In the 2005 guidelines Dr. B. writes more about pituitary involvement. (He wants my son to see an endocrinologist because of some test results).
Does anyone have pituitary involvement & what are the symptoms????
Posted by ellenluba (Member # 1707) on :
I have pituitary involvement that showed up on the pituitary stimulation test. I've been taking human growth hormone for it, since I was producing almost none.
I think it is helping, but am not sure. I was told in advance that what happens when you start taking it is that other hormone problems become unmasked when the HGH is replaced. So I'm still in the process of adjusting other hormones. so can't be sure yet exactly how much it's helping until I get my thyroid stable.
My symptoms are the same as Lyme, exteme fatigue and cognitive problems. Fatigue can be a vague word, but I'm talking about the stay in bed not able to brush your teeth kind of fatigue.
It always seemed to me that the other Lyme people with that kind of fatigue had many other symptoms and medical complications that I didn't seem to have. That's one of the things that made me suspect my pituitary as an explanation for the extreme fatigue.
The other thing that made me suspect pituitary was that my thyroid tests were always odd. TSH is supposed to go up when the T3 or T4 go down. But my TSH and my T3 and T4 were always low or low normal.
I noticed this more than 20 years ago when I started becoming more tired and before I knew I had Lyme. I saw an endocrinologist and asked him if he thought maybe the problem was further up - in the pituitary or hypothalamus. He patted me on the head and told me no. The first time I saw Dr. B, he said it sounded like I had a pituitary problem.
As I said, though, I still consider myself a "work in progress." I will know better how much it's working once my thyroid is properly under control. But it does seem as though I have felt a little more energy from the HGH alone. Ellen
Posted by valymemom (Member # 7076) on :
Ellen
Thank you for being so comprehensive in your response, I have to try to digest it all. What I think I will do is highlight all the places that Dr. B. talks of the pituitary and give the endocrinologist the guidelines.
My son's fatigue (of 6 years) limits his daily life; in fact, he had to drop out of college.
Everything - coinfections/thyroid/viruses/metal toxicity - overlaps so & it is hard to determine clear cause.