Personality change pituitary tumour

Oh wow. Yes, it is most likely why your husband is having a personality change. The way I found out I had a prolactinoma was because I became such a different person all of a sudden. Eventually it let me to an endocrinologist and then an MRI where they found the tumor. I doubt it's a mid life crisis, since the tumor can alter your emotions greatly.

hi Katie

so sorry to hear this. and it's hard for you also.

please get in contact wiith the Pituitary Foundation. They have information online and there is a forum. They also have a nurse helpline. they are there to support patients and family/carers of patients. I know someone who found them to be extremely helpful when they wanted to know as a famiy how best to support a patient.

all the best

Prolactinoma messes up hormones - it is like he is going through 'change of life'.  His dr should be testing those hormones and prescribing supplementation.  As a consequence, no doubt he is suffering from loss of libido - not a happy place to be for men.

As dambudzo said, it is important to talk to the Pituitary Foundation, and get all the information you can.  Ask to be sent this info and put it on the coffee table, or somewhere for him to read.  While he has already checked up on the internet, he might be encouraged to talk to the Pituitary Foundation too.

For females it makes our oestrogen ineffective, sending us into menopause, weakening our  bones, etc.  I suffered this for 6 years before someone thought to send me to an endocrinologist.  Luckily for me, the dostinex worked and provided immediate relief.

Good luck

 

Hi Katie,

I would get a second opinion from a neurosurgeon like Dr. Daniel Kelly from Santa Monica, Calif. Google his name to get his contact #, info, etc. He and his team are experts in this field.

Good luck!

Amy

Hello, my husband was the same and i believe it is due to the medication - cabergoline/dostinex.

he left me and my children in the end and blamed me and my behaviour.

Has this ever been mentioned?

YES, personality and much more

I began my battle in the late 80s and it was forced to leave a job I loved as things began to

spiral out of control

It began with their inability to control my thyroid. . .one time too high, then too low

I did researching by reading LANCET and JAMA at the university where I got my MBA and it all >>>>>pituitary

When I presented it, my primary asked me where I had gone to medical school

I replied "I grew up with the journals at home given my father was in preventive medicine and I hold an MBA

which I believe qualifies me to read such material"

Meanwhile, I had moved home from Sacramento and things just got worse

The medical community overall wrote me off as 'female hysteria' due to my strange and often bizarre

symptoms I was describing. and some of them were whoppers e.g.

'roid' rage episodes. . . to this day am totally mortified at my behavior

I was in a grocery one time with my mother who stared at me horrified as I shrieked at a woman in

the produce department. As we left she said "YOU NEED to find out what is wrong with you"

I put on weight even though proper eating and exercising which did terrible things not only cosmetically

but contributed to emotional turmoil.

I would go to bed at 10PM exhausted and at midnight it was like somebody violently waking me up

and I would be wired from then. You can imagine what the days were like. . unreal almost surreal

until I would fall into bed then that night.

I kept seeking help from MD community

Finally I turned to a naturopath who ordered a 24 hour urine

cortisol test (to see how much cortisol is excreted in that time period)

He called me with the results and suggested I address it with an endo at a local medical center

I was dismissed.

Then my bp sent me to the ER. It was 220/128

It was at that point that my naturopath told me "Okay YOU need to seek help from the pituitary center"

It was located at a medical center

I needed to seek help from the pituitary center at a medical center

The level was in the 900s. The normal range is 65-200

They took one look at the documentation and began a long laundry list of testing

The tumor had centered itself on the pituitary so I had a full resection (2 surgeries)

I had complications, including CSF leaks and damage to the left side, during the

surgeries, a massive collapse following the 2nd.. . .ICU/MICU and skilled nursing

for 6 weeks as they tried to get my electrolytes stabilized and Rehab to

get me back on my feet

I am on total replacement for cortisol, vasopressin, thyroid and growth hormone

NOTHING has been the same.

These medications literally keep me alive

(the tumor also affected the optic nerve which they check constantly in addition to

left with some rather significant balance issues but at least not in a w/c

thankfully

I have a dynamic MRI regularly to ensure that it has not regrown

There is no remission in them

(Partial resections have 85% regrowth and full resection 50%

so they do the MRIs)

He can do whatever but I would seek a 2nd opinion

Mine grew slowly also but it became harder and harder to cope

They entered behind the upper lip, through the nose, sinus cavity where they could

access the brain without a craniotomy