Saturday, January 28, 2012

There is a Better Way



I just discovered that my serious migraines and worsening photophobia are no doubt caused by a pituitary tumor that I was diagnosed in 2008, but the doctor neglected to tell me was the cause of my migraines.

Apparently pituitary tumors can cause serious headaches no matter what size they are.[i]
Furthermore, it is also the case that pituitary tumors can grow into the optic nerves, causing chiasmal compression.[ii]

Photophobia has actually been documented as the “presenting visual symptom of chiasmal compression” caused by a pituitary tumor, although peripheral vision loss is a more common major symptom.

My photophobia is getting worse and worse. I cannot bare a normal level of reading (or less) light over my head for any length of time.

My migraines have gotten worse; although my herbal remedy is keeping them under control (what a blessing that has been).

No doubt the tumor that I was diagnosed with, which was never discussed in Jan of 2008 as a cause of my migraines, has grown.

Where did this tumor come from?

Well, it is not quite clear.

In the past tumors were difficult to diagnose in the pituitary gland because the gland is so small.

Today’s MRIs make diagnosis easier.

What we really don’t know are the rate of occurrence and whether the rate is growing.

The range of occurrence is from 2% to 20% based on a variety of screening factors. Someone needs to sort out what those factors are and see if age plays a role because if the incidence is increasing at a younger age then we have a problem here.

My bet is we have a problem here and it is part of the same complex of problems as autism, Parkinson’s’ syndrome, allergies, asthma, and thyroid disease/cancer.

These diseases all occur within “normal” populations, but the rate seems to be growing rapidly for all of these diseases.

Some people will argue against a real increase in autism (saying an increase in diagnosis is not the same as an increase in incidence) and I don’t want or need to argue that now because allergies, Parkinson’s, asthma, and thyroid disease have been clearly linked to environmental contaminants.

We are living in a chemical soup seasoned with excess levels (for our body’s evolved levels of tolerance) of radionuclides, some of which are NOT found in nature.

I was born in the SF Bay Area in mid 1960s, 4th generation in the area.

Makes one wonder about what I was exposed to growing up because for some reason or other those deposition maps of the US from atmospheric testing always show the Bay Area as rather hot.

1963 was the peak of atmospheric testing because of subsequent bans (thankfully). We have Kennedy to thank for that.

A lot of fallout would have been around in the mid-1960s.

I could also have been exposed to contaminants from research at Lawrence Livermore Lab.

When one finds a constellation of environmentally mediated diseases within close family members—such as the complex of Parkinson’s, autism, and pituitary tumor found within my immediate family, one has to wonder why we are not paying more attention to the environmental risks that compromise human well-being.

Hunger, malnutrition, dysentery are ancient diseases that plague our world still because we care not enough to share what we have with all.

Now we have created new diseases to eat away at the health and well-being of those who thought they had plenty.

There is a better way.


[i]               Laurie Barclay, MD Pituitary Tumor Size Unrelated to Headache Symptoms. Arch Neurol. 2004;61:721-725

[ii] Kawasaki (2002, Mar) Photophobia as the presenting visual symptom of chiasmal compression. Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology, 22(1), 3-8

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.