[Moreta]

I went to the Urologist on Wednesday, and he wasn't quite sure what the mass near my kidney, but he thought it might be a pheochromocytomas. Apparently the mass is wrapped around the artery that goes into the kidney and he said they would probably have to take the whole kidney if they were to take the mass out.

Technically, this is probably what it is:

Extra-adrenal paragangliomas (often described as extra-adrenal pheochromocytomas) are closely related, though less common, tumors that originate in the ganglia of the sympathetic nervous system and are named based upon the primary anatomical site of origin.

I ALWAYS have weird stuff wrong with me. But on the other hand, I guess I should thank Topamax, for making me dehydrated so I had to go to the hospital. Since.....

About 11.1% of adrenal cases are malignant, but this rises to 30% for extra-adrenal cases

Also:

Patients experiencing symptoms associated with pheochromocytoma should be aware that it is rare. However, it often goes undiagnosed until autopsy; therefore patients might wisely choose to take steps to provide a physician with important clues, such as recording whether blood pressure changes significantly during episodes of apparent anxiety.

Basically, most of the physical ailments I've been experiencing the past 2-3 months, excessive sweating (and I'm not meaning excessive sweating from medication like effexor, I'm talking about sitting in a room that's 60 degrees F, and sweating everywhere), the daily headaches I've been having, high blood pressure, pain, and having an elevated heart rate. It would be awesome if all of those things went away.

Has anyone ever experienced this before?

[lynn P.]

I just wanted to say I hope you'll be okay and sorry this is happening. I wonder if that drug actually caused this condition? I'll be praying for you ((Queen Accountant))