Understanding Abnormal Blood & Pituitary Test Results

Question
An MRI has recently indicated a small 3mm or 1/8" tumor on my pituitary gland.  Blood test (trying to rule out cushing's) taken the morning after taking a dose of dexamethasone the night before revealed my ACTH levels were very low and the cortisol levels were slightly below normal.  Sorry I do not have the exact numbers on me.  Other recent blood work has indicated my total testosterone levels were well below normal (test taken in early morning on June 16th) and I have a high dopamine level.  Again, I don't have any of the actual numbers with me but can tell you the last 1 1/2 to 2 years have been through hell with symptoms piling on including: fatigue, extreme body pains, easily injured, rapidly declining cognitive skills, unable to focus at work, occassional complete loss of vision in left eye, right eye declined from 20/40 to 20/250 in a period of just under a year, and on and on...
Anyway, just wondered if there was any significance to these particular levels being off?

Answer
Lance,

Your symptoms and the tests - the ones that are low - point to Addison's Disease. (I assume it has been caused by the tumor.) Addison's Disease is the opposite of Cushing's Disease - all the tests in Cushing's Disease are high, whereas in Addison's they are low. Also, individuals with Cushing's Disease appear overweight. Individuals with Addison's are thin. I'm not sure how they arrived at the conclusion that you might have have Cushing's Disease instead of Addison's Disease, unless you are overweight. I'm not sure if the high dopamine level is significant in all of this or not. I would imagine that your doctor will be calling you fairly soon with some answers.

- Beth