Gosh the blog can be all doom and gloom sometimes! Although many with Fibro would agree we do have a lot to moan about.

Anyway, I have some good news. The hospital phoned me the other day to give me a new appointment cancellation with and Endocrinologist closer to home. I went along and she was very nice and listened to what I had to say. She agreed that my morphine could damage the Pituitary so that was a good start……

She has arranged for the blood test, injection, then blood test (I will get the name of the test researched when I can) in the day clinic rather than the Pathology lab. This means I can use the EMLA local anaesthetic cream for the blood tests which should stop any problems. This means I can stay horizontal afterwards to prevent the clinical shock phenomena kicking in so all should be fine.

For the MRI she is going to talk to the Radiologist and see if there is any way to image the area without contrast solution because I’m just going to be in too much pain/ risk otherwise. If we have to go for contrast solution only she will organise an anaesthetist etc to be there and will write to me with the findings. I really hope they will go for no contrast, at least give it a try but I’m no MRI expert so I can’t really guess at the likelihood. But fingers crossed, at least she took it seriously and didn’t automatically think I was trying to get out of it for fear or anything like that….. In fact MRI’s etc are about the easiest test you can have as long as your not scared of small spaces. In fact the only problem they might have is waking me up at the end as I tend to fall asleep.

Thought I would share the good news to you all. I hope everyone has had a good festive Christmas and a great new year!

Just a quick update after I saw an endocrinologist recently. I was referred after a series of blood tests showed abnormal (low) low serum testosterone. The theory is that using over 100mg of morphine sulphate a day damages the Pituitary gland. The most recent test showed:

High Serum alkaline phosphatase

Low Combined total vitamin D2 and D3 Level

Low Serum cortisol level

High Serum prolactin level

Low Serum testosterone level

The pain management consultant and the specialist pharmacist now managing my morphine had asked for these tests because of my morphine intake and combination of symptoms. Unfortunately the Consultant Endocrinologist was less inclined to go along with this theory and suspects it could be flash in the pan. She also thinks there could be a link with the steroid based creams I use for Psoriasis. We then discussed the next move which would be a contrast enhanced MRI if the pituitary gland. Here comes the problem…. Due to the pain issues I have with cannula’s I wouldn’t be able to have a contrast enhanced MRI. Yet again we come to this barrier and it is very frustrating, doctors who have tried it before seem to share the opinion they wouldn’t do it again and no matter which consultant I discuss it with they refuse to acknowledge its not something that should happen, have no idea how to explain it and change the subject as fast as they can. It appears that for some reason they think if they acknowledge the problem they will have to attempt to solve it and they haven not got the first clue how to do it. Therefore the Endocrinologist wants to discharge me back to my GP and request he refers me to someone at my local hospital instead! Her reasons were that for her to conduct the test she would need to find someone in the country to write to about my specific problem and then I would have to be admitted to a central hospital quite far from home for them to be able to conduct the contrast enhanced MRI and this would take months to arrange. So we appear to be at a dead end again, where blood tests seem to show issues but no one can agree on what they show and to test further would require a cannula! Meanwhile I continue to suffer the effects of low testosterone!

(Background on the Cannula issue: Since I was a child I have had problems with blood tests. For some reason they are so painful it’s difficult to describe but they are my number 10 in terms of pain score. I have had various other injuries, broken bones etc which have been really painful but nothing like the pain of a blood test. As soon as the needle is out the pain goes but about ten minutes later I go into some sort of clinical shock where i go white, green and pass out for a few minutes. A GP who was supervising a blood test when I was a child thought he had killed me and was in a right worried state about it. It was thought I had a fear of needles and this was triggering a pain response psychologically but after a long period of work with a psychologist the conclusion was that it was a an unexplained physical response and I had no fear of needles or the process (which I always knew) This has now been solved with the use of EMLA cream and having blood taken lying down a position I stay in for some time after the test. However we have the same issue with cannula, as soon as its in I’m rolling around in agony and start to have the same shock response. After this was tried last time the site was painful for over a month and painful to touch for a month longer. The doctors who have tried it don’t want to try it again and can offer no explanation as to why it is so painful. So much so no one wants to deal with it! The consultants who I have attempted to discuss this with are in double figures but no one seems to believe the pain response is real, other than those who have seen it first hand and whenever I try to explain it people think I’m making it up to avoid a test or that its psychological and nothing more. But when it comes to needing a cannula for test or treatment no one wants to attempt to solve it with me. I have found no other person that has the same response and as I say no doctor will deal with it and it always leaves me at a dead end)