Your all lightweights compared to me!

[Mark28]

Think that YOUR manboobs are emasculating eh?  Well how manly would you feel if your man boobs lactated too?

Yep, due to an undiagnosed pituitary tumor that I've had for all of my adult life, my prolactin levels have been off the charts!  This is what causes pregnant women to produce milk. (yes, even normal men have prolactin in their systems, but instead of levels of under 20 parts, It was discovered that mine were at over 3,000 parts!  Hell, that's several times higher than pregnant women have.

I smirk at the photos of most of these dudes in here who are crying bout their "moobs".  I've had to deal with not only the boobs, but also the effects of my tumor.   In my opinion, my photos are worse than most I've seen, but they pale in comparison to all the  psychological torment that I have been thru.

I was diagnosed with the tumor 3 years ago during an MRI  scan.  Funny part is that the MRI was being taken to determine if I had any lingering head damage after a street-bike accident on a racetrack.  Well, no brain damage found, but what they DID find was the lifelong answer to why I always felt like a pathetic excuse for a MALE!

Unfortunately, the tumor has not allowed my body to release most of its' testosterone into my system, therefore I have had to suffer from those side affects too.  No natural muscle tone..... low sex drive.......No facial hair- hell, virtually no BODY hair for that matter.  I now give myself testosterone shots, and was Sooo elated to start shaving like REAL men do!  Too bad my first shave did'nt occur until I was 40 years old.

I never knew I could lactate until one of the doctors asked me if I'd ever tried.  Up til then, I'd done alot of nipple squeezing in my life, but just quick little "tweaks" so that my puffy nips would flatten out for a few seconds, so as not to embarass me in front of others.  I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about.  You become very adept at "tweaking" without drawing attention to the act.  

I posted a couple of pics in the "photo" section.....under the subject title "Your all lightweights compared to me".....

Mark

[Paa_Paw]

Congratulations on having found the cause of your problem and being on treatment.

You left a lot unsaid, has the tumor been removed?

How was your tumor overlooked for so long? Did you (Like many of us) simply avoid the Dr.s office?

[Mark28]

I am on medication to shrink the tumor.  They don't want to operate because it is close to a major artery.  My prolactin levels are coming down, but not quite where they need to be.

I went so long without diagnosis because my symptoms were so vague.  My lack of facial and body hair was thought to be hereditary, my breasts have always been large, but I thought that they were related to my weight.  My Low sex drive was the only drive that I knew.  

I really just chalked it all up to bad genetics.

Mark

[Hypo-is-here]

It is good you are getting sorted out Mark, brilliant in fact, but do not compare yourself to others as there will always be people in greater or lesser situations than yourself and such comparisons do not help you or other people.

e.g

I had a 10 and a half hour operation to remove multiple liver tumours at 17 and had half my liver removed and had follow up chemotherapy...and then had bladder cancer at 25 followed by osteoporosis of the spine, another osteo condition in one arm, testosterone deficiency and two genetic conditions affecting lungs and liver plus gynecomastia also of course.

Now fact is on a sliding scale I could say that your issues were a lot less important than mine.....but I wont do that, like I said such comparisons help no one (I know it is easy to make them and a difficult thing to resist).

Great to hear that things are moving forward for you...but be careful not to do so at other peoples expense.

[Mark28]

No worries, My subject title was more of an attempt to grab attention than anything else.

I probably should pursue a career with the National Enquirer!

Mark

[Hypo-is-here]

In any event great to hear you have found the cause of your problems and and are getting treatment.

You can find support for the testosterone issues at the two links below;

The first is a US forum, the second a UK forum

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/hypogonadism2/

http://www.andropause.org.uk/newforum/forum_frameset.htm