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My Pituitary Tumor is changing hosts and this, I think, will break the Feed Reader Link.
Click here, to go to the new site: My Pituitary Tumor.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tweaking The Host Service
Folks, I’m playing around with the hosting. If the blog disappears it should reappear shortly thereafter.
Of course, the goal is no glitches at all.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Pituitary Tumor, Testosterone, Gynecomastia, Misc.
I have another blog, What’s a Delmer Look Like, that I’ve recently started cleaning up a bit. This post is one of the first, possibly the first that mentioned my gynecomastia. It was posted shortly before my gyno surgery.
Take a look at this blog’s INDEX if you’re looking for posts by category.
Originally posted on April 23rd, 2006
I treat everyone I meet as if they know everything about me. It keeps my life simple. I never have to wonder if you know that I’ve been up to something I’d rather you not know about.
With that in mind, some of the following might fall into the Too-Much-Information category for some readers. It might help others.
Oh, and please don’t read any poor Delmer into any of this. I don’t feel that way. I’m happy to have answers and solutions.There’s no whining.
Searching for Prolactinoma at The Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases Information Service reveals:
Autopsy studies indicate that 25 percent of the U.S. population have small pituitary tumors. Forty percent of these pituitary tumors produce prolactin, but most are not considered clinically significant. Clinically significant pituitary tumors affect the health of approximately 14 out of 100,000 people.
(Emphasis mine)
So the odds of having a pituitary tumor that causes problems are pretty small.
At the same site we also find:
In men, the most common symptom of prolactinoma is impotence. Because men have no reliable indicator such as menstruation to signal a problem, many men delay going to the doctor until they have headaches or eye problems caused by the enlarged pituitary pressing against nearby eye nerves. They may not recognize a gradual loss of sexual function or libido. Only after treatment do some men realize they had a problem with sexual function.
(Again, the emphasis is mine.)
So I guess I shouldn’t feel too bad about being totally in the dark about what was going on. Being a typical man, I’m clueless about a lot of things that don’t involve winterizing lawn equipment, cleaning gutters, or fixing inner tubes on my kids’ bicycles.
The other day I read that in rare cases a hormone problem like the one I had can lead to gynecomastia (enlarged breasts). Just a minute ago I found, and I knew this already, a link that says in rare cases … well:
In rare cases, there is so much extra skin that this must be reduced as well as the internal deposits.
To summarize, 14 in 100,000 have pituitary tumors that cause problems like oddball hormone levels. In rare cases these hormone problems lead to gyno. Gyno can often be treated with Liposuction — in rare cases some actual cutting needs to be done.
Would you care to guess where I fall with respect to all this rareness?
When I met with the plastic surgeon he told me my nipples would have to be removed and grafted back on. (And as a guy, I say nipple interchangeably with aureole.)
I’m thinking, that since they’re going to be off anyway, that maybe I could have them reshaped. Maybe get a skull and crossbones thing working.
Gyno can be caused by prescription medicines, drug use, smoking pot, alcohol use, steroids, bad hormone balance, and probably some other things I’ve forgotten. As boys enter puberty — as their hormones ramp up — x% of them will develop gyno which, in most cases, will eventually go away on its own. You’ve probably seen this even if you didn’t realize what it was.
When I was a big, fat guy I thought I had fat-guy-flabby chest and accepted it. When I started getting treatment for my hormones my endo quickly arrived at the conclusion that I had gyno. He also said it would become more noticeable as my weight dropped.
Having gyno bugs me. Maybe if I had perky ones it wouldn’t bother me so much. No. It would. See how I had to say ‘ones’ I couldn’t even say the ‘b’ word. If I weren’t so close to getting things taken care of I don’t know that I’d be able to type about it.
Nothing is more uncomfortable than having a doctor poke around on the gyno region confirming that you do, in fact, have gyno. I’d rather have my prostate checked daily (and perhaps I’ll develop a self-check so I can do it myself every morning) or have a colonoscopy. I know it’s a psychological thing.
