----------------------------------------------------------- New Message on Pituitary Chat
----------------------------------------------------------- From: Diana62 Message 6 in Discussion Hi Beth, My adenoma was non-secreting and I basically had no symptoms. I was having vision problems that my opthamologist said was due to a retina problem. I wanted to make sure it wasn't something else so I asked my GP to do an MRI and thankfully she was very cooperative. To everyone's surprise I had a 2 to 2.5 cm tumor. When they did the whole batch of endocrine tests my FSH and LH were way off (super low) and if I had been younger and trying to have children the symptoms would have been obvious. But menopause masks the symptoms of low LH and FSH. They don't do anything about these hormones since I'm obviously not trying to conceive. Raising 3 teenage boys was enough! The other hormone that was slightly elevated was the prolactin which is very common when a large tumor is pressing against the pituitary stem. After surgery that went right back to normal. All my other endocrine tests have been normal except this past one on thyroid. I will be monitored every 4 months but because my TSH is ok the endo and my GP both think it is my thyroid and not the pituitary and this would have happened anyway. All of the Drs are very pleased with my hormone outcome. I was fortunate that Dr. Heaney, top endo at UCLA at the time, was speaking at the first support group meeting that we went to. I had my lab tests and he was very nice to give me a "freebee" opinion about them. Then I went to the Kaiser endo and everything she said agreed with him so I felt pretty good about her. I had the UCLA endo while in the hospital and followed up with my Kaiser endo a few weeks after I got home. Since I did not have hormone problems before surgery and they expected them to be basically ok after it seemed ok to follow up with the Kaiser endo and not a neuro endo or go back to the top guy at UCLA. Also, I got another personal review with Dr. Cohan (endo that works with Dr. Kelly) at another support meeting. Sorry this is so long, just want to cover it all. It doesn't surprise me that Dr. Kelly would talk to you. He IS a NICE person and seems to care about his patients. I know he is passionate about his work and is doing a lot of research, speaks at conventions, etc. He was the director of the neuro-endocrine center at UCLA for years and therefore taught neurosurgeons. Yes, we paid for the hospital and the surgeon "out of pocket". But as I said a lot of the testing was done at Kaiser. Again, the support group was so helpful and another person gave us info on who to see, how to go about it all and how to ask for discounts, things we would have never known on our own. Interesting I think, after surgery, my GP said she was so glad I had a GOOD surgery and that I had made the RIGHT decision. She said it 3 times that day! If there is anything else I can help with let me know. Again, Sharmyn is a great person and resource. If you contact her, tell her Diana and Bob (have the grandbaby) from the support group referred you to her. The support group, Dr Kelly and his staff have all been wonderful. Diana ----------------------------------------------------------- To stop getting this e-mail, or change how often it arrives, go to your E-mail Settings. http://groups.msn.com/PituitaryChat/_emailsettings.msnw Need help? If you've forgotten your password, please go to Passport Member Services. http://groups.msn.com/_passportredir.msnw?ppmprop=help For other questions or feedback, go to our Contact Us page. http://groups.msn.com/contact If you do not want to receive future e-mail from this MSN group, or if you received this message by mistake, please click the "Remove" link below. On the pre-addressed e-mail message that opens, simply click "Send". Your e-mail address will be deleted from this group's mailing list. mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
