The local effects of the tumour commonly cause headache and, less frequently, impairment of vision, particularly of the temporal ?eld of vision, as a result of pressure on the nerves to the eye. The tumour may damage the other pituitary cells giving rise to gonadal, thyroid or adrenocortical insu?ciency. The disease often becomes obvious in persons over about 45 years of age; they may also complain of excessive sweating, joint pains and lethargy. The diagnosis is con?rmed by measuring the level of growth hormone in the serum and by an X-ray of the skull which usually shows enlargement of the pituitary fossa.
Treatment The most e?ective treatment is surgically to remove the pituitary adenoma. This can usually be done through the nose and the sphenoid sinus, but large adenomas may need a full CRANIOTOMY. Surgery cures about 80 per cent of patients with a microadenoma and 40 per cent of those with a large lesion; the rate of recurrence is 5–10 per cent. For recurrences, or for patients un?t for surgery or who refuse it, a combination of irradiation and drugs may be helpful. Deep X-ray therapy to the pituitary fossa is less e?ective than surgery but may also be helpful, and recently more sophisticated X-ray techniques, such as gamma knife irradiation, have shown promise. Drugs – such as BROMOCRIPTINE, capergoline and quiangoline, which are dopamine agonists – lower growth-hormone levels in acromegaly and are particularly useful as an adjunct to radiotherapy. Drugs which inhibit growth-hormone release by competing for its receptors, octeotride and lanreotride, also have a place in treatment.
See www.niddk.nih.gov/health/endo/pubs/ acro/acro.htm
www.umm.edu/endocrin/acromegaly.htm... acromegaly
Symptoms: sweat rash, photophobia (intolerance of bright light on the iris of the eye), wasting, rapid heart beat, weakness, swollen ankles, diminished reflexes.
Alternatives. Assist the liver in its task to eliminate poisons, and to cleanse the lymph system.
Adults: Gotu Kola, Sarsaparilla, German Chamomile: teas.
Young children: German Chamomile tea: sips, freely – as much as well tolerated. ... acrodynia