Advice for pituitary hormone blood test

[Julesboz]

Hi all, I'm currently undergoing tests to determine what's up with me. My TSH is normal but my FT3 and FT4 are very low. My doc has spoken to an endocrinologist who has recommended a full pituitary blood test which I'm having Friday at 9am. Unfortunately all I got was a voicemail from my doc telling me this and I'm not sure how to prepare for this. I will call the surgery tomorrow to ask but it may take a few days to get hold of the doc so am wondering if anyone here knows the following:

- should I fast for the test?

- should I stop taking the folic acid tablets I'm taking (I have folic acid/iron deficiency)?

- should I stop taking the iron tablets?

- I self medicate with a natural progesterone/oestrogen cream. Should I stop using that?

- anything else?

Thanks in advance!

-

[elvera111]

sounds exactly like me. not sure about pituarity blood tests. does that mean prolactin. i didnt get bloods tested i had to go on MRI scan to determine outcome. it came back as fine so now looking into parathyroid

[Julesboz in reply to elvera111]

I think it's my pituitary hormones? Growth, cortisol, thyroid and sex? It's because sheehans syndrome has been mentioned, so the endocrinologist wants to check if my pituitary gland has been damaged, I think.

[BadHare]

Are they testing for prolactin for a pituitary adenoma?

It might be good to ask your GP to clarify what they're doing, & whether you need to miss meds or supplements..

Here's some testing info from The Pituitary Foundation that might give you a clue, though they don't state what you need to do prior to testing: pituitary.org.uk/informatio...

I had a pituitary function test & a few others, after raised prolactin flagged up a tumour, confirmed by an MRI.

[Julesboz in reply to BadHare]

Thanks for the reply, I've had a look at the link and it's very useful. I think you're right, I need to talk to my doctor.

[BadHare in reply to Julesboz]

You're welcome!

The Pituitary Foundation has a lot of local support groups groups, should you find you need that sort of help. It was their members magazine that helped me diagnose my secondary hypothyroidism. The endocrinologists I saw were useless.

Hope you have better luck!

Mel