Myxedema is a medical word for very severe thyroid disease. Doctors use it in two ways. First, it can mean extreme, long-standing hypothyroidism, when the body has had very low thyroid hormone for a long time and many organs start Read More …

Congenital hypothyroidism means that a baby is born with too little thyroid hormone in the body. The thyroid is a small gland in the neck that controls growth, brain development, and metabolism. When the thyroid hormone is low at birth Read More …

Cretinism is an old medical word for a very severe form of congenital hypothyroidism. This means a baby is born with very low thyroid hormone, usually from before birth, and it is not treated early. The low hormone level harms Read More …

Iodine deficiency means your body is not getting enough iodine, a tiny but very important mineral that you must get from food or supplements. Your body uses iodine to make thyroid hormones, which control how fast you use energy, how Read More …

Lymphocytic hypophysitis is a rare disease where the body’s immune system wrongly attacks the pituitary gland, a small hormone-controlling gland at the base of the brain. This attack causes many white blood cells called lymphocytes to enter the pituitary and Read More …

Sheehan’s syndrome is a health problem that happens in some women after childbirth. It occurs when a woman loses a large amount of blood or has very low blood pressure during or just after delivery. Because of this, the pituitary Read More …

Pituitary apoplexy is a sudden problem in the pituitary gland, which is a small hormone-making gland at the base of your brain. In pituitary apoplexy, there is a rapid bleed (hemorrhage) or a sudden loss of blood flow (infarction or Read More …

Empty sella syndrome (ESS) is a condition where the small bony space in the skull that holds the pituitary gland (the sella turcica) looks “empty” on brain scans. In reality, it is not truly empty. The space is filled with Read More …

Central diabetes insipidus (CDI) is a disease where the brain does not make or release enough of a hormone called antidiuretic hormone (ADH), also called vasopressin. ADH is normally made in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus and Read More …

hCG insensitivity is a rare genetic hormone problem where the body cannot “hear” the message from the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and its twin hormone luteinizing hormone (LH). hCG and LH normally bind to a special “antenna” on cells Read More …

LH insensitivity means that the body does not respond properly to luteinizing hormone (LH), even when the blood level of LH is normal or high. LH normally binds to LH receptors on the gonads (testes in males, ovaries in females) Read More …