Recently my daughter who is 19 saw her first "real" dr. not her pediatritian, a big step for her lol, she still had me go with her. She had a lump in her breast and is expressing milk from both breast of course my first thoughts where breast cancer or on that line, the dr. ran blood work and did a mammogram and ultrasound, and it has come back that they are looking into her hypopituitary gland in her brain, they are concerned there maybe a tumor growing, she has other signs that point towards this also. Has anyone ever had this or delt with this at this point we are waiting on having an MRI done and I am one scared mommy. Thanks.
My daughter had her MRI last night and the results are back and yes she does have a tumor on her hypopituitary gland. Tomorrow we are meeting with her doctor to discuss a plan of action I am now trying to find doctors who accept our insurance and figure out what our co pays will be for all of this and to try to stay calm and not fall apart. Thank you for all of your advise.
Hi B.,
The other thing I would add to the info you already received is...there are a few different types, you will want to know which kind she has. Also, presence of a tumor on the pituitary glad in women is that it affects fertility. Will be difficut to get pregnant-I would definately ask your doctor about this if your daughter plans to get married/have children in the future.
The last writer gave a lot of good detail. My father-in-law had a pituitary tumor which was removed from the nostril as well. Pretty amazing stuff! If part of the pituitary is actually removed, just make sure her blood chemistry is monitored by an endochrinologist.
After the surgery, my FIL fell and cracked a vertebrae. Because of the partial removal of the pituitary, his body didn't respond correctly and his body chemistry got all out of whack. His body accelerated the loss of bone mass and his electrolytes became dangerously imbalanced. With a good endochrinologist, several of these issues were corrected fortunately.
Best of luck with further tests!
My niece is about to have her 2nd surgery on her pituitary gland. She has been diagonised with Cushing Diseases. It took almost 3 years of seeing different doctors before they figured it out. Be sure your daughter is seen by an Endocrineoligist and Neurologist. My niece also had a leaking breast, gained almost 150 lbs, mostly upper body obesity, had a hump on her upper back/neck area, facial hair and other symptoms. After her first surgery, she lost all of the weight she had gained, and all other symptoms disappeared. The birth of her daughter brought all of her symptoms back and she will have another surgery next thursday to try and remove more of the tumor that has began to grow again. She has been told NOT to have any more children. If you need a referral to the doctors in boston that she is seeing, feel free to eamil me at ____@____.com luck...
Pituitary tumors often cause the symptoms your daughter is experiencing. If they enlarge they can also cause headaches. They are not usually life threatening if treated correctly.
The surgery approach for them is through the nose, so there is no scarring. I would suggest learning all you can. A good site to start would be on line at WebMD which is a site used by doctors as well as lay people so the information is accurate. You would enter pituitary tumors on the search line.
Dr. E
Hi, B.- the word "tumor" sounds so scary - my 22-year-old had a pituitary tumor ("hypo" means "none", so "hypopituitary" means lacking in pituitary. . .) and these are actually not that uncommon. And there are treatments. We found out later that it may have been caused by her soaking her oboe reeds in plastic film cans. . .the film chemicals release slowly and affect hormones. . .and we found out the hard way. But I am writing to reassure you that it is GOOD to've found out before anything really bad happened, and can be treated, maybe surgery (brain surgery is amazing! The neurosurgeons went in through her nostril and the repair left one tiny stitch under her nose!) or hormone replacement or other ways. Follow up with your daughter, pray, try not to worry, and know that other folks are cured from or treating pituitary tumors. It is a "lactose secreting" tumor and they tend to be BENIGN. Try not to worry, but follow through with good doctors, and you will be fine, and so will your children (and grandchildren)!
Sincerely, N. P.
Hi B.:
I had this when I was 30 ( I am now 44)---it can have a range of symptoms and can be a cyst or type of tumor.
The MRI will likely be a contrast MRI where they give her a shot of gadolidium which will highlight the area they are looking at--it can sting slightly but does not cause any other trouble--they may actually have a better contrast dye, today.
When I had mine done in 1995, they removed it surgically through my nasal cavity---this sounds scary but is the least invasive way as the sinus cavity is right in front of the pituitary. They make a sealant from the patient's blood and close up the hole--the surgery is done by scope so it is easier on the patient. I was in the hospital for 5 days and they made me drink a ton of water and take a low dose of cortisol until the pituitary "woke up." They usually put packing in the nose and then take it out after a few days. I was on IV antibiotics in case it was a cyst containing bacteria. Mine contained acne bacteria and probably happened from picking my face when I was younger---(bacteria tend to find the place in the body where there is space---the cavity where the pituitary hangs is one of the only open spaces in the body. This is why people with knee/hip replacements and other hardware take antibiotics before dentist visits)I should have listened to my mom! They will let you know what it is and then develop a course of treatment--these are a lot more common than one would think.
Recovery was around 4 weeks, including the hospital stay and during that time you don't bend over or lift anything.
Dr. Peter McLaren Black at Brigham and Women's is one of the best for pituitary growths--he developed the trans-nasal procedure with Dr. Nicolas Zervas from Mass. General. Dr. Black is a wonderful man and very good at what he does--
I hope this helps a bit and I am sure that your daughter will come through this just fine--I know how scary it is but there are great doctors who know what they are doing with these conditions.
C.
