One of the things my son Conner has to deal with is a condition called "panhypopituitarism". Essentially his pituitary gland is either non-functional, or unable to communicate and coordinate many of his endocrine functions. He's basically on replacement doses of 3 hormones right now.
Cortisol-a very common side effect of his tumor and the treatment thereof.
Thyroid-just plain old levothyroxine.
Desmopressin, or DDAVP, which controls his mild diabetes insipidus
Today I drove down to the University of Michigan's hospital, because he needed to have a growth hormone stimulus test to be eligible for growth hormone therapy. Growth hormone and testosterone are two other hormones that are controlled or released by the pituitary.
This involves putting and IV in (always fun), a blood draw, then a 30 minute infusion of the amino acid arginine, then another blood draw, then 30 minutes of waiting, then another blood draw, then a tablet of clonodine, a blood pressure med, then a blood draw every thirty minutes or so until there are a total of six blood draws.
This is to verify he's not releasing GH. He's not grown a whole lot in two years, so everyone, including his endocrinologist, but not Aetna Insurance, is willing to take it on faith that he's a legitimate candidate for GH therapy.
The clonodine basically knocked him out. The test went very smoothly, though everyone involved was bored.
I just wanted to let you know that I have Panhypopituitarism. Because of me, your son will get the attention that he needs. I've had it since I was 10 days old. I was the first child to have Panhypopituitarism from birth. If you have any questions at all please feel free to email me. I have 27 years of experience with this. Even though I am female we all go through a lot.
Nancy
Posted by: Nancy | June 17, 2007 at 07:24 PM