pituitary tumor

I am a 48 yr old female diagnosed with a pituitary adenoma in Feb.2011.  It is non functioning  not secreting any hormones. I am also going thru premenopause.  my question is how do I know if it is the tumor causing pressure and headaches or is just the menopause stuff? I have high blood pressure and am taking lisinopril and they gave me another beta blocker propranolol er 80 mg which has helped with the pressure it was overbearing feeling like my face was about to explode. I take my meds at night. lisinopril, propranolol, sertraline 50 mg because the dr talked me into it, sronyx 0.10/0.02 mg becuase of the periods that won't stop. one of them is giving me diarreah (diarrhea) in the middle of the night uncontrollable sometimes (not good) just since the propranolol and sertraline, can I just stop one of these I've only been on those 2 rx's for a week.

[Daniel M Prevedello, MD]

Dear shawno45

We can have a very good idea if it is menopause or if the tumor can be affecting your gland function just by looking at your hormonal levels.
During menopaus there is an increase in FSH and LH, whereas the opposite occurs when there is compression, these numbers go down.
In terms of headaches it is always difficult to determine if it is caused by the tumor or something else since a lot of people can have hadaches with a normal MRI.