You Are Your Hormones - A Lesson In Endocrinology

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19TH, 2011

Open Class 6:30pm

Foothill Boy's Varsity Basketball 7:30pm

NOTE: Thursday I will be filling in for the CrossFit Redding Group Class Coaches so you will have the option of coming in at either 5:30pm or 6:30pm and joining the CrossFit Redding Group Classes that day.

So, as I made mention of during the first post or two of this nutritional unit, this subject is so broad and all-encompassing that it's difficult to put together a logical order of topics that would be best for delivery to you. As I press on explaining why grains, breads, pastas, wheat, flour, legumes, dairy, and potatoes are life-threateningly detrimental to health I realize that I probably should have presented a basic understanding of how some the fundamental physiological mechanisms at play are affected when you consume these foods.

This just means that I'm going to simply backtrack a post or two and attempt to put together the pieces you may require to put 2 and 2 together and make later connections. Don't worry, I should be able to tie it all back together wihtout any problem.

I encourage you throughout this focus on endocrinology to do the best you can to understand it. Many of you reading may be at a level that surpasses my understanding of endocrinology or near the same level of understanding and will follow along easily, but for those of you who haven't had as much exposure this it would serve you well to research the terms you don't already know. Not only is this information EXTREMELY IMPORTANT to understand but it is also a great way to learn and be able to teach others. Do the best you can to research the things you don't know and I will actually be doing a post that teaches you how to be a better researcher of this information as I bring this unit to a close.

ENDOCRINOLOGY

YOU ARE YOUR HORMONES

Since this is a fundamental foundation of endocrinology I find it necessary to give a brief overview of "endocrinology". I highly recommend that you research "endocrinology", "endocrine system", as well as "neuroendocrinology" and do your best to make theconnections between the three to get a better grasp of the monumental impact this/these systems can have on our bodies. This will help you make some very critical connections as we go through this section. A quick Wikipedia search of the three terms should more than suffice.

Endocrinology: Endocrinology is concerned with the study of biosynthesis, storage, chemistry, Physiological function of hormones and Pathology with the cells of the endocrine glands and tissues that secrete them.

It is important to not and keep in mind throughout this section that the endocrine system consists of several glands, all and in different parts of the body, that secree hormones directly into the blood rather than into a duct system. Hormones have many different functions an modes of action; one hormone may have several effects on different target organs, and, conversely, one target organ may be affected by more than one hormone.

Read that last sentence one more time. The one in bold beginning with "Hormones have...". Good. Now read it again! It's that important to understand. Read it as many times as it takes for you to full understand what it means.

Now, before I dive right into the players of endocrinology let me preface by listing just some of the disease of the endocrine system.

Adrenal Disorders
-Adrenal insufficiency

• Addison's diseas


• Mineralcorticoid deficiency


• Diabetes

-Adrenal hormone excess

• Conn's syndrome


• Cushing's syndrome


• GRA/Glucocorticoid remediable aldosteronism


• Pheonchromocytoma

-Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (adreaogenital syndrome)
-Adrenocortical carcinoma

Glucose homeostasis disorders
-Diabetes mellitus

• Type 1 Diabetes


• Type 2 Diabetes


• Gestational Diabetes


• Mature Onset Diabetes of the Young

-Hypoglycemia

• Idiopathic hypoglycemia


• Insulinoma

-Glucagonoma
-Thyroiditis

• Hashimoto's thyroiditis

-Thyroid cancer

Calcium homeostasis disorders and Metabolic Bone Disease
-Parathyroid gland disorders

• Primary hyperparathyroidism


• Secondary hyperparathyroidism


• Tertiary hyperparathyroidism


• Hypoparathyroidism


• Pseudohypoparathyroidism

-Osteoperosis
-Osteitis deformans (Paget's disease of bone)
-Rickets and osteomalacia

Pituitary gland disorders
Posterior pituitary
-Diabetes insipidus

Anterior pituitary
-Hypopituitarism (or Panhypopituitarism)
-Pituitary tumors

• Pituitary adenomas


• Prolactinoma (or Hyperprolactinemia)


• Acromegaly, gigantism


• Cushing's disease

Sex hormone disorders
- Disorders of sex development or intersex disorders

• Hermaphroditism


• Gonadal dysgenesis


• Androgen inensitivity syndromes

-Hypogonadism (gonadotropin deficiency)
>Inherited (gentic and chromosomal disorders)

• Kallmann syndrome


• Klinefelter syndrome


• Turner syndrome

>Acquired disorders

• Ovarian failure (aka Premature Menopuse)


• Testicular failure

-Disorders of Gender

• Gender identity disorder

-Disorders of Puberty

• Delayed puberty


• Precocious puberty

-Menstrual funciton or fertility disorders

• Amenorrhea


• Polycystic ovary syndrome

Tumours of the endocrine glands not mentioned elsewhere
-Multiple endocrine neoplasia

• MEN type 1


• MEN type 2a


• MEN type 2b

-Carcinoid syndrome

Coach Justin
PerformanceQuestFitness@gmail.com