Bev had a head injury and suffered pituitary problems later in life. She gives her moving story here. Her head injury may not have caused her hormone problems: so far there is no research supporting a connection between head injury and prolactinoma. However her story is important and may strike a chord with some readers.

During my childhood years I loved to ride. I would spend every weekend at the local stables mucking out, cleaning tack and leading the beginners around the paddock.

My reward for all this hard work was a free one-hour lesson on a Sunday afternoon. During one of these lessons I fell quite heavily and banged my head. As I was wearing a hard hat it was felt unnecessary for me to go to hospital, but was told I must go if I suffered any permanent head aches or problems with my vision.

In 2000, after two years of intensive tests I was shattered when I was told that I had developed a benign tumour on the pituitary gland at the base of my brain, and was diagnosed with Cushing’s disease, caused by a prolactinoma.

I had been aware of hormonal problems since I was 18, but I knew that the weight gain around my stomach, my red, moon face, weak muscles and bones, high blood pressure, purple stretch marks, irregular periods, increased facial and body hair alongside severe depression, were all so much more.

The consultant explained that when there is something wrong with the pituitary gland, which is located behind the bridge of the nose at the base of the brain, the body produces too much of the stress hormone cortisol, causing Cushing’s disease. Untreated the disease has a 50% mortality rate.

I was referred to a neurosurgeon at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, and admitted on 8 December 2002.

The procedure would be to make an incision between the upper lip and gum, tunnelling behind the nose, removing the tumour via the nasal passages. The complications and risks were that any damage to the optic nerve may cause sight impediment, damage to the nasal passages may require a bone graft from the thigh and the worst scenario, severing of a main artery causing death on the operating table. I was so desperate I really didn’t care.

The surgery lasted two hours, the tumour was completely removed and the operation declared a success. After 24-hour care on the high dependency unit, I was allowed home after a few days to continue my recovery at home.

Return to work should have been within 6 weeks, but I developed acute muscle pain and was unable to walk. I needed a course of intensive treatment from a physiotherapist and an osteopath that gradually improved my health over the coming year.

After the operation I was initially prescribed 30mg of Hydrocortisone daily and continued taking this for 5 years, but then started to experience early Cushings symptoms again, induced by excess steroids. My GP changed the dose to Prednisolone and over 12 months I was able to complete a withdrawal programme & am now medication free.

I have a regular 18-month consultation with my endocrinologist to ensure there is no regrowth.

Although it took 22 years of misunderstandings and desperation, a further two years of tests and two hours of surgery, I am well aware that I am very lucky.

I am left with type II diabetes and have many minor health issues, which have forced me to work from home, but when I look back to a time when I was 6 stone heavier with a 44″ H bust, male pattern hair growth and the desire to die rather than live this wretched life, I can at last see a brighter future, hopefully with the knowledge that pituitary disorders will now be diagnosed and treated with the early awareness learned from patients like me.