Scott Webb (Host): Endocrinologists diagnose and treat many conditions and disorders like diabetes, and they also treat disorders of the pituitary gland. And I'm joined today by Dr. Fatima Kazi. She's an endocrinologist with Franciscan Health. And today, she's going to help us to understand the pituitary gland, what it does, how it works, and how she can help folks with pituitary disorders.

Host: This is the Franciscan Health Doc Pod. I'm Scott Webb. Doctor, thanks so much for your time today. We're going to talk about pituitary disorders and what that means and how you diagnose and treat folks. But before we get there, just tell us more broadly about the specialty of endocrinology.

Dr. Fatima Kazi: An endocrinologist is a healthcare provider who specializes in the field of endocrinology. That is a field in medicine that studies conditions related to your hormones. An endocrinologist will diagnose any endocrine problems or any hormone conditions that you may have. They'll develop treatment plans, management plans accordingly and prescribe medications. We would also follow up on the treatment plan. And if there's any complications, any side effects from these treatment, I would be the person for that.

Host: Yeah. And I actually have spent a lot of time with an endocrinologist because my son was small for his age and his HGH, his human growth hormone, was doing absolutely nothing. And so, we met with and worked with an endocrinologist to help him so that he was able to grow more normally, if you will. So, I've spent a lot of time in an endocrinologist's office, of course. But I want to find out from you, generally speaking, like what types of diseases do you help manage?

Dr. Fatima Kazi: Endocrinology is actually quite a broad field, I would say. There are a lot of glands in the body. And any hormone signals that go through those glands, those kind of come under the umbrella of endocrinology. Typically, we manage diabetes. That's, I think, one of the bigger ones that everyone kind of knows about. So, diabetes, any thyroid disorders, any pituitary disorders, cholesterol problems, also known as lipid disorders. Those are all kind of the big issues or big problems that we deal with. In addition, we also talk about bone health. Osteoporosis is another problem that endocrinologists take care of, adrenal disorders. So, all glands and bone-related issues come under the umbrella of endocrinology.

Host: I think, doctor, the pituitary gland is one of those things, maybe sort of like the spleen, you know, in the human body, like most of us, we sort of know what some of these things do and what they're for, but it's good to have your expertise. So, what is the pituitary gland and what does it do or how does it affect the entire body?

Dr. Fatima Kazi: I always tell my patients about the pituitary gland. I kind of call it the master gland because it really is that gland that kind of sends all the signals down to all the different organs of the body. It is a small pea-sized gland, but it's really a very, very powerful gland in itself. So, it's a small gland located at the base of your head or base of your brain, if you may say so. It's part of your endocrine system. It's in charge of making several different hormones. It tells other endocrine systems how to release those hormones, when to release it, and fine tunes it.

Hormones, as you may know, they're chemicals that coordinate different functions in your body. They carry messages throughout through your blood to different various organs, your skin, your muscles, tissues. And then, these signals tell your body what to do and when to do it.

Host: It's so amazing. The human body is so just amazing and fascinating. As you say, this little pea-sized thing does so much and affects so much in our bodies. And I know some things can go wrong. There can be some disorders. So, let's talk about that. What are some of the common pituitary disorders?

Dr. Fatima Kazi: So, I feel like when it comes to pituitary, because it's again the master gland producing so many different hormones, any overproduction or underproduction of those hormones will cause a disorder.

So, I'll start off with saying that one of the more important hormone is called ACTH, which kind of helps control how your body responds to stress. It has a role to play in that. If there's overproduction of it, you can actually end up with diseases like Cushing's where you have excess cortisol or stress hormone being produced. If you have underproduction of it, you can end up with, you know, your body not being able to respond to that stress, which is called adrenal insufficiency. So, that's one of the hormones that it produces.

The other big ones would be your thyroid hormones. It does give a signal to your thyroid gland to produce that. Patients are more attuned about thyroid because it's a very common disorder. So, that's one of another hormones, overproduction, underproduction, both of those could be a problem.

Prolactin is another hormone that's being produced. It can affect fertility, it can affect sexual function in adults. It primarily stimulates the breast milk production after patients give birth. So, that's one of the other hormones.

And then, as you had mentioned, growth hormone is another very important hormone, not just in adults, but also in children. For children, it really helps them to grow, they grow taller or really, that stimulates the growth itself. But for adults, it's important because it helps to maintain a healthy muscle, it helps to maintain healthy bones. It impacts our fat distribution. So, growth hormone is just another hormone that kind of affects your metabolism altogether.

Then, I always bring up our female and male hormones, the follicle-stimulating hormone and the luteinizing hormone. Those are kind of the hormones that help in, you know, ovulation for females, testosterone production for males. So, it really kind of helps out with that fertility part of it. So, those are one of those hormones that are produced by the anterior gland of the pituitary. Then, there's also a posterior gland part of the pituitary, which kind of monitors your water and salt balance, and then also helps with childbirth. So, there's a hormone called oxytocin that helps with childbirth.

