What are the symptoms of Sheehan's syndrome

The symptoms of Sheehan's syndrome are very mild. Most patients will not show obvious symptoms even when the disease progresses to a very serious stage. A series of symptoms will not appear until lesions gradually occur inside their organs and tissues. At that time, treatment will become very difficult and it will not be possible to get a cure at all. It is very likely that their organs will not be able to perform their related functions normally, causing the body to become abnormal.

Clinical manifestations

The compensatory function of the anterior pituitary gland is relatively strong. When it is greater than 75%, the clinical symptoms are extremely mild. Only when tissue necrosis exceeds 90% will there be obvious symptoms.

When the anterior pituitary gland is hypofunctioning, the most sensitive thing is the decrease in the secretion of gonadotropin, which subsequently affects the secretion of thyroid-stimulating hormone and adrenocorticotropic hormone. The age of onset is mostly during the reproductive period of 20 to 40 years old. Amenorrhea can occur from 3 months to 32 years after delivery, and it occurs more often in multiparas than primiparas. The degree of reduction in secretion of various hormones caused by anterior pituitary lesions varies, and the corresponding clinical manifestations of target organ dysfunction are not completely parallel, with different onset times and severity of symptoms.

Typical manifestations are: long-term weakness and fatigue in the puerperium after postpartum hemorrhage and shock, the earliest symptom is the absence of milk secretion, followed by amenorrhea, and even if menstruation resumes, it is very sparse, leading to secondary infertility. Decreased libido, vaginal dryness, and difficulty in intercourse. Pubic and armpit hair fall out, hair and eyebrows become sparse, breasts and genitals shrink, there is apathy, drowsiness, inactivity, slow reaction, fear of cold, no sweating, dry and rough skin, poor appetite, constipation, low body temperature, slow pulse, low blood pressure, pale complexion, and anemia. Most of them have edema and weight loss, and a few have emaciation and cachexia.

During pregnancy, the pituitary gland proliferates and hypertrophies, requiring more oxygen, making it particularly sensitive to hypoxia. After delivery, the pituitary gland recovers rapidly, blood flow decreases, and the corresponding secretion of various hormones also decreases rapidly. If massive bleeding occurs during delivery, causing hemorrhagic shock or even DIC, the reflex excitement of the sympathetic nerves will cause arterial spasm or even occlusion, reducing or cutting off the blood supply to the pituitary artery, causing degeneration and necrosis of the anterior pituitary tissue cells, and drastically reducing the secretion of various hormones by the anterior pituitary and the target organs it controls, leading to premature degeneration of the functions of the target organs acted upon by various hormones and causing a series of syndromes.