Before we go, a quick nipple story.
Oh, about 20 years ago or more I was watching one of the Fletch movies with my buddy Roy (I think it was a Fletch). There was a scene in which Chevy Chase was sitting around with his shirt off.
I’m a big guy, I have size 14 feet, I’m over 6 feet four inches tall … I have appropriately sized nipples.
Anyway, Chevy is sitting with his shirt off. Just as I completed the thought, “he’s got my nipples,” Roy, who had for years seen me bounding up and down a basketball court shirtless, turned and said, “Hey Del, he’s got your nipples.”
Technorati Tags: Gynecomastia,Low Testosterone,Hormones,Testosterone,Pituitary Tumor,Prolactinoma,High Prolactin,Gyno
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
MRI – March 2009
Earlier in the month I had an MRI to see how the tumors are doing.
Going into the MRI I had two tumors, one was 3 mm and one was 5 mm in size.
The most recent MRI shows:
The tumor that was 2 x 3 mm is now recorded as 1.5mm.
The other could not be “definitely visualized.” That is, it may be there, it may not be, but if it is it is very small.
[I remember reading, in the past, that Dostinex / Cabergoline (the generic for Dostinex) may cause pituitary tumors to shrink. I’m also pretty sure I’d read where someone said this is debatable. I am not a medical professional but I suspect my meds are the reason the tumors have changed. (It could, I guess, have been magic.)]
I continue to take .25 mg of Cabergoline once a week.
My hormone and blood work histories can be found at the first entry of this blog.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
My Story
I have a couple of pituitary tumors that caused hormone problems — high prolactin and low testosterone.
Before getting into the long story I'll give a bit of summary:
I currently take cabergoline at 1/2 pill per week; at my peak I was taking six pills per week (three on Sunday and three on Thursday)
I currently weigh 240 pounds. When my hormones were screwy I weighed 370 and couldn't lose weight regardless of how hard I tried. I started losing weight the month after I went on Dostinex.
My blood work history is here.
Now the long version…
In July of 2001 I found I had low Testosterone: 147 ng/dL (scale 300 to 1000). Without doing any additional blood work my Primary Care Physician prescribed Androgel (Sep 2001). I don't recall the dosage - it was one packet, which I believe is 5 grams. After a month my T had climbed to 350. I can't say my sex drive went through the roof, but there were times during the day that I could feel "stirrings" for no reason —— not I-need-to-have-sex-NOW! stirrings… just something new going on. I told the doc I really didn't notice a big increase in my sex drive. He upped my prescription to 1.5 packs of Androgel. I applied it for two more weeks and quit as I hadn't felt I'd adequately researched the issue.
I thought some of my problem might be my weight. I weighed something over 360 and thought that being fat might cause low T. In January 2002 I started going to the gym and made a great effort to drop some weight. At some point I picked up Lou Schuler's "The Testosterone Advantage Plan," and tried to improve my condition through diet and exercise. FWIW, Schuler makes no claims that diet and exercise will cause dramatic leaps in Testosterone levels such as I needed. Likewise, obesity can affect T levels but, again, probably not to the extent I was being affected by something.
I had a physical on June 7, 2002. I went in feeling pretty good. I felt I had more muscle mass (even though I was still a big fat guy), as I was stronger and as I said, I'd been paying more attention to what I ate.
The doc did some blood work. And the results: My cholesterol had dropped to 187 (from 199) and my Testosterone dropped to 36 (that is not a typo: 36) on a scale of 300 to 1000 being normal. This would have been 11 months after I'd been diagnosed with low T and about 7 months after I'd discontinued use of Androgel (I started Androgel in September 2001 and used it for 6 weeks. So, I should have discontinued use by November. I don't have solid dates.)
Could Androgel use have caused my body to quit T production for more than 6 months? Was the test wrong?
