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Secondary adrenal insufficienc

Posted , 2 users are following.

courtnay26
courtnay26

Hi

So , my labs tell me I have really low cortisol

And it matches up with hypopituitarism etccc...

My doctors havent quite clued in yet

I was basically arguing with my endo saying

I think I have a pituitary tumor

I've learned that they don't believe you

Anyways,

Thanks for listening

0 likes, 10 replies

10 Replies

  • kim22986
    kim22986 courtnay26

    Posted

    Did you take the pill before taking the tune test Dexamethosone or something like that? If so it suppose to lower. But if you did not take pill they need find out if you have Addison disease? Keep on them.
  • courtnay26
    courtnay26

    Posted

    thanks Kim

    no pill, I've never taken the pill, I've heard too many stories about how it causes certain things

    like cancer (possibly)

    yes well see

    thanks

  • Roddy999
    Roddy999 courtnay26

    Posted

    Pituitary tumours are very rare. Even adrenal tumours are rare. Your GP (PCP) will see a very few cases of adrenal tumour in the course of a career and typically no more than one case of pituitary disease, ever. So it is not really surprising that it takes a while to spot, especially "inactive" tumours. Obviously your endo is a specialist and is far more aware of the possibilities. NB that if you really DO have a pituitary tumour, they are almost always benign and although in the skull, they are outside the brain so not a brain tumour.

    Nobody is going to do anything without evidence and the most useful test is a synacthen test. You get give a small injection of ACT hormone, the signal hormone that your pituitary should send to your adrenals to provoke cortisol production. If nothing happens, the problem is your adrenals : if it does (i.e., cortisol is produced) then maybe your pituitary hasn't been asking.

    Either way, the treatment is cortisol replacement - hydrocortisone and/or prednisolone. An operation is only done if essential and then only to stop matters getting worse, it rarely fixes the problem.

    • Roddy999
      Roddy999

      Posted

      Small error above: when I said "inactive" (pituitary tumour), I should have said "non-functional", These cause the pituitary not to do its job of sending signals to the major endocrine organs to do the grunt work. ("Functional" tumours are a lot easier to spot, like when a man produces breast-milk [prolactinoma], Cushings, Acromelagy etc etc).

    • courtnay26
      courtnay26 Roddy999

      Posted

      thanks for your reply

      however my cortisol is low enough

      I do not need the ACTH test

      I already have only a little ACTH and

      if I took the test , I would probably have less

      I have already spent weeks researching it

      those tests are only effective if you have

      adrenal Adison's , which I don't

    • courtnay26
      courtnay26 Roddy999

      Posted

      I probably had a functiomal tumor

      but now I have hypopituitarism

    • Roddy999
      Roddy999 courtnay26

      Posted

      If you had a functional tumour, there would be no 'probably' about it.

      In real medicine, no tests mean no evidence means no diagnosis means no treatment.

    • courtnay26
      courtnay26 Roddy999

      Posted

      if you really want to understand

      the acth test depletes the adrenals

      so I'm going to avoid it

    • kim22986
      kim22986 Roddy999

      Posted

      Hi there may I ask what your situation is Roddy. You seem very knowledgeable. Is it really that rare to have a pituitary tumour if they have a forum on it and all of us have one? It seems more common now  I personally have two other friend that have a pit tumor.  With today’s stress levels of everything  I can more issues with Cortisol etc.
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