Pineal cysts: debilitating pain
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Imagine suffering with daily headaches and not being able to sleep for nearly a decade. Not knowing what was wrong -- only to finally find out the answer was in your head all along.
The debilitating condition that can plague people for years and the doctor that's helping give them their lives back.
Until recently, a good night's rest was only a dream for Kim Frasca.
"I was still breathing, but I felt dead," Kim Frasca told ABC30.
Her inability to sleep and constant headaches came on suddenly nine years ago.
"I was like a wreck," Frasca said. "I was a physical and mental wreck."
Kim says over the years she tried everything and saw doctor after doctor, but no one could give her an answer.
"By the end, I think you know I was contemplating suicide," Frasca told ABC30.
An MRI finally revealed a tiny cyst deep in her brain on her pineal gland -- a structure that aids in our sleep cycle. When neither her neurologist nor her endocrinologist knew what to do, she found doctor dong Kim on her own.
"For those patients that are symptomatic, it can be debilitating and life-altering," Dong H. Kim, M.D. director of Memorial Hermann and professor of neurosurgery at UT Health Medical School, told ABC30.
Dr. Kim says patients often suffer for years, because even if a doctor finds a pineal cyst, they don't believe it causes symptoms and won't perform the delicate surgery to remove it.
"I know different because I have removed over 100 of these cysts and so many of my patients, you know the vast majority have had such complete symptom relief," said Dr. Kim.
"Dr. Kim saved my life," said Frasca.
Four months post-surgery, Kim and dog Athena can finally relax.
Dr. Kim says currently there is no test to tell patients if the symptoms they experience are caused by a pineal cyst.
Symptoms to look out for include chronic headaches, changes in vision, pain looking upwards, memory problems and trouble sleeping.
For more information on this report, please contact:
Kathryn Klein
Manager, Media Relations
Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center
Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital
713-704-5577
kathryn.klein@memorialhermann.org
