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Does lack of Dopamine cause Pituitary Tumors?


sal

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There is a belief by some European researchers that this is indeed the case. Thus cabergoline. My dopamine levels were off the charts low. The primary researcher on this issue is in the Netherlands. There are some papers on research with frogs that shows low dopamine causes familial pituitary and other endocrine tumors. Interestingly the pituitary tumors that are described are in the center of the pituitary with tentacles reaching throughout the pit, which sounds exactly like what some of our tumors look like.

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Interestingly the pituitary tumors that are described are in the center of the pituitary with tentacles reaching throughout the pit, which sounds exactly like what some of our tumors look like.

 

I read somewhere, can't remember where, that dopamine is transported down the pituitary stalk. If so, what is the connection?

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Interesting stuff. I had an alternative physician who wanted to treat me with a dopamine agonist a few years back. I didn't know I had Cushing's and he believed I had a problem with my hypothalamus and that I could be helped with a medication that I think was used for Parkinson's patients. I should have tried it.

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Interesting question. My latest consultant has put me back on thyroxine and is considering usng some sort of MAOI to increase dopamine retention . This won't happen until we have successfully converted from testosterone injection to implant at which point he will have a better understanding of the situation.

I have to believe him although it seems to be a more radical approach than anybody else I've seen in the last five years.

 

Dave

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Yea, but I still say we need to find the source and stop treating letting them keep us chasing our tails treating the symptoms. Is low dopamine the "disease" or, again, is it another symptom like diabetes? That's the whole witches brew that they keep selling us. Not that I'm not going to try it. It seems quite a bit closer to the source of the problem than what we've been doing. I just want to know why some people get this and other don't.

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  • 3 months later...

Dopamine is the primary inhibitor of prolactin production from the lactotrophs in the pituitary (and lactotroph growth). So low dopamine coming from the hypothalamus to the pituitary would result in increased growth of lactotrophs and hyperprolactinemia (or a prolactinoma), and the dopamine agonist cabergoline is used to treat it. This paper (Dopamine and ACTH) states that blocking dopamine signaling (by knocking down one of the dopamine receptors) increases ACTH production and causes Cushing's-like symptoms in mice. So, dopamine has multiple effects on the pituitary.

 

Cabergoline is generally considered safe, although it has side effects like nausea (and hallucinations at very high doses).

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Sal, I think it's more saying that low dopamine can lead to Cushing's. I would assume that, once you HAVE Cushing's, you can't try to retroactively fix the cause. I don't know, though, because I can't read the link, only your comments. :P (link = broke)

 

I do find this really, REALLY interesting, though, since I've had ADHD since I was like 2, and they've found that people with ADHD have lower levels of dopamine. :hmm:

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Taking a dopamine agonist doesn't cure Cushings but it may help to some degree for some people. Doctors don't know what causes the low dopamine in the first place in Cushings the same way they don't know why in Parkinson's. Cabergoline has been shown to cause tumor growth (other kinds of tumors outside of the pituitary kind) and eventually uses up your dopamine reserve. I wish there was more research money for this disease.

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