Hi Kadiya: I've just had an opportunity to read up on your original question(s) and the many great answers that folks here have given. I've been hospitalized for awhile after suffering adrenal crisis when my already low cortisol apparently disappeared completely. When I read that your doctors were acting like there was no big deal about your cyst, I had to write because I also have a pit cyst (very small) which has been termed "unimportant", too. I also have a cyst in the sphenoid sinus space (larger) and that, of course, is considered nothing special as well. I'm also part of the Tricare system through husband who is retired Navy pilot. So I can identify a lot with some of the hurdles you have to clear just getting access and approval for various types of medical care. I don't have Tricare as primary as I've been declared totally disabled since 2000 and so have Medicare as primary. I was sick for roughly seven years prior to finally getting diagnosed with hypipituitarism and then approved for disability. Over that period of time, I lost count of the number of doctors who basically thought I was simply a nut case and therefore gave me as many antidepressants as they possibly could hand out. (None of these meds did anything but make me sicker via reactions like nausea, hives, dizziness, etc.). I'm glad you have the necessary determination to take all the steps needed to optimize you health. You also are lucky to have a spouse who sounds like he's very supportive as well. The emotion I found I needed the most was courage because I've been in a doctor's office and actually gotten yelled at for wasting her time when (according to her undocumented opinion) there was nothing wrong with me. For this reason I can't ever encourage anyone to seek endocrine care at that particular university. I still shake inside just thinking about that incident which occurred in front of several residents as well - completely embarassing. You are very fortunate to have found Dr. Ludlam who is very well-known for being among the very best. I also live in a town with no endocrine specialists. Actually, many of the docs locally don't even know the location of the pituitary from what I've gathered. I ultimately found an endo in Boston (I live in Virginia) whom I have to fly up to see about three times per year. He's strictly a numbers-oriented endo who more or less places patient input secondary or tertiary to test results and data. That's how I ended up in the hospital this past week. The endo was waiting for my ACTH test to drop one point so it would be in the "low" area even though I had ALL the symptoms of hypocortisolism. Consequently, the cortisol dropped precipitously to nearly zero and it was off to the ER for me. We have a lot in common so please keep in touch and feel free to ask whatever you need to. I'll be very happy to help in any way I can. Kath | 