Metabolic Syndrome

Symptoms & Diagnosis

Hormones play an important role in the health and function of your cardiovascular system and in your metabolism.  Hormone imbalances can contribute to heart disease and metabolic problems.  Endocrine hypertension (high blood pressure), for example, has been linked to one type of Cushing's syndrome and to primary aldosteronism, both of which are hormone imbalances stemming from the adrenal glands.

Obesity can, in rare cases, also be caused by a hormone imbalance.  Typically, though, both obesity and overweight are caused by a combination of consuming more calories than your body needs and genetics. Although obesity is more severe, both conditions can make it more likely that a person will develop a number of serious health issues, including high blood pressure and heart disease.  

Obesity and being overweight can also affect the ability of insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, to effectively manage the levels of sugar in the blood.  When the body becomes resistant to insulin’s effects, sugar builds up in the blood and diabetes can result.  In addition, insulin resistance, when combined with obesity and other factors, can lead to a condition called metabolic syndrome.

Also called syndrome X, cardiometabolic syndrome, and insulin resistance syndrome, this condition arises when a number of risk factors, including obesity, high LDL (bad) cholesterol, high blood fat (hyperlipidemia), and low HDL (good) cholesterol, combine to increase your overall cardiometabolic risk – the chance a person will suffer damage to his or her heart or blood vessels.

Diabetes and Metabolism Specialists is comprised of a dedicated team of Endocrinologists, Nurse Practitioners and a Registered Dietitian/Certified Diabetes Educator (RD/CDE) who work collaboratively to provide you with state of the art management of metabolic conditions.

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