What is the normal prolactin level for women?

The standard value for testing the secretion of growth hormone in female breast milk is different in each hospital, and the standard value should be below 17. A slight increase in prolactin is not necessarily a pathological condition, but may also be caused by excessive activity, lack of rest, and taking medications and sedatives for stomach problems. You can come back for a follow-up visit 3 to 7 days after your menstrual period is over and when you are quiet. If the level is still too high, you can do a pituitary MRI to diagnose a pituitary microadenoma.

1. The harm of high prolactin in women

In patients with hyperprolactinuria, about 1/4 is caused by pituitary tumors. When there is too much prolactin in the body, it can inhibit the secretion of gonadotropin in the pituitary gland and directly affect the production of estrogen in the uterus and ovaries, resulting in low levels of blood cell estrogen, which can lead to ovarian disorder, delayed ovulation, or no ovulation and milk overflow, or even amenorrhea, causing infertility. Even if some women become pregnant, they are prone to miscarriage.

2. Reasons for high prolactin in women

1. Nerve stimulation: Nerve stimulation is one of the causes of high prolactin in women, mainly including breast surgery and burn rash.

2. Pituitary obstruction: It mainly refers to tumors in the pituitary gland, or some vacuolar sella syndrome and overexcited pituitary gland, which lead to galactorrhea and amenorrhea. And these two can also immediately lead to an increase in prolactin.

3. Primary hypothyroidism: When thyroid hormone is reduced, insufficient secretion of thyroid gland will be transmitted to the hypothalamus-pituitary gland, causing the hypothalamus-pituitary gland to convert a large amount of thyrotropin-releasing factor, which will not only stimulate the pituitary gland to secrete thyrotropin, but also stimulate the excessive secretion of pituitary prolactin, resulting in milk regurgitation.

4. Hypothalamic pituitary disorders: diseases of the hypothalamus and pituitary gland and surrounding organs such as encephalitis, craniopharyngeal tumor, pineal tumor, partial hypothalamic pituitary infarction, occult brain tumor, and pituitary stalk disconnection will reduce the prolactin inhibition coefficient produced by the hypothalamus and pituitary gland, or increase the prolactin release coefficient and thyroid-stimulating hormone release coefficient.

The article explains in detail the harm of high prolactin in women, and also introduces in detail some practical reasons that lead to high prolactin. If you, as a woman, find that your prolactin level is too high, you'd better refer to the content in this article carefully, actively find the cause, and actively take care of it.