that most people become aware of just how much it was doing for them
in the first place. Let's go over how exactly the thyroid affects your well-being, first from the
standpoint of hyperthyroidism.
Robert Daly/Stone/Getty Images
A lot of factors affect how much a person weighs, but diet and exercise aside, did you know your
thyroid can have a hand in it?
When someone has hyperthyroidism -- which means their thyroid is putting in some serious
overtime and producing hormones a little too enthusiastically -- a lot can go wrong with the
body. Keep in mind, the endocrine glands don't normally output massive quantities of hormones;
a little goes a long way. When someone experiences hyperthyroidism, he or she can have a
variety of symptoms, most of them rather unpleasant.
Hyperthyroidism can cause sudden weight loss and increased appetite, rapid heartbeat (also
known as tachycardia), irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) or a pounding heart (palpitations). If
your thyroid's acting wacky, you might develop a goiter; be sweatier than normal; feel nervous,
anxious and irritable; have tremors in your hands; be sensitive to heat; experience continual
fatigue and muscle weakness; have difficulty sleeping; grow hair that's increasingly brittle -- the
list goes on.
Now, some of those symptoms are more serious than others, but at the same time, a lot of them
are issues most people would associate with regular aging, a chronic lack of sleep or some other
routine problem. If you've been dealing with several items on the list, chances are you might
want to check in with your doctor for some tests.
On the other side of the coin is hypothyroidism. You'll really see why your thyroid is so
important now. When the old thyroid conks out, trouble brews. This type of thyroid condition
can cause someone to feel increased fatigue, forgetfulness, depression and sluggishness, have
brittle hair and nails, be more sensitive to cold and feel constipated. Excited yet? The list
continues with pale, dry skin; a puffy face; hoarse voice; high cholesterol; inexplicable weight
gain; tender, stiff and swollen joints and muscles; muscle weakness and more.
When your thyroid's not around to rev up your metabolism, a lot of things can go wrong. What's
even sneakier is you usually don't wake up one morning with every symptom on the list in fullfledged severity. You'll just have a little more trouble making it through the day without your
trusty coffee, or you may look in the mirror and see your face appears a bit puffier and more
aged than it used to or you could get an ache in your muscles even after just walking a short
distance. After a while, you'll start to feel miserable all the time without even knowing why.
So, keep in mind there are tests for thyroid dysfunction and a number of treatment options are
available. If you've got some of the symptoms on the list, it can't hurt to chat up a doctor to see if
he or she thinks your thyroid is the culprit. After all, at first glance it might seem like an
unimportant organ, but the thyroid is actually crucial for your body's metabolic function -- and
an unbalanced metabolism means poor health in general
Understand Your Hormones for Optimum Metabolic Health
http://www.naturalsolutionsmag.com/blog/index.php/2011/01/25/understand-your-hormones-for-optimummetabolic-health/
Dr. Isaac Eliaz, M.D., M.S., L.Ac., is an author, lecturer, researcher, product formulator, and
clinical practitioner in the field of integrative health.
To understand how to achieve good metabolic health, it is important to understand the hormones
that influence your metabolism. These include insulin, ghrelin, and leptin. While insulin is made
in the pancreas and allows cells to use glucose from the bloodstream for energy, ghrelin is made
primarily from stomach cells and makes you feel hungry. Leptin, which is made in stored fat
tissues, sends the message to your brain that you are full and prevents you from overeating. All
three of these vital hormones work synergistically to create either a balanced or chaotic
metabolism.
Hormones
After much research on these particular hormones and their effects on the body’s systems, more
specifically at what happens before, during, and after a meal. When sugar levels rise after a meal,
the pancreas secretes insulin in order to capture the sugar. Sometimes the normal amount of
insulin is not enough to move the glucose into cells, because the cells become “resistant” to the
insulin. The pancreas must then produce more insulin in order to stabilize sugar levels.
Ghrelin is the primary hunger hormone that signals when you need food in order to meet your
caloric requirements. However, when you see or smell food, you may want to eat even though
you are not hungry, serving as a survival skill to keep you going until your next meal. Insulin
works to regulate and balance the amount of glucose in the body, causing it to spike and then
drop. An insufficiency of leptin in your system may cause you to overeat and gain weight, which
along with high glucose levels, are major factors for developing Metabolic Syndrome.
Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is characterized by hypertension, elevated glucose levels and insulin
resistance. Understanding how much sugar and carbohydrates we consume is vital to maintain a
healthy metabolism.
Sometimes called pre-diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome is a group of several risk factors that mark
the development of type 2 diabetes, which is the most prevalent and preventable form of the
disease. Some of the symptoms include excessive fat around the abdomen, low HDL or “good”
cholesterol and high LDL or “bad” cholesterol and triglycerides, inflammation, a tendency
toward excessive clotting, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance. Quite a few of these risk
factors point toward heart disease, meaning that most patients diagnosed with Metabolic
Syndrome will develop type 2 diabetes within a decade, with a 50 percent higher risk of
developing cardiovascular disease. But the most dominant factors in a diagnosis of this kind are
obesity and accompanying insulin resistance.
Properly modifying your diet, in addition to reducing your body weight, lowering your total
intake of fat and saturated fat, increasing your intake of fiber, and boosting your physical activity
can all help to reduce your risk of developing Metabolic Syndrome. The key to beating metabolic
syndrome is understanding some of the lifestyle-related causes that can increase insulin
secretion—eventually leading to insulin resistance, and ultimately, full-blown type 2 diabetes.
Stress
The first of these factors is stress. When you are stressed, your body releases cortisol as a
response. Cortisol is a hyperglycemic hormone, which means it naturally increases glucose levels
and suppresses inflammation. At the same time, your body will increase insulin excretion,
creating a dangerous pattern of endocrine imbalance. For these reasons, I recommend daily
stress-reducing activities such as moderate exercise, yoga and meditation in order to maintain
optimum health.
Exercise
Exercise is another vital part of any diabetes prevention program, as it helps glucose metabolism
without the need for insulin. Simple daily exercise such as walking helps the body maintain
proper glucose levels and promotes a healthy body.
Diet
One of the most important elements in the fight against metabolic syndrome is maintaining a
low-glycemic index diet. The glycemic index is essentially a scale that measures different foods
according to the length of time they take to break down into glucose during digestion, as well as
the rapidity with which they affect blood sugar levels. Balance is the key factor to any healthy
diet, so foods that are low on the glycemic index scale—meaning they do not cause an
immediate spike and consequent fall in blood sugar levels. Certain carbohydrate foods with a
low glycemic index (such as vegetables and certain fruits and beans) are generally healthier,
nutrient-rich, less refined, and higher in fiber. In contrast, high glycemic index foods (think
candy and refined sugar) cause a spike in blood sugar, followed by various hormonal changes
that often contribute to the feeling of hunger at a faster rate since they are metabolized quicker
than low-glycemic index foods.
Along with a healthy diet and lifestyle, a fundamental understanding of the way your hormones
function in can play an important role in promoting metabolic health.
Dr. Isaac Eliaz, M.D., M.S., L.Ac., is an author, lecturer, researcher, product formulator, and
clinical practitioner in the field of integrative health. For more information about Dr. Eliaz, visit
www.dreliaz.org.