Officially it's called an adenoma

You can Google Non-Functioning Pituitary Adenoma if you want detailed information but in a nutshell it’s a benign tumor in my pituitary gland.

Three times, it's grown to the point where it affected my optic nerves and pituitary function. Surgery was performed Feb. 2007 again in Feb. 2009 and yet again Nov. 11, 2010 to remove as much of it as possible.

My vision was preserved in each case however I've lost Growth Hormone production and am on thyroid medication to help those levels.

I had radiation after my last surgery. The risk is I could over time loose all pituitary function. The hope is it will slow or stop the persistent tumor's aggressive growth.

11/25/09

Good MRI

Nothing has changed! The residual tumor either hasn’t grown or is growing so slow that they can’t measure it. That’s great. No surgery, no radiation at this time and I get to wait one whole year I need another scan. I’m jumping up and down excited and so thankful.

My blood work results delivered mostly good news too. All my hormones but one is fine, in fact the thyroid I’ve been concerned about inched up the normal scale another couple of points.

The exception was my IGF-1 (a factor produced in the liver in response to growth hormone stimulation). It’s low. This means my GH (growth hormone) may be low. I’ll have to undergo a GHST (growth hormone stimulation test) to make a final determination. It's scheduled on Dec. 15.

Symptoms of GH deficiency in adults include fatigue, decreased strength and exercise tolerance, anxiety, depression, thin and dry skin so it could be the reason for my persistent symptoms. An answer, a cause with a treatment that would alleviate those symptoms, great, but this hormone replacement is an expensive daily injection, not so great.
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