A Golden Oldie originally from Tuesday, October 7, 2008
I started back in Jan 08 with a heart arrythmia that ultimately put me through weeks of cardio testing. All cardio came up negative, including passing the stress test at 110% for my age. I went back to my PCP and she was deadended with answers.
I started to advocate for myself asking if it could be endocrine since I had been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s Disease(a type of Hypothroidism) in 2002. In particular I asked her if she thought my adrenal system was the culprit. My doc said well let’s check cortisol levels. I did a salivary cortisol test that, according to the endocrinologist my doc spoke with said, was the highest he had seen.
They ordered up an MRI and confirmed a Pituitary Tumor on June 27th. My doc reacted quickly and had me go for an emergency eye exam that day to check visual fields…they were fine. Then my doc had me do urine and dexamethasone testing to see if cortisol levels could be duplicated.
Early July I had a phone call from my doc stating that since the other tests for cortisol came back normal they felt I had a non-functioning tumor but still wanted me to meet with a neurosurgeon. Finally on Aug 5th I met with the surgeon.
In the meantime I had been reading whatever I could get my hands on. I was prepared with many questions to the surgeon. Before I was in the room talking with him for 15 min. he mentioned Cyclic Cushing’s as a possibility. He had me repeat the salivary testing for 5 days…all came back normal. So the opinion remained that I may have Cyclic Cushings or can watch the tumor and symtoms or I could have the tumor removed for peace of mind.
I opted to have the surgery. to remove the tumor. Last Mon. Sept 29th I had Transsphenoidal surgery to remove the tumor. On Fri. Oct 3rd the neurosurgeon called with the pathology report results being that it was an ACTH(aka Cortisol) and Prolactin Tumor. He was vague to make a formal statement to agree that it was Cyclic Cushings.
So I am home on the mend 1 week post op…glad I made the decision to go forward with tumor removal. The medical system is curious though how they appeared almost afraid to make any formal opinions. Although the surgeon did state that Cyclic Cushings is difficult to diagnose. In my opinion, the evidence is in the pathology report!
Maybe it is my imagination, but I already feel like my “old self” back 10 yrs. ago. The other bit of history for me is that after my hypothroidism was diagnosed and I was stabilized on Synthroid and Cytomel I could never get weight off and in less than 6 months in 2005 I gained 40+lbs. No matter what I tried to do for weight loss I could not budge more than 5 lbs. I am now anxiouis to see how I do. I meet with the neurosurgeon in 5 weeks. He and possibly an endocrinologist will be following my health. Time will tell but I do feel I am on the right track.
“Without exaggeration, I’ve always been an incredibly energetic, exceptionally healthy woman with tremendous stamina and drive well into my 50’s. Since 2003, despite tenatious attention to diet and excersise, I’ve gained 45 lbs, now nearing 160 (I’m 61 years old and 5’5”). I know many large women with beautifully proportioned bodies. Mine, however, exactly replicates a Cushing’s patient. I know I’m seen as a pitiable “fat-so” who should learn to leave the table sooner and get off the couch more often. How ironic!! If I weren’t doing exactly that I’d easily weigh more than 200 by now. Equally disturbing are the other symptoms I’m experiencing, most of them attrituable to a pituitary adenoma. I’m utterly physically disabled when compared to my “abilities” of just two years ago!! More frightening is how quickly they’re accelerating! My symptoms aren’t caused by steroids, alcoholism or drugs.”
The above is a portion of a cover letter I sent to a neurosurgeon last week, along with copies of the films and results of my MRI (on a 3.0 Tesla, W/WO contrast) that showed a 5x5x6 mm adenoma on my right pituitary gland. I’ve been cortisol testing for nine months with mostly elevated, but not outrageous results. The neurosurgeon personally called me within 3 hours of receiving my package and agreed I do have an ACTH secreting tumor that needs to be surgically removed. He’s tentatively scheduled surgery for Nov 26th, the day before Thanksgiving!! Pinch me, I’m dreaming!!
