Hormones are the chemical messengers in the body that travel the bloodstream to the organs and tissues. They work slowly, and affect many of the body’s processes over time. Endocrine glands, which are special groups of cells, make hormones. There are many endocrine glands in the body with the main ones being the pituitary gland, thyroid, thymus, adrenal glands, and the pancreas. Hormones are dominant and it only requires a small amount of them to cause significant changes throughout the body. Both men and women produce hormones in the same areas with one exception, the sexual organs. Additional male hormones are produced in the testes while women’s are produced in the ovaries. If hormone imbalance is left untreated it can result in serious medical conditions like diabetes. If the imbalance is taking place in the pituitary glands, growth disorders are possible and will require treatment of a growth hormone. It is possible that the imbalance could also cause an overproduction of growth hormones and cause medical conditions such as gigantism and acromegaly. There are approximately 6,000 endocrine disorders that result because of hormone imbalance. An imbalance of hormones is experienced at different times during life. As the body changes from childhood to adulthood, puberty is experienced by both male and females. Women will then again experience a change later in life after their childbearing years have been passed. Hormonal imbalance is defined as chemical messengers which regulate our body’s systems and that are no longer functioning properly. This dysfunction can be an overproduction or an underproduction of specific hormones. The primary hormone that causes these changes is estrogen.