My Primary Care Physician suggested I start Androgel again. I had stumbled across the Usenet group Alt.Support.Impotence and asked for the following blood work based on info found here: SHBG, FSH, Testosterone, Estradiol, Prolactin, TSH, LH, Free T, Total Estrogens and DHEA.
My primary care physician was initially reluctant to order the blood work when I asked. I can't really blame him; docs must get tired of patients coming in self-diagnosed based on things they see on TV. After I asked him how long he'd been my doctor ("A long time," he said) and how often I came in ("Hardly ever") he consented. My T came in at 146 (300-1000) and my Prolactin 56.2 (1.6-18.8). So, a month after I had a reading of 36 I'd rebounded to my pre-Androgel levels. Again, was the 36 test wrong? Was it just a timing thing?
Following the T reading of 36 I'd made an appointment to see an Endocrinologist; the appointment was set 3 months out and I asked to be put on a cancellation list. I got a call from the endo's staff just a day or two after the above blood work was done. (The July 02 and August 02 blood work, in my Hormone Table, are about a week apart.) I was able to see the endo in 6-weeks time rather than the original 3 months.
The endo ordered an MRI; I had it in August and received the results 9/3/02. It turned up two small (3 and 5 mm) tumors on my pituitary gland. (During a later appointment my endo would tell me that while the tumors were certainly the cause of my high prolactin, he wasn't certain they were prolactin-secreting tumors; he would expect my prolactin to be higher if they were. In other posts I've stated I had 'very high' prolactin. Well, I've since run across folks with much higher prolactin levels than I have. So, mine are just high while theirs are ungodly high.) I remember my weight at this time being 354 as the table-weight for the MRI was 350… the tech put me on the table, but the fit was going to be such that I was eventually sent to an open MRI. (As an aside, on TV an MRI normally takes about as long as a commercial for Chevy Trucks. The guy goes into the MRI. You see a truck commercial. The guy comes out. In real life they are 30 minutes or so. I guess it wouldn't make for good TV to show the whole thing. And yet, American Idol is still on. Go figure.)
My endo prescribed Parlodel (Bromocriptine) on 9/3/02. I took it at bedtime - 1/2 pill for the first two weeks and increasing to a full pill after that. Pills were 2.5 mg. Dosage was doled out like this to help the body adjust and avoid any side effects.
During the time I was on Bromocriptine I forgot, twice, to take the dose at bedtime and instead took it the next morning. I had a bit of nervousness and light-headedness both times. Nothing that would keep me from taking it during the day again - just enough so that I knew something was different.
November 6, 2002 I had my first visit to the endo after starting Bromocriptine. My T had gone up to 138 (241-827) and my Prolactin had dropped to 38 (2.1 -17.7) My endo doubled the Bromocriptine (from 2.5 to 5 mg nightly).
In December 2002 (12/18/02) I started taking Dostinex. I was started on 1/2 pill (.25mg) and eased up to a full pill (.5mg) in order to allow my body to adjust to the medicine and to minimize side effects. I would take (and continue to take for years) Dostinex twice a week.
According to: http://www.pfizer.com/download/uspi_dostinex.pdf
dosage should start at .25 mg twice a week and may be increased up to 1 mg twice a week according to the patient's serum prolactin level. At my peak I took 1.5 mg twice a week, so I was a bit past the norm. Another site I visited suggested a person's body weight may affect the dose of Dostinex needed.
The PDF referenced above lists several adverse reactions that may occur. Twice while taking Dostinex I developed nausea and in both cases thought I was getting the flu. Shortly after the flu thought passed through my mind I remembered that I'd had Dostinex earlier and that I might be having a reaction to the medicine. I was right in both cases; the flu never hit. I haven't had a negative reaction of any sort in years.
