What are Pituitary Tumors Pituitary tumor is an abnormality in your pituitary gland.

Your pituitary gland can be found in the lower part of your brain and it is responsible for the releasing of hormones in thyroid and adrenal glands. Although about 25% of the people have this tumor, there are only few people that have been diagnosed with it. Pituitary tumor has a very low risk of becoming a cancer so most probably it wont be spreading to the other parts of your body but since this could go bigger, it could somehow affect the functions of the blood vessels or some nerves near it. What is its cause? Since the cause of this pituitary tumor is not yet identified, many scientist have been connecting it to multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) which is a hereditary disease that makes the endocrine gland to be overactive causing it to form a tumor. Knowing that this disease could come from a family history, you should be somehow aware of it. How does it affect your health? There are two kinds of pituitary tumors. The first one is the microadenoma. Microadenoma is a tumor that can grow up 1 centimeter vertically. Since this tumor is a little bit small, it cannot usually damage the neighboring tissues and other blood vessels of the brain. But somehow, it could still release more than enough hormones that can cause an abnormality. This kind of tumor is rarely diagnosed because of the small damage it could create. The other kind of the pituitary tumor is the macroadenoma. From the word macro you can identify that this tumor is a larger one that could grow to more than 1 centimeter vertically. Since this tumor is a little bit big, this requires a space which could really affect the neighboring tissues and even the blood vessels. Because of this, persons with the macroadenoma could experience some problems with their nasal discharge, vision clarity, and even sense of smell. What is the treatment for pituitary tumor? There are many options in treating a pituitary tumor. The easiest option to choose from is removing it from the nose and sinuses but somehow it wont be that successful. Another option would be removing it from a surgery through the skull called transcranial. If these treatments wont be successful to you, then you can try to make the tumor shrink by taking some medications. Some medications in making the tumor shrink includes Bromocriptine that could lessen the prolactin levels and somehow make the tumor shrink. Another way is Octreotide. This can slow the growth of the hormone thus avoiding it go any bigger. How to know more about pituitary tumor?

It is very much important to be part of a support group. In a support group, you will be more educated with the different aspects of this pituitary tumor. You can also find a peer that could somehow understand you and help you with your confusion. It would also be very essential to the development of ones learning. There are many support community that are always available for you.