Endocrinology facts for kids
Endocrinology is the study of your body's amazing internal messengers called hormones. It also looks at the special parts of your body that make these hormones, known as the endocrine system.
Think of hormones as tiny chemical signals. They travel through your blood to tell different parts of your body what to do. These signals control many important things. For example, hormones help you grow, digest food, sleep, and even manage your mood. They are super important for how your body works every day!
Doctors who specialize in this area are called endocrinologists. They help people whose hormones might be out of balance.
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What Endocrinologists Do
Doctors started to understand hormones better in the 1800s. They found that many health problems happen when there's too much or too little of a certain hormone.
An endocrinologist is a special kind of doctor. They help people who have diseases linked to their endocrine system. These diseases often involve hormones being out of balance.
Some common conditions an endocrinologist might treat include:
- Diabetes: This is when your body doesn't make enough insulin, a hormone that helps use sugar for energy.
- Overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism): This means your thyroid gland makes too much thyroid hormone.
- Underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism): This means your thyroid gland doesn't make enough thyroid hormone.
- Cushing's syndrome: This happens when your body has too much of a hormone called cortisol.
These are just a few examples. There are many other conditions related to hormones.
How Doctors Find Hormone Problems
Endocrinologists can figure out if a person has a hormone problem by doing tests. They often test a person's blood to see if they have too much or too little of a hormone. For instance, people with Type 1 diabetes don't have enough insulin.
Endocrine problems usually fall into three main types:
- Not enough hormone (a hormone deficiency)
- Too much hormone (a hormone excess)
- Growths (called tumours) on endocrine glands. These growths can be harmless or harmful.
Most of the time, medical help is needed when hormones are out of balance. Sometimes, a necessary hormone is completely missing. For example, if someone has an overactive thyroid, they usually have too much thyroid hormone and a low level of thyroid stimulating hormone.
Helping Transgender People
Endocrinologists can also give advice on hormone treatment for transgender people. A transgender person might want their body to look different so they feel more comfortable and look more like their chosen gender. For example, a transgender woman might want less facial hair. This helps her look more like a woman to others.
Related Pages
To learn more about this topic, you can check out these pages:
Images for kids
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Arnold Adolph Berthold was a pioneer in studying hormones.
See also
In Spanish: Endocrinología para niños
