14 year old with tumor on Pituitary...blood levels off

[lojo428]

An MRI found a small tumor on my 14 year old daughter's Pituitary gland in December 09.  She has had significant problems with her Thyroid since 8 years old and it has never been able to be regulated with meds for more than about 6 weeks at a time.  They just did a follow up MRI and the tumor is still there, has not grown or changed. However, they took blood work to check her TSH, T4 and Estrogen level since she has not yet started her menses.  Her TSH was up to 73, her T4 was .6 and her Estrogen level is at 9.  Obviously all of these are completely off, but they are just increasing her Synthroid meds another 25 mg. to 225mg.  They also doubled her Metformin due to insulin issues.  So...my question is..are these problems due to the pituitary tumor since we can't ever seem to get the thyroid regulated and it continues to affect all these other endocrine systems or do we need to look closer at the thyroid itself perhaps through a scan?  Any advice appreciated!!!  lojo

[rumpled]

She needs to see a neuro-endo. All of her hormones need to be tested and the issue of the pituitary tumor needs to be tested to the point where they know what type it is and then it can be treated - after that tumor has been determined, then the other hormones can be treated.

I had a *bouncy* TSH and it was my pituitary tumor - TSH is not valid when the pituitary is impaired after all, it is a pituitary test, not a thyroid test. Just doing a straight T4 is useless - so find a different endo - get to a large university or a pituitary center and get proper treatment. You may have to try a few, get copies of everything and read up.

There may be a separate thyroid problem as well - but not enough tests have been done to determine it - such as free t3, free T4, antibodies, ultrasound. I also had that as well.

The insulin issues - is she diabetic? Does she have Cushing's?

[LivingInHope]

It would appear from the numbers that both the pituitary and the thyroid are in trouble.  The TSH says the pituitary is trying very hard to stimulate the thyroid, but the free T4 is telling you the thyroid is not responding the way it should.  

With that estrogen level, I hope they are testing her prolactin level, FSH and LH to see what those numbers are.  You said the tumor was small, but so too is the pituitary.  What size is the tumor exactly?

[testdeprived]

try her on armor