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...
Hey Guys!
Been skimming the forums for a few months now. Thanks for all the insight and anecdotes.
Basically my story is was a social extrovert/slightly addictive personality when cracks started appearing in the seams of my confidence. This got worse and worse and of course eventually I found out I had a prolactinoma. Went to see an endocrinologist, and got on cabergoline. Over the course of a few months I have definitely developed an off the charts impulse control disorder which at times definitely borders on paranoid schizophrenia, which of course has made my anxiety much worse. Initially, when I asked my endocrinologist about surgery, she said the neurosurgeons would laugh at us because I only have a microadenoma. Of course when I found a neurosurgeon 6 months later, he had me scheduled for surgery within a week. lol. Oh, life.
At any rate, what do you guys think - do you think eventually the restoral of hormonal imbalance and getting off this crazy (for me) drug will cause the intense deer in the headlights/can't laugh screech and halt anxiety to dissipate? Any advice? I know I am summarizing here; let me know if you need more info. Also want to clarify that I know cabergoline works like a charm for a lot of people, but for me it has taken me to very dark places - 3 pack a day smoking habit, thousands spent on stuff ostensibly to get me closer to feeling cool and good, and a weird series of interactions with a group of people here in my city that frankly I don't even want to get into, but it was awful.
Wish me luck guys - I appreciate your support and this community, and if there's anything I can do, let me know. I will definitely do my best to follow up, as I think there's a shortage of long term followups to the initial "omg my life is so messed up" introductory messages. I am in it to win it, and provided I do in fact win it, you bet I will let you guys know the scoop. Thanks!
Been skimming the forums for a few months now. Thanks for all the insight and anecdotes.
Basically my story is was a social extrovert/slightly addictive personality when cracks started appearing in the seams of my confidence. This got worse and worse and of course eventually I found out I had a prolactinoma. Went to see an endocrinologist, and got on cabergoline. Over the course of a few months I have definitely developed an off the charts impulse control disorder which at times definitely borders on paranoid schizophrenia, which of course has made my anxiety much worse. Initially, when I asked my endocrinologist about surgery, she said the neurosurgeons would laugh at us because I only have a microadenoma. Of course when I found a neurosurgeon 6 months later, he had me scheduled for surgery within a week. lol. Oh, life.
At any rate, what do you guys think - do you think eventually the restoral of hormonal imbalance and getting off this crazy (for me) drug will cause the intense deer in the headlights/can't laugh screech and halt anxiety to dissipate? Any advice? I know I am summarizing here; let me know if you need more info. Also want to clarify that I know cabergoline works like a charm for a lot of people, but for me it has taken me to very dark places - 3 pack a day smoking habit, thousands spent on stuff ostensibly to get me closer to feeling cool and good, and a weird series of interactions with a group of people here in my city that frankly I don't even want to get into, but it was awful.
Wish me luck guys - I appreciate your support and this community, and if there's anything I can do, let me know. I will definitely do my best to follow up, as I think there's a shortage of long term followups to the initial "omg my life is so messed up" introductory messages. I am in it to win it, and provided I do in fact win it, you bet I will let you guys know the scoop. Thanks!
Levels, right? Physical, emotional. Need to finish cleaning the apartment, need to finish getting off the weight (went from 340 to 210 so far this year), need to get in a regular exercise routine, finish a bunch of before the end of the year errands, and planning on really vigorously engaging with local laughter yoga chapters. We'll see how it all pans out. Just need to detach from a lot of these sort of compulsive, defense mechanism daydreams I sometimes live in that keep me from pushing forward my reality to where I need it to be. Wish me luck homies!
Mine is 4mm and my surgery is planned for January, 15 at Swedish Pituitary Center in Seattle, WA.
Im scared because they did warn me about damage but I CANNOT tolerate the medicine. Within 12 hours of taking it I would be sevverely nauseated, within 16 hours I would be very angry and irritated, and within 24 hours I would be suicidal depressed. So the neurosurgeon said that my next best option is the surgery before it gets bigger and causes more damage.....
At least your compulsive behavior is a lot less intense than before & you're working on it so that's great. I commend you for your all the weight you lost - that's a huge accomplishment!
Laughter is a great medicine!! Stay in touch :)