However, if it develops post-concussion, it could be related to a lack of human growth hormone or thyroid hormones. Fatigue: There are many possible causes of fatigue.Salt Craving: If you crave salty foods more often than you did before your injury, that could indicate an adrenal problem related to low pituitary function.Cold Intolerance: If you find yourself uncomfortably cold in a room where everyone else is comfortable – where you yourself would have been comfortable prior to your injury – that could indicate poor pituitary control of thyroid function.However, some symptoms that appear months after the injury can alert you to the need for that lab work. Blast-related concussion tends to be more severe and more long-lasting than concussion from blunt injury, putting military personnel in combat zones at increased risk.īlood work to determine hormone levels – an endocrine panel – is the best way to diagnose or rule out post-concussion glandular problems. It is like engaging a pituitary dimmer switch.Ĭoncussions can result from sports injuries, slip-and-fall accidents, street violence, and whiplash, among other causes. When this tissue is jarred by a concussive injury, any function controlled by the pituitary gland can be depressed. The pituitary is controlled by a narrow stalk of brain tissue. In addition, the pituitary secretes some of its own hormones such as human growth hormone. The pituitary is sometimes called the master gland, due to its influence on the thyroid gland, the adrenal glands, and the testicles or ovaries. When you consider the anatomy of the pituitary gland, this becomes easier to understand. The idea that concussion can lead to problems in the glandular or endocrine system is now well-known in the medical research community. These levels were significantly lower than those of non-concussed controls. Blood work demonstrated low levels of several hormones. A study published in 2012 described 26 male veterans who suffered blast-related concussions during deployment in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Pituitary gland adrenal gland