It’s incredible this happened so quickly when so many of my Cushie comrads are still waiting for a diagnosis years into their disease. I must give credit for my success to sites like yours that provide education and incredible information, stress the importance of being your own advocate by taking matters into your own hands, being totally prepared for your doctor’s visits; speaking their language (in medical terms); immediately dumping those who aren’t effective, believing or productive; seeking out the most qualified and preparing your presentaion as if you were an actress auditioning for the lead in a movie!! It should include your “resume”, before-and after-photographs, all test results to date, a brief out line of symptoms and when they occured. I hope you’ll be as fortunate as I was!!! I promise to keep you posted. Thanks for your encouragement and prayers. I’ll be in recovery one week from today!! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone….
Hi everyone. I’m a 32 year old female. 5’5″ and currently 178lbs. I have a unilateral adrenalectomy on Wednesday, June 22, 2016. I’m just under a week post-op and feeling pretty good.
My story begins 6 years ago. I had always been thin. Too thin. People commented on how thin I was. But that was just me. I was a vegetarian, active… but not actively trying to be skinny.
In June of 2009 I began to gain weight. By December I had gained almost 25 pounds. I went to every doctor I could think of…. and everyone told me the same thing: “Eat Less! Workout More!”. Having been pretty healthy to begin with- I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. I got a personal trainer, signed up for a few 5ks and joined Weight Watchers.
Every day I was discouraged as the scale went up and nothing I did seemed to work. My hair went from dirty blond to VERY dark brown, thick but fine to very coarse and curly. I started to bruise really easily. I stopped sleeping. I got the buffalo hump (although it took me 6 years to find out what that was)….
I stopped wanting to see people or go places. I was embarrassed by my new shape and how easily I got tired doing things I had done so many times before.
3 states and 11 doctors- including specialists- later…. I had a routine CT scan done for ulcerative colitis. The tech that did the scan noted a tumor on my adrenal gland. My GI doctor asked me about it- I had never been told there was a tumor before- and sent me to an endocrinologist. That was in October 2015. My endo tested and tested and tested…. and finally- in April 2016 diagnosed Cushings.
So like I said, I’m a few days post-op. On 20mg of HC 2x a day right now. Still sore and puffy and hoping that I will see an improvement in weight/sleep/bruising soon!
I had never heard of it before my doctor said he thought I might have Cushing’s. I went right to the library and read about the disease, they literally could have used a picture of me to display the physical characteristics.
After some testing I went to the NIH to verify I had a pituitary tumor. After it was confirmed I was scheduled for surgery. My surgery was successful to a point. They said a small part of my tumor could not be removed. My recovery went fairly well!
I began to lose weight and a lot of my symptoms went away. However it has been a long road. I still have some symptoms that never went away, I still sweat a lot, body aches and pains (now I have RA, fibromyalgia) memory not great, never lost all my weight either. My labs all say most of the time I am in normal range but I do not feel cured! But new doctor says numbers are fine you are fine.
I have been disabled since 1993, I had a lot of health issues that later were all related to Cushing’s. This disease in my opinion is never cured!
Hi my name is Harley I’m a 56 year old male. In 1985 I broke my back which reqiured several surgeries over a period of 10 years, which caused a severe amount of pain. Then about 10 years ago I was diagnosed with addisons disease. I did’nt have all the symptoms of the disease but I’ve been diagnosed by my family physician plus other physians have confirmed the diagnosis also. As we all know this disease is very hard to detect. I’ve been on prednison and high doses of hydrocordison over the past 5 years. I’ve been hospitalised numerous times with adrenal crisis.
I was also diagnosed with a pituitary malinoma and have been treated that over the past 10 years. I have MRI’s every so often to see if it has enlarged.
