He blamed stress and aging. It was actually a pituitary tumor.
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Function member: Jonathan
Function focus: Hormones
Discovery: Elevated Prolactin and a noncancerous pituitary tumor
Biomarker imbalances:
- Prolactin
- Testosterone
Jonathan didn’t feel like himself.
At 42, he had just gotten married. He and his wife were starting to think about a family. From the outside, his life looked full.
But his exhaustion was constant. Not all the time. Just enough to notice. He told himself it made sense. Stress. Travel. Getting older.
Reasons that felt valid enough to not look deeper.

A signal
When Jonathan joined Function, he wasn't expecting to find anything serious.
But on his first set of results, one marker was flagged.
Prolactin, a hormone regulated by the pituitary gland, came back slightly elevated. Not urgent enough to require immediate medical care, but enough to pay attention.
I had no idea what it was before Function.
Prolactin isn't part of a standard set of tests. It rarely gets checked unless a doctor is specifically looking for it.
Jonathan took note and moved on.
The number kept rising
On his Mid-Year test, the number was still rising. He was concerned, and sought medical advice that led him to an endocrinologist.
I honestly didn’t know what an endocrinologist was until I had to care about it.
This visit opened a door to more testing. An MRI. And then, a new discovery.
The images showed a prolactinoma, a prolactin-secreting tumor on his pituitary gland.
No more fear
The pituitary gland sits at the base of the brain. And the idea of a brain surgery made Jonathan nervous. But having real information changed the way he processed it.
Knowledge was safety. It gave me control again.
The tumor was noncancerous. And the path forward was simpler than he expected: No surgery. Just medication, taken twice a week.
Within a month, he started to feel the shift
My energy is back up. I’m not experiencing the same symptoms. I’m now on a path to feeling better and feeling like myself again.

Why this changed more than his lab results
For Jonathan, this wasn’t just about one result. The experience changed how he thinks about health.
The only way to really know what is going on with your body is to be regularly tested so you’re aware.
“I can’t think of an easier path to take control over your own health.”
Function gave him the signal that something wasn’t right and the data to take the next step.
Now, he’s thinking ahead.
I want to feel safe and secure in my body so when we’re choosing to have a family, there aren’t things getting in the way of that.
Al-Chalabi M, Alsalman I. Physiology, prolactin. National Library of Medicine. Published 2023. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507829/
El SA, Fahmy MW, Schwartz J. Physiology, Pituitary Gland. Nih.gov. Published July 7, 2019. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459247/
