I've just been diagnosed with something I didn't know existed a month ago. I have a benign 5mm tumor on my pituitary gland, called a prolactinoma, which was confirmed by MRI. (BTW, I'm extremely claustrophobic, and the MRI was not that bad.) You're all big kids who know how to use the Google, so I won't go into the symptoms, which are probably TMI for the blog.
The good news is that this is completely treatable with medication (bromocriptine or cabergoline). The bad news is that I will probably be on this medicine for the rest of my life, and some people experience pretty bad side effects, at least at first. I go see the endocrinologist on Wednesday to figure out how they want to medicate me. From my internet research, it seems they rarely do surgery for this (and pretty much never do radiation), so medicine it is.
Monday, March 29, 2010
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*hug*
ReplyDelete*hug* don't forget that "the rest of your life" is a really long time in the science world - there will most likely be better drugs/treatments available for you someday. I Hope the side effects won't suck too bad in the mean time.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I hope you're right Donna. Apparently the tumors sometimes "burn out" too, so I guess there's always a chance it will just go away someday. I find it kind of amazing that there are still things like this that doctors don't know causes of, even if they do know how to treat it.
ReplyDeleteI don't have anything constructive or helpful to say (I doubt there is anything constructive or helpful to say in such a situation), but I had the same thought Donna did... think of how treatments for any number of things have changed in the last 10 or 15 years alone. That said, yeah, *hug* sounds about right.
ReplyDeleteHi! I have/had a puititary tumor as well diagnosed in 2008, I have been on cabergolene since then. It was half a pill twice a week now it's half a pill .25 once a week. I have followed up with an MRI in March of this year and it is significantly reduced or completely gone. I was then diagnosed with a parathyroid tumor that had to be surgically removed.. My endocrinologist told me that I will eventually go off the medication but Im slightly concerned about that.. or the fear of it returning.. I didnt have any other side effects other than it messing up my cycle. If you want to email me privately you can: deannbonilla1@gmail.com if you have any questions.. Hang in there and know this is not forever! take care~ DeAnn
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