Endocrinology

Endocrinologists are doctors who specialize in glands and the hormones they make. They deal with metabolism, or all the biochemical processes that make your body work, including how your body changes food into energy and how it grows.

They cover a lot of ground, diagnosing and treating conditions that affect your:

• Adrenals, glands that sit on top of your kidneys and help to control things like your blood pressure, metabolism, stress response, and sex hormones
• Bone metabolism, like osteoporosis
• Cholesterol
• Hypothalamus, the part of your brain that controls body temperature, hunger, and thirst
• Pancreas, which makes insulin and other substances for digestion
• Parathyroids, small glands in your neck that control the calcium in your blood
• Pituitary, a pea-sized gland at the base of your brain that keeps your hormones balanced
• Reproductive glands (gonads): ovaries in women, testes in men
• Thyroid, a butterfly-shaped gland in your neck that controls your metabolism, energy, and brain growth and development