Wednesday 27 / November / 2024
Muscat: Hormone imbalance, if left untreated, will often lead one’s life to a series of health issues, even life-threatening, swamped by an avalanche of depression.
"It is fish out of the water situation, and maintaining a normal balance of hormones in one’s endocrine system plays a crucial role in day-to-day life," points out Dr Masoud Al-Maskari, Senior Consultant Endocrinologist (visiting) at Al Hayat International Hospital.
"Hormone levels, of course, change at different times of our life. However, lack of awareness on the importance of hormones in a healthy human life, and the spread of misinformation and disinformation about endocrine problems and treatments often discourage patients from seeking early diagnoses and care. One does not have to continue lifelong treatment for all endocrine disorders," says Dr Al Maskari, who holds a PhD in Endocrinology from the UK.
Endocrine problems, as we know are about diseases that affect human glands such as the thyroid, pituitary, pancreas, ovaries, testes, parathyroid, hypothalamus, and adrenal glands. To put it simply, endocrine disorders are the misregulated or abnormal release of hormones.
Glands produce hormones and discharge them directly into the bloodstream. Proper functioning of glands is essential for life as glands play the principal role in human life throughout one’s lifetime. Disorders in glands may lead to their under function or over function, and may disturb the overall functioning of the entire endocrine system, and may result in hormone imbalance. Endocrine disorders often cause swelling or dysfunction of glands or both.
"Hormone levels deteriorate with age in men and women. In essence, hormones control all your activities, including metabolism, growth, and development, reproduction, response to surroundings and the amount of energy and nutrition one needs to perform his/her activities."
"Feel good, and feel right. Explore the most modern endocrinology diagnoses and treatments, and live your life normal as diabetes, thyroid or any other endocrine system problems are manageable today. It is a must that we manage endocrine conditions cautiously. For women, regardless of age, managing diabetes and thyroid disorders is a challenge as many patients ignore early symptoms. Low estrogen level causing abnormal sweats, is a regular complaint among women. Early diagnosis will improve quality of life, and help patients manage several health issues, including diabetes and thyroid," Dr Al Maskari said.
Besides many health issues, Al Maskari said, thyroid disorders during pregnancy, pituitary diseases, osteoporosis, Vitamin D deficiency, and polycystic ovary syndrome, infertility in women, and erectile dysfunction in men are common endocrine disorders he has come across during diagnoses.
"Don’t ignore the classic symptoms of hormone imbalance and never disregard the opinion of your primary care physician who refers you to an endocrinologist when you have a problem with your endocrine system. Despite maintaining a reasonably good healthy lifestyle, if you have symptoms such as continuous tiredness, unexpected weight gain/loss, memory fog, sleep problems, headaches, you must visit a general practitioner and take an expert opinion. Routine tablets are not enough to treat endocrine problems. One should not take thyroid drugs unnecessary without consulting an experienced endocrinologist. Thyroid and diabetes checkups, once a year, are advisable,’’ Dr Al Maskari added.
Dr Al Maskari has been practising endocrinology for nearly three decades. Trained in the UK and Oman, Dr Al-Maskari was a professor of Endocrinology at Sultan Qaboos University.
Al Hayat offers diagnoses and treatments for all hormone imbalances including diabetes, thyroid, metabolic issues, pituitary issues, menopause, osteoporosis, hypertension, lipid, short stature, infertility, insulin treatment for diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome, etc. and helps patients improve quality of life.
