The pituitary adenoma is a benign neoplasm of the pituitary gland. Until recently it used to be quite a rare disease, but lately the detected cases have greatly increased in number. The explanation for this phenomenon may be the growth of the radiation level in our life environment, radiations that affect our endocrine system, too. This system is more sensitive to the environment changes and to the harmful factors acting upon our body every day. Moreover, the symptoms of the endocrine disorders show themselves much sooner in our body.

The hypophysis, also called the pituitary gland, plays a very important role in our body, as it is the second main control centre of the endocrine system after the epiphysis. It controls the level of hormones secreted by thyroid gland, adrenals, pancreas and ovaries or testicles.

A pituitary adenoma causes very serious hormonal disorders and it affects the entire activity of the endocrine system.

The hormones have the role of a catalyst in the human body and an alteration of their normal values prevents the metabolism from functioning within normal parameters. We may say that any disease is preceded by an endocrine disorder.  After stress, the hormonal disorders are the second factor that causes the onset of diseases.  

Causes

There are numerous and very complex causes of this disease. The most frequent of them are environment toxicity, very intense emotional shocks and unsolved inner conflicts.

The toxins entering our body disturb the metabolic exchanges as well as the endocrine activity, causing the alteration of the hormonal levels. As these values alter, the pituitary gland receives wrong information and it throws itself out of balance. If the hormonal disorders persist in the body for a long time before being detected and treated, the adenoma takes shape.

When a person goes through intense emotional traumas, an amount of hormones, larger or smaller than the normal values, is released, in order that the body should cope with the crisis situation. As a result of the emotional shock, the nerve system may get stuck upon the information received on the that moment. In this case, the brain will order the endocrine glands to keep secreting the same hormone amounts as in the moment of crisis, although the crisis situation is gone. The endocrin system is overstrained and the hormonal disorder occurs, leading to the formation of the pituitary adenoma.

The hormone amount secreted in the body is influenced by the intensity of our feelings and experiences. When there are inner conflicts, intense emotional oscillations take place, which are followed by sudden oscillations of secreted hormone amounts. Too frequent oscillations within a period of time will exhaust the pituitary gland, generating alterations in the structure of the gland.

Symptoms and Effects

The pituitary adenoma is a disease that may occur in both sexes. Its clinical manifestations depend on the location of the tumor, on its nature and on the evolution stage of the disease.

Prolactinomas are its most frequent forms. In their case, the formed tumor produces the prolactin hormone. In women it causes amenorrhea (absence of menstruation), galactorrhea (false lactation) and infertility. In men it is manifested by hypogonadism, decreased libido and impotence. The tumors producing an excess of growth hormones lead to gigantism in children and to acromegaly in adults, namely the excessive growth of head and limbs. The ACTH secreting adenomas cause the onset of Cushing disease.

The occurrence of any type of pituitary adenoma in women is accompanied by the existence of ovarian cysts, breast and thyroidal nodules, serious menstruation disorders, decrease of the libido, frigidity in some cases and sterility in most cases.

The quality of  vision may also be affected, by the pressure the tumor puts upon the optic nerve. Depending on the size of the adenoma, it may be merely a matter of alteration in the perception of shades or a matter of complete blindness.

There may occur headaches, focusing and memory problems, emotional oscillations that exhaust and confuse the patient. Gradually, a general anxiety and fatigue state sets in. Alterations occur in mental processes, which may generate a decrease of intellectual and professional efficiency.

Treatment

Acupuncture acts upon the above mentioned causes on one hand and upon the symptoms on the other hand, breaking the vicious circle of the disease. During the acupuncture sessions, the stimulated points act as micro command centers. By their activation, the brain is ordered to begin the process of toxin elimination and to adjust the functions of the endocrine system. Where psychological factors are involved, the brain “is told” by the conveyed information that the crisis situation no longer exists. The pituitary adenoma restores its normal functions as the crisis generated blockage was removed.

In its first stage, the treatment for the inner conflicts generated adenomas involves the placement of the pituitary gland in “stand-by” for a short period that varies. At this stage of the treatment, the endocrine glands are merely relaxed; they do not become non-functional and they produce a minimal amount of hormones. The body’s need of hormones is supplemented by phytotherapeutic products and by the information transmitted to the brain during the acupuncture sessions.

During the treatment the patient is constantly monitored. The functions of the hypophysis are reactivated when the results of this monitoring show that the endocrine system returned to normal functioning parameters.

Acupuncture proved to be an efficient therapy for treating this disease. Also, it is non-invasive, it does not cause any adverse effects in the body and it acts directly upon the disease, upon its symptoms and causes. By combining acupuncture with other traditional therapies, the healing process is accelerated.

The benign pituitary tumor is a disease that must be dealt with utmost responsibility and seriousness by the patient.  It is very important that the treatment should continue uninterruptedly to the complete reabsorption of the tumor. Any interruption will result in slowing down the healing process. Stopping the treatment will lead to the relapse of the disease.