Electrolyte & Metabolic Disorders
Apart from the hormone disorders, there are disorders of electrolytes and metabolism that we treat as endocrinologists. These include
Hyponatraemia: Low sodium (salt) levels in the body. This can happen due to many reasons that cause the body to either retain too much water or excrete too much salt. Most of the time it may be caused due to an offending medication. Patients will low sodium can experience dullness, weakness, nausea, vomiting and confusion and other symptoms. In most cases, investigation and treatment is easy, once the offending cause is found
Hypo and hyperkalemia: This means, having low or high potassium in the blood respectively. In most cases it may be due to a kidney problem, in which case we refer the patient to a nephrologist. But there might be hormone related loss or excess of potassium, which needs thorough endocrine evaluation and long term management. Low potassium causes muscle weakness and in severe cases, inability to get up or move limbs.
Hypo and Hypercalcaemia: This means having low or high calcium in the blood, respectively. Calcium is generally regulated by hormones called Parathyroid hormone (PTH) and vitamin D. Excess or deficiency of either of these hormones will lead to hypo/hypercalcaemia. Low calcium can cause symptoms like twitching or cramping in the muscles of the mouth, face, hands and legs. High calcium can cause weakness, increased urine, bone pains, abdominal pains, kidney stones and irritability and confusion. Both conditions need endocrine investigations and follow up.
Vitamin D deficiency : This is very common in today’s world. This is due to poor vitamin D concentration in dairy products, poor synthesis in vitamin D in the body due to lack of exposure to adequate sunlight. Vit D deficiency causes many symptoms in the body including muscle aches, bone pains, weakness, sleepiness etc. The treatment is easy with a prescription of Vit D supplements. It can be prevented by taking good quality dairy products regularly in the diet, and allowing sunlight exposure to as much of skin as possible for at least 20-30 minutes in a day.
Osteoporosis: Osteoporosis means thinning of the bone, which can lead to easy fractures especially in the elderly women. This is an under-recognised disorder because it does not produce any symptoms. It can only be found out by screening with a DEXA bone density scan. People who are very prone to the condition are women with early menopause, those who are taking long term steroids and those who are suffering from certain hormone or metabolic disorders. Osteoporosis is again easy to treat with tablets/injections, but needs a long term follow up with the endocrinologist
In addition to this patients can suffer from other electrolyte disorders like magnesium, phosphate, which also can be treated by an endocrinologist.
