Prolactin is increased - the cause

The hormone prolactin refers to the female hormones, which is produced directly in the pituitary. It is he who prepares the mammary glands of a woman for breastfeeding after a successful birth, stimulating the process of milk production. Also, this hormone takes an active part in the menstrual cycle of a woman, influencing ovulation.

Why can prolactin be increased in the body?

The reasons why prolactin in the body in women can be increased, a lot. That is why, it is very important to correctly and timely establish the one that led to an increase in its concentration in the blood.

Increasing the level of prolactin in medicine is commonly called hyperprolactinemia. As a rule, a woman learns about the change in hormone concentration due to a violation of the menstrual cycle.

In order to determine the main causes of high prolactin in women, it must be said that hyperprolactinemia can be of two types: pathological and physiological.

As is clear from the name, the first arises from the development of pathology in the body of a woman. The reasons that the hormone prolactin increased in this case are:

• diseases of the pituitary system - cyst of the brain , inflammation of the meninges (meningioma), etc .;
• pathological processes in the hypothalamus: sarcoidosis, radioactive irradiation, germinoma;
• other pathologies: liver cirrhosis , tumors.

With physiological hyperprolactinaemia, the reasons why high prolactin in women, are those states of the body that are in no way associated with diseases. These include:

• breastfeeding (lactation period);
• constant physical activity;
• malnutrition (diet);
• stressful situations.

Thus, the cause of increasing prolactin concentration in the blood of a woman is plentiful, and when this is associated with pathological processes in the body, only the doctor will be able to identify the true cause of this condition.