I started seeing a massage therapist for the past 4 years.Starting with my back which has really been helping. She also treats me with oils which I was very hesitant at first but have grown to believe in them in many ways. My doctor has also discovered that my testoterone levels were extremely low so he has been giving me shots for that every 2 weeks I have recently been diagnosed with Cushings do to the high doses of steroids I’ve had during this time. In the past I’ve seen three endroconligists to avail.
Needless to say my wife and I have been very discouraged after all they are supposed to specialists. My last hospitalition my family doctor talked us into seeing another endo as my doctor said he was afraid of the shape I was in he was afraid of me not making it. I thank God for the faith that my wife and I have or I’m afraid this would have been more than we could handle but He has given us the strength to keep moving on.
God directed my wife to a gal that is a Certified Holistic Practioner that also has Cushings and Addisons herself. She has been living with this for the past 7 year. This is what prompted her to start her practice of healing. She started treatin herself first using oils and changing her diet and it worked for her she is stable now and doing much better. This is a real blessing because she has studied this disease indepth plus can relate to what I’m going through. It’s been great because before this I had know other contacts as we all know these are very hard diseases to detect. The new endo has set up a series of tests for me which I started a week ago and have another series this next Monday, after he gets the results of these he will decide where to go from there.
I’m so glad that God has finally set up a support group for me but they are also very strong in faith which continues to feed my wife and I.
Well, I was first diagnosed in 1990 after a year of tests and years of symptoms which I put down to my age (early 20s!!). I had a TSA to remove the pituitary tumour and was put on replacement therapy with steroids.
I lost LOADS of weight and felt better within days of the op. I felt I carried on improving for about 4 or 5 years post-surgery then felt ‘normal’.
But about 3 or 4 years ago now I started getting symptoms again. I didn’t know it then, but looking back now I know I did. I had cut down my steroids a little but my consultant’s team didn’t think it was anything important. I cut down again 2 years ago and again they didn’t think it mattered. At Christmas I cut down to 5mg of hydrocortisone a day in the morning. My GP wrote to my consultant to say I thought I wasn’t getting enough steroid and they were going to admit me for a day curve, but the paperwork never got done.
I chased this all up 2 weeks ago and have now been off all steroids for 2 weeks, have had a short synacthen with levels of steroid showing prior to the synacthen, 3 24 hour cortisols results awaited and a midnight Dexamethasone suppression results awaited.
It seems that my Cushing’s has recurred after 18 years.
Update June 3, 2009
3 June 2009 – I have now had short Synacthen. My basal cortisol was in excess of 700 and after the synacthen went to over 1000. I have also had 3 high 24 hour urinary cortisols and an overnight dexamethasone suppression which didn’t suppress and I had a level of in excess of 600. I have been booked for a MRI which I have been told will be in 4-6 weeks. I will also be called for 5 days of dexamethasone suppression at some point. I am getting depressed because all the symptoms I had first time round are coming back.
I can’t walk more than a couple of 100 yards without being out of breath and aching, I can’t climb stairs without a handrail, etc, etc, etc,…… It looks like my Cushings has come back but I so wish they would get on and sort it.
If anyone has knowledge of how long it takes to feel better after BLA, please advise. I’ve had unusually difficult setbacks since surgery. This web site has helped a lot so far..
I have had high blood pressure that has become harder to control for 11 years. Ultra sound did not show anything. Many other symptoms increased over the years, including diabetes, body shape, hump etc.
In feb. Of ’09 a ct showed a tumor in both adrenals. I was able to get into the mayo clinic and was diagnosed with cushings and had surgery on 4/10/09.
One week later, my bp dropped, to 30 on the diastolic . My face hit the floor when I fainted. I had to be air lifted out. I received a concussion and broken nose. On 6/12/09 I had my nose operated on and a cyst taken out of my lip.
I’m on my maintenance dose of hydro (20/10). How long before I feel better? Diabetes improving. Blood pressure still high.
I have been terribly ill for 17 months with adrenal insufficiency and a prolactinoma. I do not know yet if it is a nonfunctioning tumor or not, but I suspect so since I do not have any of the Prolactin symptoms. I will be evalutated soon for that.
