Recently, when someone learned that I was an endocrinologist, they asked curiously, “Do men have endocrinology too?” I was curious. Many people may not have heard of the term endocrine, and most of those who have heard of it are from TV and the Internet – endocrine disorders are almost as closely related to women’s discomforts. So much so that my wife’s colleague said to her, not without kindness, that this profession deals a lot with women. Meaning to remind: you have to keep a closer eye on me. If this colleague knew that most of my working partners – endocrinologists – are also women, she might have imagined my profession as the same scenery as Zhang Yimou and Zhou Xingchi, huh? Some patients from urology came to me and told me that they were looking for the wrong one, but they said innocently that it was the same word as “u”. It is true that the term endocrine is so specialized that it is difficult for laymen to have a general impression, and even some medical personnel have little understanding of our professional field. The word “endocrine” has to be explained with specialized vocabulary, which is still confusing. Sometimes, when we are in a hurry because we can’t explain, we say vaguely that we treat diabetes and thyroid. After so many years of study and hard work, we can only treat these two diseases, and they are not completely cured. So what exactly is endocrine it, that first said exocrine. Seeing delicious, salivary glands secrete saliva; hot weather, sweat glands secrete sweat; breastfeeding babies, tears in case of sadness ……. All glands secrete water-like substances, we can see the phenomenon of the naked eye, can be called exocrine, referred to as secretion. And of course no one says more than one word in front of it. Such glands are called exocrine glands. In contrast, the classical concept of an endocrine gland is to secrete the substances produced directly into the bloodstream to exert biological effects. These substances, in turn, are called hormones, pronounced hormones. Please don’t get me wrong, when many people mention hormones, they mean fat, side effects, etc. When they mention hormones, they mean male hormones, female hormones, with some sexual mystery mixed in with the science. These statements mention only one hormone in the family of hormones, and only one aspect of the function of this hormone. In the human body, the main endocrine organs are the pituitary gland (in the skull), the thyroid gland (located in the middle of the neck), the parathyroid gland (immediately above the thyroid), the adrenal gland (immediately above the kidneys, but not part of them), the islets of the pancreas, the testes in men, and the ovaries in women. Other organs such as the gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidneys, heart, lungs, fat, skin, and bones also have endocrine functions. These organs can respectively produce a variety of hormones that transmit information through blood circulation or tissue fluids to regulate the body’s growth and development, gender differentiation, stability of the body’s internal environment (water, sugar, salt, pH, etc.), and influence behavior and regulate reproduction, etc. If there is too much or too little of a certain hormone in the body, or if the organism is insensitive or over-sensitive to the hormone, it will seriously affect our health with the respective corresponding manifestations. For example, hyperglycemia or hypoglycemia, high or low blood lipids, hypertension, hypotension, gigantism, dwarfism, cretinism, osteoporosis, premature aging, feminization of men, masculinization of women, menopause syndrome, precocious puberty or delayed or even stagnant development in children, and polyuria, weakness, easy hunger, panic, insomnia, apathy, poor nausea, mental disorders, emaciation, obesity, edema, cramps, hairiness, hair loss, skin The symptoms are non-specific, such as sexual dysfunction, menstrual irregularities, etc. The severity of symptoms is also related to the speed of disease development. Some patients with severe but slowly developing disease do not feel any obvious symptoms, but can become dangerous when they encounter stressful situations. Since hormones are invisible and inaccessible biochemical molecules, we humans have known them for a short period of time, and their disease manifestations are complex and diverse, which are difficult for the general public to understand. I am sometimes proud to explain to people that endocrinologists are doctors who manage hormones. But in fact, the full name of our specialty is Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, and we are also responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of metabolic diseases. We all know the word metabolism, which is a general term for the chemical reactions that sustain life and is divided into anabolism and catabolism. Simply put, it is the production and transformation of substances in the body, and in clinical practice, the intake and excretion of these substances are also considered. Metabolism requires hormone regulation and enzyme catalysis, which means that metabolic diseases are often caused by hormone and enzyme abnormalities, and the cause is often genetically and genetically related. The metabolic process is intertwined, so the treatment of metabolic diseases is often very difficult. For example, in diabetes, the cause is not only insulin deficiency, so although synthetic insulin can be used to treat the disease, the results are still unsatisfactory. Problems involving only hormones, doctors can show great ability, such as the ability to create sirens. Common metabolic diseases include diabetes, hypoglycemia, dyslipidemia, gout, osteoporosis, simple obesity, fatty liver, and metabolic syndrome. Among them, the prevention and treatment of diabetes, metabolic syndrome and osteoporosis is the leading in China in our Shanghai Sixth Hospital. Less common metabolic diseases include hemochromatosis, hematoporphyria, dwarf leprechaun syndrome, glycogen accumulation disease, galactosemia, phenylketonuria, copper accumulation disease, systemic amyloidosis, self-destructive disfigurement, and countless others. Some rare metabolic diseases are unheard of, not to mention laymen, even by endocrine metabolic disease specialists. A few metabolic diseases are caused by insufficient intake, such as vitamin B1 deficiency, chondromalacia, malnutrition, etc., and are treated well because they have little to do with hormones and enzymes. With the improvement of people’s health needs, endocrinologists are also paying more and more attention to subclinical endocrine diseases and individualized differences of hormones in normal population. I believe that through the above narrative, you have gained an understanding of endocrinology in hospitals. I wonder if you can benefit from it and get to know more about the mysteries of the human body and gain some disease-related knowledge. The human body is a whole, physiologically and psychologically inseparable, and closely connected with the surrounding environment and society. Endocrinology is only one of the subtle branches of the human body, but it forms a network with other systems and interacts with each other, making our life phenomena extremely colorful. We physicians must be broad and deep and be cautious when making judgments in the face of various pathophysiological phenomena.