An insulinoma is a small tumor in the pancreas that produces an excess amount of insulin. In most cases, the tumor isn?t cancerous. Most insulinomas are less than 2 centimeters in diameter.
The pancreas is an endocrine organ located behind your stomach. One of its functions is to produce hormones that control the level of sugar in your bloodstream, such as insulin. Normally, the pancreas stops creating insulin when your blood sugar drops too low. This allows your blood sugar levels to return to normal. When an insulinoma forms in your pancreas, however, it will continue to produce insulin, even when your blood sugar is too low. This can lead to severe hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar. Hypoglycemia is a dangerous condition that can cause blurred vision, lightheadedness, and unconsciousness. It can also be life-threatening.
An insulinoma usually needs to be surgically removed. Once the tumor is removed, complete recovery is very likely. An insulinoma is a rare tumor of the pancreas. It?s made of calls called beta islet cells, the same ones in the pancreas the make insulin and control your blood sugar. Normally, your pancreas makes more insulin when your blood sugar is high and less when your blood sugar is low. But an insulinoma constantly makes insulin, even when your blood sugar gets too low.
You might hear an insulinoma called a "neuroendocrine tumor" because it starts in special cells in your body called neuroendocrine cells. These tumors are usually small (less than an inch), and almost all of them are not cancer. In most cases, surgery can cure them.
The pituitary is a small gland (about the size of a kidney bean) located at the base of the brain, just beneath the optic (eye) nerve in a bony area called the sella turcica. It is made up of the anterior (adenohypophysis) and posterior (neurohypophysis) pituitary gland. It is often called the ?master gland? because it produces a number of hormones that regulate other hormone glands in the body. The pituitary is, in turn, regulated by the hypothalamus; a portion of the brain that responds to a variety of nerve and hormonal signals from the environment and the rest of the body.
Anterior pituitary hormones include TSH (thyroid gland), ACTH (adrenal gland), GH (growth hormone), LH and FSH (reproduction) and prolactin (lactation for breast feeding). Posterior pituitary hormones include AHD (water and salt balance) and oxytocin (childbirth).
Pituitary disorders can be due to either too much, or too little pituitary hormone secretion. These disorders can result in a wide variety of different clinical conditions, depending on which hormone signal(s) are disrupted. See below for specific information about different pituitary disorders.
Angina is a type of chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart. Angina (an-JIE-nuh or AN-juh-nuh) is a symptom of coronary artery disease.
Angina, also called angina pectoris, is often described as squeezing, pressure, heaviness, tightness or pain in your chest. Some people with angina symptoms say angina feels like a vise squeezing their chest or a heavy weight lying on their chest. Angina may be a new pain that needs to be checked by a doctor, or recurring pain that goes away with treatment.
Although angina is relatively common, it can still be hard to distinguish from other types of chest pain, such as the discomfort of indigestion. If you have unexplained chest pain, seek medical attention right away.
There are several types of angina.
Stable angina occurs when the heart is working harder than usual, for instance, during exercise. It has a regular pattern and can be predicted to happen over months or even years. Rest or medication relieves symptoms.
Unstable angina does not follow a regular pattern. It can occur when at rest and is considered less common and more serious because rest and medication do not relieve it. This version can signal a future heart attack within a short time ? hours or weeks.
Variant or Prinzmetal?s angina and microvascular angina are rare and can occur at rest without any underlying coronary artery disease. This angina is usually due to abnormal narrowing or relaxation of the blood vessels, reducing blood flow to the heart. It can be relieved by medicine.
Red blood cells carry oxygen to all parts of your body. They also remove carbon dioxide (a waste product) from your body's cells and carry it to the lungs to be exhaled.
Red blood cells are made in your bone marrow?a sponge-like tissue inside the bones. White blood cells and platelets (PLATE-lets) also are made in your bone marrow. White blood cells help fight infection. Platelets stick together to seal small cuts or breaks on blood vessel walls and stop bleeding.
