Prolactinoma Support Group

A prolactinoma is a benign tumor of the pituitary gland that produces a hormone called prolactin. It is the most common type of pituitary tumor. Symptoms of prolactinoma are caused by too much prolactin in the blood or by pressure of the tumor on surrounding tissues. Prolactin stimulates the breast to produce milk during pregnancy. After delivery of the baby, a mother's...

360 Members

1,401 Posts

0 Online

gmdm2009 09/23/2009

My 15 yr old daughter was just diagnosed with
a large prolactonoma which is putting a little
pressure on her optic nerve, we will be starting
Cabergoline next week after she has an echo done,
I've been reading some post's and have concerns
about the side effects of the Cabergoline, she
already suffers from sever headaches which makes
it really hard to get thru her school day and the
large amount of homework she gets. I guess I just needed to vent.

deleted_user 09/23/2009

Your Daughter is lucky to have you. Having a good support system always helps. as far as the cabergoline we have all are own little tricks of what helps us. Your daughter will need to take care of her self. Which can be hard on teenagers.
1. balance diet
2. exercise to releave stess(walking works best for me)
3. sleep at least 8 hours on the nights she takes to cabergoline (you pick which two nights work best for you)
4. I take my medication just before I go to sleep with a little yogurt.

And talk to the school let them know what she is looking at doing. It does play with your mind you tend to be a little fuzzy. For some just first thing in the morning others it is all day. Most of the time the school wants your child to succeed and you will be able to come up with a plan to help her though this time. for me it was about 6 months when the side effects where more manageable.

Since she has pressure on her optic nerve there is a good chance with the medication the headache can get better.

The hardest part of dealing with a prolactinoma is patience.

gmdm2009 09/23/2009

Thanks so much for the reply, I will definately use all of your suggestions, she goes for the echo on Sept 30th and then I can start her on the Cabergoline, I think i'll give her her first dose on that Friday night,
that way if she does become fuzzy from it she
will have the weekend to relax. I really appreciate the advice, will keep you updated.

deleted_user 09/27/2009

Try not to worry about side effects until they become an issue. I'm unable to tolerate the smallest dose of bromocriptine, but I had no noticeable side effects on dostinex. I would recommend having your daughter listen to her body and talk with her endo with any concerns she/you have during the course of the treatment.

Good luck. Hopefully the treatment will get her back to "normal" soon!

deleted_user 09/28/2009

Oftentimes, the Cabergoline/Dostinex will very quickly shrink down a tumor and some of the headaches will go away.

If she has a macroadenoma, it may be of the "soft" variety (which would be my opinion given her age and the size of the tumor) and those usually respond very quickly to the drug.

gmdm2009 09/28/2009

Thanks for taking the time to reply, hopefully your right, I will start her on the meds this weekend and have another appt at the endo on
oct 22, hopefully the blood test before this
appt. shows her prolactin levels going down.
It's really nice and helpful having input from
so many differnt people, thank you again, be well

Join the Conversation