I am (was?) a journalist, PR and events manager living in the Peak District.
In February 2015 I was diagnosed with a prolactinoma, a benign (i.e. non cancerous) tumour on my pituitary gland (it’s under your brain, I didn’t know either), then in the summer I found out that I’d also got Chronic Fatigue (aka ME/CFS).
A extra blood test bolted on (‘Just in case’) to a standard early menopause test during a visit to a private GP for migraines and missed periods in November 2014 flagged up prolactin levels 25 times higher than normal. I saw an NHS endocrinologist a month later. Nothing showed up on an MRI scan so I was told to wait 18 months and see if my hormones settled down.
I remember coming home with my Mum and sitting weeping in my kitchen. She was over the moon that I had the all-clear. I was in despair.
The only way I could describe what was wrong was to cry, “I am not me. This isn’t me. This isn’t who I am.”
In desperation I booked to see a private endocrinologist, Professor Shern Chew, at the London Clinic who said the tumour was too small to show up on a scan and started my treatment.
This blog is an attempt to make sense of the past year and to process some of my experiences. It’s also an attempt to help people understand how a chronic illness can turn your life upside down.
ME/CFS is a hugely controversial subject and I’m not even certain I have it. Though I tick almost every diagnostic box, I could simple be suffering the symptoms of the drug I’m on to shrink the tumour.
If you’d like to get in touch by email, please do but I have no desire to get involved in any arguments so I’ve disabled the comments. These are simply my experiences. Everyone is different.
iamnotme 