There are two pivotal glands in the front and base of the brain that our endocrine doctors specialize in treating, the hypothalamus and pituitary glands.

Why Have Nebraska Medicine Treat Your Hypothalamus and Pituitary Disorders?

Hypothalymic Disorders

The hypothalamus serves as the central switchboard for controlling everything from your moods, body temperature, hunger, sleep patterns and heart rate along with other aspects related to how you feel.

We have endocrinologists who treat anything that might keep that area — the checkpoint between the endocrine and nervous systems and the area that controls your internal balance — from functioning properly, whether hypothalymic tumors, traumatic brain injuries, or other hypothalymic disorders that surface without a clear explanation.

Pituitary Disorders

The pituitary gland is a pea-sized object at the base of your brain, often called the "master gland," as it produces eight of the hormones in your body. Its hormones also control the thyroid, adrenal glands, as well as ovaries and testes.

We treat all pituitary gland disorders, including:

Pituitary Gland Tumors — considered the most common disorder of the pituitary gland, and normally not cancerous
- The tumors however, sometimes press on the gland, causing problems with the proper amounts of hormones being released by the gland, which leads to many of the issues below, all of which we treat
Acromegaly — when the gland creates too much growth hormone, leading to abnormal growth
- It's often caused by a pituitary tumor
Diabetes Insipidus — when the gland doesn't make enough antidiuretic hormone, meaning you end up feeling thirsty and needing to urinate more often
Cushing's disease (or syndrome) — hypercortisolism — a description of what happens when the body's ACTH hormone that stimulates the production of and release of too much cortisol
- Symptoms include obesity in the upper body, increased fat in the neck and face, with thinner arms and legs. It's often caused by non-cancerous pituitary tumors
Hirsutism - too much of the wrong kind of hair grow in on various locations on a woman's body, related to the level of male hormones – androgens – in a woman
Reproductive hormone disorders — meaning problems with ovaries and women and testes in men, both regulated by the pituitary gland, including menopausal symptoms
Growth hormone deficiencies leading to slow growth in children