If you have PV, your bone marrow makes too many red blood cells. It also can make too many white blood cells and platelets.
A mutation, or change, in the body's JAK2 gene is the major cause of PV. This gene makes a protein that helps the body produce blood cells. What causes the change in the JAK2 gene isn't known. PV generally isn't inherited?that is, passed from parents to children through genes.
PV develops slowly and may not cause symptoms for years. The disease often is found during routine blood tests done for other reasons.
When signs and symptoms are present, they're the result of the thick blood that occurs with PV. This thickness slows the flow of oxygen-rich blood to all parts of your body. Without enough oxygen, many parts of your body won't work normally.
For example, slower blood flow deprives your arms, legs, lungs, and eyes of the oxygen they need. This can cause headaches, dizziness, itching, and vision problems, such as blurred or double vision.
Red blood cells develop in the bone marrow, which is the sponge-like tissue inside your bones. Your body normally destroys old or faulty red blood cells in the spleen or other parts of your body through a process called hemolysis. Hemolytic anemia occurs when you have a low number of red blood cells due to too much hemolysis in the body.
There are many types of hemolytic anemia, which doctors diagnose based on the underlying cause of your anemia. Certain conditions can cause hemolysis to happen too fast or too often. Conditions that may lead to hemolytic anemia include inherited blood disorders such as sickle cell disease or thalassemia, autoimmune disorders, bone marrow failure, or infections. Some medicines or side effects to blood transfusions may cause hemolytic anemia.
Hemolytic anemia can develop suddenly or slowly, and it can be mild or severe. Signs and symptoms may include fatigue, dizziness, heart palpitations, pale skin, headache, confusion, jaundice, and a spleen or liver that is larger than normal. Severe hemolytic anemia can cause chills, fever, pain in the back and abdomen, or shock. Severe hemolytic anemia that is not treated or controlled can lead to serious complications, such as irregular heart rhythms called arrhythmias; cardiomyopathy, in which the heart grows larger than normal; or heart failure.
To diagnose hemolytic anemia, your doctor will do a physical exam and order blood tests. Additional tests may include a urine test, a bone marrow test, or genetic tests. People who are diagnosed with mild hemolytic anemia may not need treatment at all. For others, hemolytic anemia can often be treated or controlled. Treatments may include lifestyle changes, medicines, blood transfusions, blood and bone marrow transplants, or surgery to remove the spleen. If your hemolytic anemia is caused by medicines or another health condition, your doctor may change your treatment to control or stop the hemolytic anemia.
Heart rhythm problems (heart arrhythmias) occur when the electrical impulses that coordinate your heartbeats don't work properly, causing your heart to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly.
Heart arrhythmias (uh-RITH-me-uhs) may feel like a fluttering or racing heart and may be harmless. However, some heart arrhythmias may cause bothersome ? sometimes even life-threatening ? signs and symptoms.
Heart arrhythmia treatment can often control or eliminate fast, slow or irregular heartbeats. In addition, because troublesome heart arrhythmias are often made worse ? or are even caused ? by a weak or damaged heart, you may be able to reduce your arrhythmia risk by adopting a heart-healthy lifestyle.
Doctors classify arrhythmias not only by where they originate (atria or ventricles) but also by the speed of heart rate they cause:
Anemia (likewise spelled anaemia) is a lessening in the aggregate sum of red platelets (RBCs) or hemoglobin in the blood, or a brought capacity of the blood down to convey oxygen. When paleness goes ahead gradually, the indications are regularly obscure and may incorporate inclination tired, shortcoming, brevity of breath, and a poor capacity to exercise. When the pallor goes ahead rapidly, side effects may incorporate disarray, feeling like one is going to drop, loss of awareness, and expanded thirst. Anemia must be critical before an individual turns out to be recognizably pale. Additional manifestations may happen contingent upon the fundamental reason.
