I’m living with the remains of a pituitary tumour, dependent on hydrocortisone, levothyroxine and testosterone replacements. I’m diagnosed as having acromegaly, so also take cabergoline to control the growth hormone that my pituitary is still producing. There are the usual mood swings and fatigue but there’s one thing that recently went critical - my digestive system. Currently my bowels seem to be on a go-slow. The critical point came at the end of March with a pain in my left side that I couldn’t locate and got worse. It fluctuated between a dull ache and a piercing stab like a ‘stitch’ that made it hard to stand or walk. This lasted the whole of April while I tried to discover the cause. Possibilities were a trapped nerve in my lower back, a urinary infection or a kidney stone. A CT scan eliminated the latter, while there were no signs of an infection. Eventually I was prescribed an anti-inflammatory that got rid of the pain within a week. That’s when I realised I hadn’t been to the toilet for days. I keep a health diary to keep track of my medication and, looking back over this, realised this had been building up for some time. I’ve had IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) before and this seemed similar, so started taking Colofac to deal with it. That, plus laxatives, got things moving again … but slowly. Typically my movements are very thin and need a lot of effort to force out. I had a consultation with a colorectal surgeon who reckoned I didn’t have bowel cancer (I had a colonoscopy two years ago). He recommended a high fibre diet and a different anti-spasmodic drug. While these have been useful, I suspect that this problem could be linked to my pituitary condition or the treatment for it. It also seems to involve more fatigue than usual. My endocrinologist tells me there are no connections he’s aware of. On the other hand a Pituitary Foundation telephone buddy I contacted has had the same thing himself a number of times and said that live yoghurt worked for him, or one of its active ingredients, L. acidophilus in tablet form. I’ve tried the yoghurt and generally things are moving a bit better, but my colon is still fluctuating from nearly normal to tight. If there is anyone else who has had similar experiences, I’d be very interested to hear from them and what, if any, other remedies they’ve found.
I wrote the above in early July but have held it back till now because my GP queried my thyroid hormone levels. My endocrinologist refuted this and I’ve been told after a more recent test that they’re normal. Just now I read Christine’s story in the Pituitary Foundations e-bulletin. What stood out for me in the horrors she went through was her hernia. I also had one around the same time as my pituitary adenoma made its presence felt, though I didn’t connect the two and neither has anyone else. I’d like to hear if anyone else out there has had the same thing.
Richard Billam, Exeter 5th October 2017