When your child is diagnosed with a metabolic or endocrine system disorder, your doctor and others may use medical terms you’re not familiar with. Here’s a brief list of some of the most common ones:
Blood sugar – levels of glucose in the blood. Low blood sugar, or hypoglycemia, occurs when blood levels of glucose drop too low to fuel the body's activity.
Diabetes insipidus – a much less common form of diabetes than diabetes mellitus; involves a hormone from the pituitary gland and affects the kidneys’ use of water.
Diabetes mellitus – the most common endocrine disorder, also simply called diabetes; the pancreas doesn’t secrete enough insulin and too much sugar (glucose) stays in the blood.
Endocrine system – a group of glands that control the body’s functioning; endocrine glands produce hormones that tell the body what to do, and include the pituitary gland, thyroid gland, parathyroid glands, adrenal glands, pancreas, ovaries (female), and testicles (male).
Glucose – sugar from the food you eat that is used as energy to fuel your body. Glucose is stored in the liver.
Hormone – a chemical messenger produced by an endocrine gland that tells the body what to do.
Hypoglycemia – low blood sugar; glucose levels in the blood are not high enough to fuel the body’s activity.
Hypothyroidism – also known as underactive thyroid disease, this disorder results in the thyroid gland not making enough of the hormone thyroxine. All newborns are screened for this disorder; if left untreated, severe physical and mental developmental problems may occur.
Insulin – a hormone secreted by the pancreas that helps the body regulate the amount of sugar in the blood.
Metabolism – chemical processes that occur within a living cell or organism, which are necessary to maintain life.
Pancreas – a thin and long organ located behind the stomach, responsible for regulating the body’s use of blood glucose.
Pituitary gland – the most important endocrine gland; produces hormones that control the body’s growth, daily functioning and reproduction.
Puberty – the time of life when the body becomes able to reproduce sexually; for boys, between ages 9 and 14 is typical, and for girls, between ages 8 and 14 is common.
Thyroid gland – an important part of the endocrine system; regulates the body’s metabolism, from how fast the heart beats to how quickly calories are burned, and produces the hormone calcitonin to regulate blood calcium levels.