Anatom3DPituitary gland
Hypophysis · Podvěsek mozkový (hypofýza)
Endocrine glands
Looks like
A pea hanging under the brain in a bony pocket, in two lobes.
What it does
The master gland: it tells thyroid, adrenals, ovaries and testes what to do, and controls water.
Keeping it well
Nothing routine; headaches with narrowing side vision, or periods stopping, point here.
Its parts
Related conditions
- Absent periods (amenorrhoea)
- Acromegaly
- Acute liver failure
- ADHD
- Adrenal insufficiency (Addison's)
- African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness)
- Alcohol withdrawal and delirium tremens
- Altitude sickness
- Alzheimer's disease
- Autism spectrum disorder
- Bedwetting (nocturnal enuresis)
- Bipolar disorder
- Birth asphyxia (hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy)
- Body dysmorphic disorder
- Brain abscess
- Brain aneurysm
- Brain tumour (glioma & meningioma)
- Cerebral palsy
- Chronic insomnia
- Chronic neuropathic pain
- Chronic pain syndrome
- Cluster headache
- Concussion (mild TBI)
- Congenital hypothyroidism
- Cryptococcal meningitis
- Cushing's syndrome
- Delirium
- Diabetes insipidus (arginine vasopressin deficiency)
- Down syndrome (trisomy 21)
- Drowning
- Early puberty (precocious puberty)
- Eating disorders
- Encephalitis
- Epilepsy
- Essential tremor & dystonia
- Fainting (syncope)
- Febrile seizures
- Fibromyalgia
- Fragile X syndrome
- Frailty & falls in older age
- Functional (somatic) symptom disorder
- Generalised anxiety disorder
- Haemorrhagic stroke
- Heat exhaustion & heatstroke
- Hepatic encephalopathy
- High prolactin (hyperprolactinaemia)
- Huntington's disease
- Hydrocephalus
- Hyperthyroidism & Graves' disease
- Hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar)
- Hypopituitarism
- Hypothyroidism
- Intellectual disability
- Ischaemic stroke
- Japanese encephalitis
- Lead poisoning
- Long COVID (post-viral syndrome)
- Major depressive disorder
- Male hypogonadism
- ME/chronic fatigue syndrome
- Measles
- Medication-overuse headache
- Meningitis
- Menopause & perimenopause
- Migraine
- Multiple sclerosis
- Narcolepsy
- Neurocysticercosis
- Normal pressure hydrocephalus
- Parkinson's disease
- Phenylketonuria (PKU)
- Pituitary adenoma
- Poisoning & overdose
- Polycystic ovary syndrome
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Postnatal depression
- Postpartum psychosis
- Rabies
- Roseola (sixth disease)
- Schizophrenia
- Self-harm and suicidal crisis
- SIADH (inappropriate antidiuretic hormone)
- Subdural haematoma
- Substance use disorder
- Tension-type headache
- Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP)
- Tick-borne encephalitis
- Tics and Tourette syndrome
- Toxoplasmosis & CMV
- Transient ischaemic attack
- Traumatic brain injury (moderate to severe)
- Tuberous sclerosis complex
- Type 1 diabetes
- Vascular dementia