Any disorder and/or defect in the circulatory system, which is more or less related to heart disease, can affect the overall metabolism of the body. â Coronary heart disease or arteriosclerosis is a condition in which there is formation of plaque in the arterial walls.
Prolactin-producing tumors. The most common pituitary tumor, a prolactinoma, causes an overproduction of prolactin, a hormone that helps control sexual function. In women, the tumor can cause menstruation to stop (amenorrhea) or inappropriate production of milk by the breasts (galactorrhea).
The pituitary tumor makes too much ACTH, which causes the adrenal glands to overproduce cortisol. Other, more rare causes of Cushing's syndrome can include excess production of cortisol by an adrenal tumor, or overproduction of ACTH by a tumor elsewhere in the body (termed ectopic Cushing's).