At one time I’d thought that I hadn’t suffered from any of the condition that come with low testosterone aside from low libido. After I got better I realized I’d also had:
ED:
I had sex so infrequently that I didn't notice. Any performance issues I had when having sex (and I had them) I attributed to other factors (stress, being tired, etc.).
Depression:
I certainly had depression. I didn't recognize it until it was mostly over.
Weight Gain:
Let's face it people, Ethiopians with hormone disorders don't balloon up to 370 pounds. I've got to admit I had some fun putting a bit of the weight on. It did seem that I went from 330 to 360 almost overnight though, without any big lifestyle changes. And actually, after 308 I sort of lose track of things (I was in a 30-and-over basketball league at 308). When I started trying to lose weight I found it very hard to do and impossible to keep off. I had dropped to 354 for my first MRI (8/02) and was at 370 in December. (That is not a solid 370. We have a medical scale at work that goes to 350. With some measuring I figured that pushing both weights on the scale to their limits equaled 363 lbs. When I stepped on the scale I 'judged' that the speed with which the weighing mechanism moved to its upper limit - and the accompanying thud it made - equaled about 7 pounds. And 370 is easier to remember than 368.) What I do know about my weight is that just under two years after starting Dostinex, I'd lost 101 pounds.
Life in General:
I lacked a "lust for life," as another poster in ASI said. I was sort of blah about a lot of things. If you've listened to the Testosterone episode of This American Life I was sort of like the guy in the first segment. He suggests that while he was blah, there was a peace that came with it. Our experiences are different in that he didn't have three small children to look after and his significant other lived out of state and visited only on weekends. He realizes his experiences differ from the vast majority of others with his problem.
His comment "it doesn't matter if you have nothing, if you want nothing," is reminiscent of a something I used to say: Not having sex when you don't want sex sure beats the pants of being 18 and wanting sex all the time and not being able to get it.
You can currently to listen to a recording of the above at the This American Life archives. (As of July 10, 2009)
Gynecomastia:
I had the gyno corrected in November of 2006 and at the same time had the tummy tucked. The surgeon removed two masses of breast tissue the size of baseballs — one from behind each nipple. I’d first met with the surgeon in November 2005 and at that time there had been some talk of removing the nipples and then grafting them back on; this would have resulted in loss of sensation in the nipples. When I had the operation, a year later, he’d decided to fold the excess skin under the nipples and at the end of the surgery I had some puckering in the skin around the aureole.
As of April 15, 2007, the puckering around the nipple was gone. I had a light scar around the perimeter of the aureole (I had the aureoles size reduced – they’d stretched with the gyno) and a scar, about an inch in length, at 6 o’clock.
It is my understanding that a lot of gyno can be handled with Liposuction and without the baseball-sized masses that needed to be removed I'm not sure I’d have the scars beneath the nipples.
Surgery took several hours. I can’t say that there was ever any pain associated with it though, at various times I would have a mild burning sensation around the aureoles. It should be noted that the tummy tuck hurt enough that it could have easily overshadowed and nipple pain.
In November 2005 I asked for pre-approval from my insurance carrier to pay for the gyno surgery and they refused. In July the company I work for changed health carriers and I submitted a request to them; they approved.
The request was made by my doctor, included pictures of my chest, and, I suppose, an explanation about my hormone problem.
The gyno surgery and tummy tuck were going to be about $10,000 without insurance. It was split almost evenly between surgeries.
I paid for most of the tummy tuck fees (maybe all) up front. I paid for the doc, hospital and pre-registration. (In the end I paid for all of the tummy tuck.)
How did I miss the warning signs?:
Well, aside from the weight gain I didn't recognize any outward signs. And the weight I attributed to other things. Inability to lose weight I thought was age-related. I had never heard that men could have low-testosterone problems so it was nothing I considered. I thought the gyno was fat-guy-flabby-chest.
I realized I didn't enjoy things as much as I used to, but thought it was stress and would eventually get better.
