Endocrinologists are used to people not knowing what they do. Patients often assume that, for example, Dr. Rasa Kazlauskaite spends her days focused on the “love hormones,” like testosterone and estrogen. She reminds them that we all have a variety of hormones and hormone-producing glands with important jobs—including the pituitary gland, which oversees everything from growth to metabolism, and adrenal glands, which produce the stress hormone cortisol.
Plus, endocrinologists treat conditions like diabetes, thyroid disease, polycystic ovary syndrome, and even osteoporosis. “We also help people figure out the causes of increased weight and help them lose weight and improve their metabolism,” says Kazlauskaite, who’s the director of the diabetes technology program at Rush University Medical Center. In other words: Endocrinologists encounter a wide variety of symptoms all day, every day. Here are some surprising ones that concern them the most, even though patients don’t usually recognize that they might signal a problem.
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