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Acromegaly

Acromegalia · Akromegalie

What it is

Growth hormone excess in an adult: hands, feet and jaw keep growing.

Symptoms & signs

  • Enlarging hands and shoe size
  • coarse features
  • jaw protrusion
  • sweating
  • headaches
  • joint pain
  • sleep apnoea
  • diabetes

🚩 Get help if…

  • call 112 / 911 now Sudden severe headache with vomiting or loss of vision
  • see a doctor soon Losing the outer edges of vision
  • see a doctor soon Loud snoring with pauses in breathing
  • see a doctor soon Breathlessness or swollen ankles

Where it strikes

Medical treatment

  • Transsphenoidal surgery
  • octreotide or lanreotide
  • pegvisomant
  • cabergoline
  • radiotherapy
  • oral octreotide (Mycapssa) — approved (FDA 2020, EMA 2022) for people already controlled on injections
  • paltusotine (Palsonify), a once-daily oral SST2 agonist — FDA-approved 2025

Natural & lifestyle

  • Sleep apnoea treatment
  • cardiovascular risk management
  • joint physiotherapy

Emerging & experimental

  • Growth-hormone-receptor antisense (atesidorsen)

Alternative, off-label & anecdotal

Approaches used outside the guidelines, with what their supporters report and what testing has found so far.

  • Diet and supplements — do not lower growth hormone; they help only with symptoms anecdotal / traditional
  • Low-carbohydrate diet for the diabetes that comes with it — sensible; untested early / small studies

ICD codes