I compare the whole episode to buying new tennis shoes. Each day you wear your sneakers they break down a little bit and don't feel as good as they did the day before. But, the breakdown is so gradual that you don't notice. At some point you buy new shoes and when you put them on your realize just how much better they feel than the old shoes do - not that you ever noticed the old shoes feeling bad.
I don't recall going to bed one night feeling great and waking up the next day not feeling great. At the time my problem was developing I had three little boys, and for years (literally) neither my wife nor I were getting much sleep. One of us would sleep in on Saturday, the other on Sunday; those were our catch-up days. When the time came that everybody was sleeping through the night — my wife and I included — I probably felt better than I had, but not as well as I should have. I just didn't notice.
Now that I feel better, I can see just how bad I felt.
Today (February 24, 2008) -- I handle day-to-day life better. I enjoy things more. I feel more relaxed.
Just after the gyno surgery I had a sexual relationship with a woman. I was very concerned about how I might perform and that stress led to problems, I’m certain; it’s also kind of hard to feel sexy with chest scaring. In all honesty, she may not have noticed (she would eventually say very flattering things about me to a friend of hers … who would eventually tell me she’d heard very flattering things about me.)
To this day, July 10, 2009, I can tell that stress and worry play a role in my sexual function. My hormone levels are better than I ever thought they would be and I have very good morning erections. Sometimes, though, when I’m being intimate I can tell my erection isn’t as firm as it is in the morning. I’m likely having a bit of fear of failure.
Dostinex vs Bromocriptine:
Bromocriptine did almost nothing for me. I've read other posts in which it is very effective. I've not had an adverse reaction to either Bromocriptine or Dostinex past those noted above - and none were severe enough to warrant concern.
I paid $7.00 for each prescription of Bromocriptine. Depending on the number of pills I received, my insurance paid between $46.99 (30 tablets) and $98.74 for 60 tablets. About $1.76 per tablet.
I paid $45.00 monthly for Dostinex. My insurance, for 25 tablets, paid $730. The cost per pill is $31.00. (I currently (02-24-08) take the generic, at $10 per prescription, and notice no difference between it and Dostinex.)
Kroger was kind enough to print out my prescriptions covering my Dostinex and Bromocriptine. Thus far my insurance carrier and I have paid $13,616 for both medicines. Mostly Dostinex. Mostly my insurance carrier. [From August 2002 to June 2005]
Below are links to some of the posts I found helpful. When I found I had low T I read through everything I could find. Even the things that would eventually turn out to not apply to my situation contained a lot of helpful info.
In cases where I reference a post I made, my questions aren't as helpful as the answers provided. As you Google the Groups click the Complete Thread link to see the replies associated with the link below. (The link I provide is shorter than that that brings up the entire string of related posts)
T, Obesity and Ramblings (My first post to ASI).
Sin Loi's post responsible for the “lost lust for life” comment
Another poster with pituitary tumors - prolactin as high as 166
David Zolt has a series of primers that can be found in Google Groups. There are 7. Google the Groups using the following string - change the 1 to 2 through 7 to find them all:
david zolt + "1 of 7" group:alt.support.impotence
Don't forget to pick up a copy of Dr. Eugene Shippen's book, "The Testosterone Syndrome," Available at Amazon.com
Technorati Tags: Parlodel,Bromocriptine,Cabergoline,Dostinex,Prolactinoma,Pituitary Tumor,Pituitary Tumors,Androgel
Hormone Table
In the interest of tidiness I've omitted my Free Testosterone and Percent Free Testosterone values. As my Total Testosterone and Prolactin came into line so did those items.
A larger, easier-to-read version of this table is HERE.
