I tend to agree with you that surgery should be a last option.

If you go to a surgeon, you'll get surgery. Remember, their in it for the money as well as helping others. No surgery, no money...so choose carefully.

After using the drugs, the tumors become "fibrous" and are more difficult to remove. In more than 50% of the cases, the tumors grow back within 5 years...and there's a definite risk to the gland itself. Damage the gland and you've got a complicating factor for your life.

I chose to keep my adenoma in place as it's not causing any other kind of problems. A retired Neurosurgeon advised me to keep things in place, for now. You can have the tumor out, via surgery, anytime...but, you cannot reverse bad effects if things don't work out well.

Just my take on it...

Thank you for your thoughts. I agree that surgeons are certainly biased toward surery. If your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, right?

Still, I've done a fair bit of research into it, and I'm starting to think it might be a good option for me. I"ve asked two separate doctors at UCSF about the issue of the meds making the tumor more fibrous and difficult to remove, which I had read on UCLA's web site. They both adamantly disagreed with that characterization, with one doctor calling it an "old wives tale" that somehow was getting propogated. Honestly, my conclusion is not that UCSF is right on the issue, or that UCLA is right on the issue, but that the issue is not at all clear cut, and there's stil disagreement among the experts.

It was helpful to discuss risk factors and recurrence rates with my surgeon, b/c I was very concerned about both. A lot of the statistics I've read apply generally to prolactinoma surgery (all types and tumor sizes), and take into account national averages (across all centers and surgeons doing the surgery). With my MRI in hand, we were able to discuss the specifics of my case, at the hands of a highly specialized surgeon. B/c of the small size and the location of my tumor, and the fact that my surgeon does so many of these surgeries, he said I was more likely looking at a 94% chance of fully curing it, and

Well. surgery just it is the last option...........but risky in comment

Based on the research that who ever suffering from any sickness not only tinnitus will be worry and do not know what to do and the most comment way that you will go the doctor and find the best medicines and takes advice direct from the doctor
But to be honest, the surgery will not guarantee that you will have no side affect,as your Tinnitus is high that you are seeking for immediate advices from doctor that in most cases . It depends on you ,but i advice you if you can take a look at this information you will not use any medicines or surgery, all natural Feel free to look at this sites
http://tinnitusmiraclerelief.blogspot.com/
It helps a lot of people even suffering tinnitus for a long time and they found the solutions, bring back the happy life. Good luck

my daughter had the surgery almost 3 months ago. She had a wonderful surgeon, he gave all options... If a surgeon doesnt give you options, he is the worng surgeon. So far tumor is gone and th front part of the pituitary is working howeverm the badk part of the gland not and she has a whole new issue called diabetes insipidus. Be sure to weigh all angles. If not for the DI, surgery so far, was huge sucess! They say they expect it to work again, but noone knows if or wehn it will.

How bad is Diabetes Insipidus? Is it a temporary effect or does your daughter now have to deal with it forever?

Day 2 post surgery thru day 8 the DI was awful!!! ICU and closely monitored by endo docs. Now is manageable with desmopressin. She is on a low dose, .1 at night and 1/2 in am. Noone can tell us if will be permanent or not. Endo seems to think that back side fo gland will work again at some point. If not, she will be stuck with it for ever. Certainly hope it will start making the ADH on its own. She leads a normal 17 year old life, right up unitl her pill wears off and she has to pee all the time!!!!

Hi, Iris. I had my surgery about 3 weeks ago after choosing it as one of the last options. Mine is a giant macroprolactinoma with an initial size of 40mm and the surgery was really just to debulk it and see if it improves my headaches and prolactin lvls, which stubbornly stay at 2000 (initial lvl was over 14000).
The surgeon, who is at the top of his game, could only take a tiny piece off due to....you guessed it.....fibrous tissue. He told me that he tried every tool in the shed and it hardly dented it. The Cabergoline (4mg/week) has acted to shrink the tumour a fair bit but mostly the soft tissue, leaving the fibrous behind.

Post-op is not as bad as I expected. There are the expected headaches, nasal congestion etc. I still have no sense of smell and hence minimal taste. I was concerned about Diabetes Insipidus but my water lvls seem fine. I do have to take hydrocortisone supplement for 6 weeks as a small top-up.

So I'm sort of back to square one again but I don't regret trying the surgical route mainly because the size of this thing and associated effects severely curtail my quality of life. I had to give it a go and see how it turned out. Of course there are risks but so is there in lots of things. Yours is quite small, as you say, which would certainly contribute to a better outcome than mine.
It really does come down to the skill of your surgeon and how confident you are in his abilities and advice, so ask him millions of questions until you are satisfied.
Best of luck on whatever route you choose.

You had to do what you had to do with that large tumor.

I am finding a switch to Bromocriptine has helped tremendously and I'm not having any problems with nausea...at all. Plus, no rages...and largely no strange thoughts and dreams.

You had to do what you had to do with that large tumor.

I am finding a switch to Bromocriptine has helped tremendously and I'm not having any problems with nausea...at all. Plus, no rages...and largely no strange thoughts and dreams.

You had to do what you had to do with that large tumor.

I am finding a switch to Bromocriptine has helped tremendously and I'm not having any problems with nausea...at all. Plus, no rages...and largely no strange thoughts and dreams.

Hi Geewiz--
Thank your for sharing your experience. I hope your recovery is continuing to go well, and best of luck moving forward.