Medical Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Medical - Essay Example Hormones are like chemical messengers and they need to be present in the right amounts in order to effectively carry out their designated functions. Any upset in hormonal levels can result in symptoms. There are several tests which can be performed in order to diagnose abnormalities in hormonal functions. Firstly, in order to diagnose whether your blood sugar levels are within normal limits and whether your body is producing the right amounts of hormones needed to effectively utilize and store the sugars that we consume, there are a number of diagnostic tests. The first one is the fasting blood sugar. For this test you have to fast overnight (i.e. eat or drink nothing, except water, for about 8-12 hours) and give a blood sample. The level of sugar in your blood sample is compared against a reference range and if it is greater than 126 mg/dl on more than one occasion, it is diagnostic of diabetes (Encyclop?dia Britannica, 2011), which is an impairment in the body’s capacity to effectively utilize and store sugars. Another confirmatory test for diabetes is the glucose tolerance test, whereby you will be made to give two blood samples. To prepare for the test you have to eat a normal balanced diet for upto three days preceding the tests. Then, like for the fasting blood sugar test, you have to fast overnight, for duration of about 8 hours and the first blood sample is collected. After that you will be made to drink a liquid containing 75 grams of glucose and a second blood sample is taken 2 hours later (Encyclop?dia Britannica, 2011). The blood sugar values obtained are compared against normal standards and if the value of the blood sugar levels obtained 2 hours after the glucose drink exceeds 200 mg/dl, it is diagnostic of diabetes (Becker, 2001). One of the most important gland in our body is the pituitary gland, which releases various hormones required to stimulate all the other glands in our body to secrete their respective hormones. The pituitary gland in turn is stimulated by hormones secreted by the hypothalamus which is an important region in our brains. These together form the hypothalamic-pituitary axis. Inorder to evaluate the normal functioning of hypothalamic pituitary axis, the insulin tolerance test is carried out. The night prior to this test, you will be asked to fast, i.e. not eat or drink anything except water. The morning when the test is performed, you will be first injected with insulin, which is a substance which will lower your blood sugar. Our body’s normal response to low blood sugar levels is to secrete two hormones growth hormone (GH) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which in turn stimulates the secretion of another hormone called cortisol (National Institutes of Health (NIH), 2011). After the insulin injections timed blood samples will be taken and the levels of GH and cortisol will be checked and compared against the normal reference ranges to see whether the normal secretion of these substa nces in your body is present or not (National Institutes of Health (NIH), 2011). In order to evaluate the functioning of the thyroid gland, which is an important gland located in our neck, there are several tests. A complete panel of tests to assess proper functioning of the thyroid gland is termed as the thyroid function test. This panel includes levels of different form of thyroid hormones such as T3 and T4 which are different circulating forms of thyroid hormone in our bloodstream (American Thyroid Association, 2005). Moreover, this