December 2013 - checked out my nerves!

Well today was the 'nerve conduction study' test at the QA Hospital in Portsmouth. The short answer to the results is "there's nothing to worry about" - which is exactly the answer I wanted.

The doctor asked me some questions about my history and how I came to have the numb/tingly leg and foot and then wired me up to the EMG (Electromyography) machine. He then put the 'sensor' in various places in my lower leg and foot and put a small electrical current through me, which was an odd but not unpleasant sensation. Particularly as my toe's involuntarily curled as the current went on and off. The test showed that I don't have a Neuropathy which is excellent, and what I have done is probably pinched a nerve and slightly damaged it. A lovely quote of "I should consider myself normal" made me chuckle, but essentially what this means is I just live my life, if something specific annoys the condition then just avoid it. I am to monitor the situation and if it gets any worse then go back to my GP, it could well get better eventually. The actual outcome is that I still don't know exactly what is causing it, but it is likely to be in my lower back somewhere, but as an MRI scan has been done and shown no damage, then I can stop worrying.

Because this was another 'neuro' department of the hospital (Neurophysiology) the doctor took quite an interest in, and was very knowledgeable about, my Pituitary condition. He seemed impressed at my outcome and knew my Endocrinologist and surgeon, we talked through all the separate symptoms I have had over the years that I didn't put together to more clearly show I had the early signs of the Pituitary tumour. Quite interesting to talk it through like that, and show how useful 20/20 hindsight really is. He was surprised that my failed eye field tests 4 or 5 years ago didn't result in a diagnosis. But as I said in my blog before, I went and did loads of field tests and had extensive examinations of my eyes but nothing was found....I presume because my eyes always were healthy, but the cause was my optic nerve not the eye. 

It reminded me of a list of symptoms I looked through a while ago, and realised I have had most of them. So here they are reproduced from the Pituitary Foundation website, here are a list of symptoms of Hypopituitarism:

	Did I have these symptoms?	Have I got the symptoms now?
Excessive tiredness and decreased energy	Yes	No
Muscle weakness	Yes	Not so much (working on it)
Reduced body hair	Yes	Not so much!
Weight gain	No	No
Increased sensitivity to cold	Yes	No
Constipation	No	No
Dry skin	Yes	Still a bit
Pale appearance	Yes	No (rosy cheeked in fact)
Low blood pressure and dizziness on standing (postural hypotension)	Yes	No
Headaches	No	No
Vision disturbance	Yes	No
Diabetes Insipidus	Yes (after the operation)	No (thank goodness!)

So there you go, it just shows how typical a Pituitary patient I was, I just didn't know it!