Like I said, there's a whole list hormones that are being produced by the pituitary gland and overproduction or underproduction of any or either can be an issue. And so, I deal with all of that.

Host: Yeah. So let's talk about that then, you know, the over or under production, how it really affects patients, their quality of life.

Dr. Fatima Kazi: So, just kind of going over the function of the pituitary gland, if there's a disorder, it can impact a patient's growth. It can impact a patient's metabolism, reproduction, their response to stress or trauma. It can impact their water-sodium balance, labor, childbirth, reproduction, like I said, and then lactation, so breastfeeding.

I mean, depending on what stage of life you're on, any of these problems is a big issue, right? If your energy levels are not there, or if you are having difficulty with fertility or your body is, you know, not producing those hormones that it needs for stress. You're going to be feeling fatigued, tired, really a lot of bone pain or muscle aches and pains. Those are kind of one of those symptoms that you will be feeling with this. So really, it does affect your quality of life quite a bit, depending on what hormone is deficient in the body.

Host: Sure. Is there anything that we can do? Again, that's why we have the experts on and we ask them the questions, not knowing a lot about the pituitary gland. I don't know how maybe behavior, lifestyle, genetics, how all these things sort of factor in. Is there anything we can really do to prevent pituitary disease or disorders, things that affect that pituitary gland?

Dr. Fatima Kazi: Yeah. I mean, so believe it or not, you really need to protect your head to protect your pituitary gland. I tell patients that most of the damage to the pituitary glands can occur from trauma or traumatic brain injury. You really want to keep your pituitary gland healthy from that standpoint.

Obviously, there is that component of having a growth on the pituitary gland that's not really in your control, but really preventing traumatic brain injuries is an important factor. So, when it comes to that, if you're in a vehicle, make sure you're wearing a seat belt. If you're driving a motorcycle, make sure you're wearing a helmet. Make sure if you're, you know, at risk for falls, you are careful about that. You prevent any falls at home. You remove any obstacles, any tripping hazards in the house. If you're an older patient who requires a little bit of a assistance with walking aids, make sure you're using your cane or walker as you have been prescribed. If you have problem with your vision, make sure you are keeping your glasses on all the time. If you have children, you make sure that they stay safe, the play areas are kept safe so that they're not falling and hitting their heads.

Host: Yeah. It's so interesting. Again, why we have the experts on because most of us think, well, the head injuries and the reason to avoid them would be because of brain injuries and concussions and things. I don't think anyone besides someone like yourself would think, "Oh, and also we need to protect our pituitary glands," right?

Dr. Fatima Kazi: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think traumatic brain injury part of it, I think, or the concussion part of it, I think sometimes we take it too lightly because I know with younger kids it can happen frequently. Even with adults, sometimes you just brush it off because, in the interim, in that second, it doesn't really affect a lot of things, but it can have a long-term implication.

Host: Sure. Yeah. What kind of advice do you give patients? So, you've diagnosed, you've begun treatment. But as they begin to try to tackle whether it's to cure or live with or whatever the proper way to put it is when we think about pituitary disorders, what kind of advice do you give them?

Dr. Fatima Kazi: I think communication with your provider is always going to be the key. If you're having any symptoms, any concerns, any new issues at all, it's best to talk to your provider as soon as possible. They can sometimes just run simple tests and see if something is wrong or something needs to be adjusted in terms of medication. So really, communication is the key. If there's anything that's changing around in your life, like, you know, a routine or anything that's changing around in terms of medications, any recent stressors, any surgery coming up, discuss that with your provider so that you can all manage it as a team.

Host: Yeah. As we wrap up here, just final thoughts and takeaways about what you do as an endocrinologist, pituitary disorders, the gland, how you can help folks and so on.

Dr. Fatima Kazi: I'm an endocrinologist. I deal with all hormone disorders in the body. Any glands that are overproducing, underproducing any hormones, I take care of that. if you think you have any concerns with hormone imbalance, with hormone issues, you know, talk to your provider, whether it's your primary care physician, whether it's a specialist you're seeing, and they can always refer you to me.

As endocrinologists, like I said, a lot of times we really rely on just basic blood testing. So, it's a simple way for us to see if really the problem is coming from a hormone imbalance or whether or not something else needs to be evaluated. Take charge of your health and talk to your provider and, you know, we can always help you out in figuring out if there's a hormonal issue.

Host: Yeah. That's perfect, right? People just need to sort of be proactive, speak up for themselves, speak with their providers, be referred to someone like yourself. As you say, diagnosis is fairly easy and then it becomes about the management and treatment and so on. So, doctor, thanks so much for your time today. You stay well.

Dr. Fatima Kazi: Thank you. You too.

Host: Learn more about pituitary disorders at franciscanhealth.org by searching diabetes and endocrinology. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. And be sure to check out the full podcast library for additional topics of interest. This is the Franciscan Health Doc Pod. I'm Scott Webb. Stay well, and we'll talk again next time.