I have gone the whole nine yards at Vanderbilt University Medical Ctr in Nashville recently. This is after 17 months of hell and seeing doctor after doctor. No one would listen to me.
Last July I think I was actually dying and was probably in adrenal crisis. I had hypertension and hypotension epsisodes with two ER visits with extremely high blood pressure and stroke symptoms. I was seen by many doctors who were all headed in the wrong direction. I was basically told it was female problems, stress, menopausal, etc. etc….you know the routine..many have the same story.
However..mine has a twist. I was so desperate for help I went to see a Mennonite Naturopathic healer in Kentucky. His name was well known of helping so many people. He not only seen his Mennonite Clan but also saw many “English” as we are called. He does Iris Iridology. This is a very old time practice that is about faded away. It takes years to learn and I suggest if you go to one make sure they have done it for years.
He looked into my iris with a small eye magnifying glass. He told me all the problems that I have been diagnosed for years, Fibromyalgia, IBS, Sleep Apnea, Insomnia, hypertension, hypotension, digestive disorders, and early pancreatitis. Now this was different than the doctors as my sister told me NOT to tell him any symptoms at all, much unlike the conventional doctors who heard all my symptoms. Then he really shocked me when he told me I had adrenal problems and something wrong with my pituitiary!!!!! He gave me natural medicines that helped some but I knew it was not the final ending to this problem.
I went back to my FP at the time and told him my horrible symptoms of flushing, anxiousness, nausea, dizziness, digestive problems, inflammatory pain etc, etc. He finally checked my norepenephrine levels were 624! He then did a MRI of my adrenal glands…..negative.
But then he went back into the service and left me holding the bag…no referral no recommendations. I was ticked. I had to search for a new FP on my own. Finally I found a FP in my own county that everyone said loved a challenge. He thought I had a carcinoid tumor or an adrenal tumor.
After blood tests showed several things he sent me to Vanderbilt. After my first appt. they tought the same thing. However tests revealed that my cortisol was lower than a 1. Barely registering. No wonder I was so ill. They did a MRI of my pituitary and found a 6 mm tumor..suspected to be a Prolactinoma.
So the Mennonite man was batting100%, conventional doctors 0%. Well, I know I still need conventional doctors so I can’t beat them up too much.
However…why is it so hard to get doctors to listen…even my regular Endo missed all this last fall even though he suspected orthostatic hypotention? Men doctors are horrible, particularly for not listening to women and labeling them hysterical depressive menopausal ninnies!
Would love to hear from others please about their experiences too? Meds or surgery for Prolactinoma…what worked for you?
I am now 34 years old and have recently moved to a new state. I really don’t know when I started to show the signs. I have had migraines since I was in junior high. I used to have dark stretch marks and major mood swings in high school. My periods were so very painful and heavy I would bleed through a sanitary napkin every hour and a half. Once I graduated I went to the health department and asked to be placed on BC pills. I was eighteen, planning on having sex, and wanting to be safe about it. Within the next three months I put on about 60 pounds.
When I first moved to Virginia I was weighing about 135 pounds on a 5’6″ frame ever so happy in a size 8. By the following January I was almost 200 pounds and in a size 20. I went from wearing form fitting clothes to wearing sweat pants and t-shirts as large as I could find them. When I asked the health department about this, I was told that you have to expect to gain weight when you first start on the birth control pills. I was an active 18 year old, I didn’t over eat, and I was a personal nanny to a very active child. I took her on walks daily for at least an hour.
Things happen, as they always do. My fiance and I broke up, I moved to another part of the state, and pretty much ate only enough to make sure I was getting some nutrients into me. Depression set in, and my whole being seemed to change. I went from being an outgoing, happy center of attention to an brooding and depressed loner. I didn’t even want to be around my family (whom I lived with at the time). I went to the doctor again. I wasn’t planning on doing anything, so I stopped taking the birth control. When I asked the doctor about the weight loss, I was told it would fade within time as long as I worked at it.