A larger, easier-to-read version of this table is HERE.
| Date | Tot T (ng/dL) | Prolactin | Other Info |
| 07/01/2001 | 147 (300-1000) | 56.2 (1.6-18.8) | I mentioned to my doctor that I had no sex drive. Bloodwork showed I had a testosterone deficiency. |
| 118 (241-827)* | *Early on I had blood work done by a different lab. The total testosterone seems to scale pretty well between the early lab and later lab. The prolactin does not. These are the scaled values from 300-1000 to 241-827. | ||
| 06/07/2002 | 36 (300-1000) | I had been on Androgel (a topical testosterone replacement therapy) and had discontinued it in November 2001. This blood draw was taken 6 months later and it would seem that my testicles given up trying to produce T at all. | |
| 29 (241-827)* | Women typically have T levels less than 100 ng/dL (300-1000 scale). It is a fair bet that your average woman would have had more T than I at this point in time. | ||
| 07/26/2002 | 146 (300-1000) | 56.2 (1.6-18.8) | |
| 117 (241-827)* | |||
| 08/03/2002 | 122 (241-827) | 65 (2.1-17.7) | I weigh 354 lbs. First appt. with endo. MRI turns up two small tumors on pituitary. Started Bromocriptine (09/03/2002) 2.5 mg nightly. |
| 11/11/2002 | 138 (241-827) | 38 (2.1-17.7) | Bromocriptine bumped to 5 mg nightly |
| 12/xx/2002 | 207 (300-1000) | 39.3 (1.6-18.8) | I weigh 370 lbs. Started on Dostinex .25 mg twice weekly. |
| 167 (241-827)* | |||
| 01/22/2003 | 153 (241-827) | 46.3 (2.1-17.7) | Dostinex bumped to .5 mg twice weekly. |
| 03/04/2003 | 32.1 (2.1-17.7) | Dostinex bumped to .75 mg twice wkly 3/7/03 | |
| 06/06/2003 | 230 (241-827) | 24.4 (2.1-17.7) | I weigh 330 lbs. Dostinex bumped to 1 mg twice wkly on 6/9/03 |
| 10/10/2003 | 347 (241-827) | 22.2 (2.1-17.7) | I weigh 308 |
| 02/12/2004 | 328 (241-827) | 20.1 (2.1-17.7) | Dostinex upped to 1.5 mg twice weekly on 2/25/03 |
| 06/05/2004 | 392 (241-827) | 15.9 (2.1-17.7) | I weigh 285 |
| 10/18/2004 | 454 (241-827) | 12.8 (2.1-17.7) | I weigh 269 |
| 02/14/2005 | 464 (241-827) | 11.5 (2.1-17.7) | |
| 06/14/2005 | 10.1 (2.1-17.7) | ||
| 10/14/2005 | 563 (241-827) | 9.7 (2.1-17.7) | |
| 03/23/2006 | 8.9 (2.1-17.7) | I weigh 249. Dostinex dropped back to 1.25 mg twice weekly. | |
| 05/12/06 | 7.3 (2.1-17.7) | I weigh 239. I've been taking 1.25 mg of Dostinex twice weekly. | |
| 08/23/06 | 706 (241-827) | 7.1 (2.1-17.7) | Weight 229. Picked up generic Cabergoline today. Dose reduced to 1 mg twice weekly. |
| 10/23/06 | 7.4 (2.1-17.7) | Weight 224. Taking generic Cabergoline for 2 months at 1 mg twice weekly. | |
| 12/12/06 | 6.9 (2.1-17.7) | Weight 224. Taking generic Cabergoline for 4 months at 1 mg twice a week. This appointment was early Tuesday, and I had taken my last meds Sunday morning. Most other blood samples were taken the morning just before I took the next dose. | |
| 04/12/07 | 7.5 (2.1-17.7) | Weight is 232, so I'm up 8 pounds. I'm wearing smaller jeans than in December so I'm not concerned; it's probably a bit of water, maybe a bit of muscle. Blood was drawn on Thursday before that day's meds. In January my meds were dropped to .75 mg twice a week. Following this draw meds were dropped to .5 mg twice a week. | |
| 09/25/07 | 7.8 (2.1-17.7) | Weight is 237, so I'm up a bit more. I'm wearing the same clothes. Blood was taken on a Thursday before taking meds for the day. I've been taking .5 mg of Cabergoline twice a week for the past several months. (Following this blood draw my meds were dropped to .75 mg per week -- I can take 1/2 pill 3 times a week or a full pill one day and a half the next time that week.) | |
