Acromegaly

doi:10.1136/bmj.39253.602141.AD

BMJ 2007;335:824-825 (20 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.39253.602141.AD

Practice

A patient's journey

Acromegaly

Jon Danzig, patient

Hemel Hempstead

jondanzig@aol.com

Acromegaly may be a rare condition and difficult to diagnose.This patient's story highlights the importance of inquisitivequestioning in cases with no obvious diagnosis.

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Introduction

Something strange started happening to me around 10 years ago.My shoe size grew from 9 to 11, my income permanently driedup, and the girlfriend I was going to marry left after we stoppedhaving sex. It wasn't just the sex, or lack of it. I also dramaticallychanged, both personally and physically. My nose grew bigger,my forehead enlarged, and my face and hands became puffy andcoarse. But these were all gradual changes that I only realisedin retrospect. Some friends noticed more acutely. One, who hadn'tseen me for four years, looked shocked when I opened my frontdoor. "You've rearranged your face," he blurted. My youngersister was blunter. She said I looked like I'd been in a fight.

I went from being dynamic and creative to someone who was apatheticand exhausted. My moods became widely variable. I was more anxiousand easily fatigued. . . . [Full text of this article]