Good Hormone Health: Hypopituitarism Specialist
What is hypopituitarism?
Hypopituitarism refers to a deficiency of pituitary hormones. The pituitary is the master gland; therefore, deficiencies in pituitary hormones can profoundly affect the body. Patients can have panhypopituitarism, which means all the pituitary hormones are affected, or partial hypopituitarism, with some of the hormones affected. Dr. Friedman specializes in diagnosing and optimizing treatment for patients with hypopituitarism. Patients with hypopituitarism often have had prior surgery, either for pituitary or brain tumors. Some of them may have had radiation, and some of them have hypopituitarism with no cause.
What Kind of Doctor Treats Hypopituitarism?
An endocrinologist almost always treats hypopituitarism and, in fact, is usually treated by an endocrinologist such as Dr. Friedman, who specializes in pituitary disorders. A general endocrinologist or an endocrinologist who has seen patients mainly with diabetes will not have the expertise to properly treat patients. Because the pituitary makes so many hormones that interact with each other, seeing a specialist is needed. There are a lot of subtleties in treating hypopituitarism Dr. Friedman can optimize your pituitary hormone replacement in ways that other Endocrinologists can not.
Common Causes of Hypopituitarism
The causes of hypopituitarism usually include prior surgeries or radiation. Dr. Friedman published an important paper in Clinical Endocrinology in 2008, showing that small pituitary tumors (previously called incidentalomas) can have hypopituitarism, including growth hormone deficiency. This was a very important paper, as previously, people thought that pituitary tumors did not affect other hormones. Another important cause of hypopituitarism is traumatic brain injury, where the patient is in a car accident or other causes when their head is hit. This causes the pituitary to not function well.
Symptoms
The symptoms of hypopituitarism depend on which hormones are affected but can include fatigue, brain fog, feeling cold, poor sleep, achiness, depression, mood swings, low libido, irregular periods in women, and weight gain. Patients with hypopituitarism can feel quite ill. That is why Dr. Friedman supports the early diagnosis.
How Is Hypopituitarism Diagnosed?
Dr. Friedman will carefully test all of your pituitary hormones, including some, such as testosterone in women, oxytocin, and vasopressin, that most endocrinologists do not address. Dr. Friedman is also a specialist in diagnosing growth hormone deficiency, which is an important hormone to diagnose and replace.
Contact Dr. Friedman for a Consultation
Overall, consulting a specialist like Dr. Friedman, who specializes in Graves’ disease, is highly recommended. Dr. Friedman will provide expert guidance on medication usage and ensure prompt symptom relief. To schedule a consultation with Dr. Friedman, please visit appointment booking.
Dr. Friedman’s web site does not offer medical advice. These materials are offered for information purposes only. Do not act or rely upon information from goodhormonehealth.com without seeking professional medical advice. Additionally, the transmission of information from the website, goodhormonehealth.com to you, is not intended to create nor does create a physician-patient relationship between you and Dr. Friedman.