| 11/29/07 | 7.8 (2.1-17.7) | Weight is 236, so I'm holding steady. Blood was drawn on a Thursday (meaning I should have been at a low point with respect to the amount of meds floating around inside me) . I was taking a full pill on Thursday and 1/2 pill on Mondays. Following this draw my meds were dropped to 1/2 pill twice a week. | |
| 2/7/08 | 8.0 (2.1-17.7) | Weight is 242, and while it was 239 last week (and this could be a fluid spike), it would seem I'm up 13 pounds in the last 18 months. Maybe this would be a good time to point out I lift weights every other day, and I have been for years. (However, I'm not saying the weight gain isn't caused by something else.) Blood was drawn on a Thursday so I should have been at a low with respect to the amount of cabergoline in my system. I had been taking 1/2 pill on Sundays and 1/2 pill on Thursdays. Following this draw my meds were dropped to 1/2 pill (.25 mg) once a week. | <></>|
| 4/10/08 | 8.4 | Weight is 245, so it seems I'm up 3 pounds. I am still wearing the same clothes though the shorts I wore on vacation in September 07 may be more snug. My squats have increased 40 pounds (by sets) since the | |
| 6/12/08 | 8.6 | Weight is 242. Blood was drawn Thursday when I would have had the least bit of Cabergoline in me. I see the doc again in 6 months. As long as my prolactin stays in range it is unlikely I'll have another MRI. I will continue to take 1/2 pill once a week (.25 mg weekly). | |
| 11/25/08 | 803 (241-827) | 6.7 (2.1-17.7) | Weight is 234; I tried to drop some weight to make sure I could – I thought maybe the drop in meds would keep me from being able to do it. Blood was drawn on Tuesday due to Thanksgiving … I still take .25 mg of Cabergoline on Thursday mornings. Other Hormone Info: Serum Testosterone: 803 (241-827) Free Testosterone: 23.45 (5.00-21.00) % Free Testosterone: 2.92 (1.50-4.20) |
| 5/28/09 | 6.6 | Blood was drawn on a Thursday morning prior to my weekly meds. I should have had the last bit of Cabergoline in me as possible. I weighed 260 pounds ... it's worth noting the winter was cold, I was not on the bike a lot, and I had a lot of Oatmeal Raisin cookies (that is, I'm not worried about the weight gain ... I'm still wearing the same pants, they're just snug.). I continue to take .25 mg of Cabergoline on Thursday mornings. | |
| (241-827) | (2.1-17.7) |
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
About <i>My Pituitary Tumor</i>
For the longest time – more than a year – this blog consisted of just two posts. My Story and the Blood Work History table.
In March 2009 I had another MRI and I posted the results of that.
In July of 2009 I started cleaning entries off of What’s a Delmer Look Like – my original blog – and decided to move the Pituitary, Hormone, ED, Gynecomastia, etc. posts here to keep things tidy and easy to find for people looking for posts on this topic.
My original intention was to keep things simple which is part of the reason I wasn’t in any hurry to add anymore than two entries; I thought they said most of what I wanted to say. What I’d forgotten was, as wordy as it is, My Story was a cut-down version of compilation of many other items; those original items sometimes contain links to other websites.
I’ve also come to think that more might be better when it comes to this topic. When I was trying to sort out what was going on with my body I read everything I could – even stuff that didn’t seem to apply to my situation. It’ll probably be a bigger help to people to post too much and let people sort out what they do and do not need.
I put together the Index to provide a sense of order to the things I move over and new items. I’m not sure what
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