What is Sheehan's Syndrome?
Sheehan's syndrome is a condition that affects women who lose a life-threatening amount of blood in childbirth or who have severe low blood pressure during or after childbirth, which can deprive the body of oxygen. This lack of oxygen that causes damage to the pituitary gland is known as Sheehan's syndrome.
Sheehan's syndrome causes the pituitary gland to not produce enough pituitary hormones (hypopituitarism).
Also called postpartum hypopituitarism, Sheehan's syndrome is rare in industrialized nations, largely because care during pregnancy and childbirth is better than in developing countries.
Symptoms
Signs and symptoms include:
- Difficulty breast-feeding or an inability to breast-feed
- No menstrual periods or infrequent menstruation
- Inability to regrow shaved pubic hair
- Slowed mental function, weight gain and difficulty staying warm as a result of an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)
- Low blood pressure
- Low blood sugar
- Fatigue
- Irregular heartbeat
- Breast shrinkage
Diagnosing Sheehan's syndrome can be difficult. Many symptoms overlap with those of other conditions.
Diagnosis requires blood tests, pituitary hormone test, MRI and CT scans.
Treatment of Sheehan's syndrome involves lifelong hormone replacement therapy.
Source:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sheehans-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20351847