Two years go by and I worked at it, and 20 pounds went on their way. The depression was starting to ease, I felt some of my old self returning. I decided to move it along and branch back out on my own again. I vowed to take back two years of my life. I was out going again, I WAS ME! I was eating healthy, only getting fast food at the most, once a week. Eating more salads than anything, and county line danceing three to four hours (non-stop) about four times a week (one day a week was for a demonstration team). I wasn’t loosing any weight. As a matter of fact, I had started to slowly gain it again. I also had my first bout with kidney stones. I met my soon to be husband almost two years to the day of vowing to get back my lost years.
Since My husband I have married (9.5 years now), my weight has been a large roller coaster ride. I have never been back down to the 180 I was when we first met. I haven’t been below 200 since then. I have maxed out at 260 so far. Each time I feel almost like my old self, I pick up the hard dieting and working out 4-5 days a week. I love weight training. Not the body building kind, but the lean muscle building kind. I will start out loosing weight and I will keep it up. I will loose about 10 pounds before the gain starts. Then I will tell myself that the gain is muscle and it is to be expected. 20 pounds later, when I am 10 pounds more than when I started, the depression starts to set in. I keep working at it with tears in my eyes and I no longer enjoy it. Finally, when the next 5 pounds hit, I just give up. All of this takes place over about a 4 month period. The only time there was a repreve was when I was pregnant with my daughter. I went back to feeling like myself again when I was pregnant. I also lost 25 pounds while I was pregnant. I was pregnant for 6 months (she was 12 weeks early due to pre-eclampsia).
Kidney stones started happening more frequently. UTI’s (which I had never had before being pregnant) started happening about every 6 months. I had been diagnosed with endometreosis, and the ovarian cycst I had been diagnosed with at 17 had come back. I was diagnosed with depression, and was always being told by the doctor that I needed to loose weight. No matter now many times I told him that I tried only to gain it, it was like he never heard me.
My break through came about a year and a half ago. I was reading one of my mother’s Reader’s Digest’s she had left at my house. I was shocked. It was almost like reading my own story. That night I hopped on line and came to this website. There was a diagram hand drawn of what a body could look like with Cushings. While I was reading the symptoms, my husband walked in. He asked when I had posed for the drawing. I broke down in tears. My wonderful husband came over and held me while I cried it out. Then listened as I explained it to him. I still didn’t have the courage to ask my doctor about it.
The following month, the recurring UTI’s started. I was getting one every two -three weeks. Then my mind started to go. Like one of the bio’s I have read here, it felt like there was an alien in my head. I could see myself acting in ways that weren’t me. I couldn’t even interact with my daughter without having flashes of anger. The depression medication pretty much stopped working, and there were times I couldn’t even stand myself. I finally found the courage.
I made an appointment to see my PCP. Since there was nothing ‘wrong’, the earliest they could see me was a month away, I agreed. I nearly called back to cancel the appointment at least three times. I kept it. He wasn’t very supportive. I was overweight and fat people like us have to find a way to loose it was pretty much what he said. But he would order and 24 hour UFC test. and we would go from there. Guess what? It was high. He refered me to an Endo. Wonderful Endo. I hated leaving him.
I went to see Dr. Barnes and he listened to me. I took pictures of me for every year since I was 18(which took a while to gather since I haven’t really had any pictures taken of me for the last 8 years). He asked me questions. He listened to me. He made me feel as if what I had to say was important and needed to be heard. Then we did the exam. He talked, measured, asked, and explained the whole time. He looked at the hair loss, the hair that was growing where it shouldn’t, even the stretch marks that have long since faded to white (but once in a while flair red). He ordered a dexa test. Then he put me on blood pressure medication (my blood pressure had been creeping up for about a year), started me on Fortamet to help ease some of the symptoms, and ordered me back in two weeks. The test came back only slightly elevated. Enough to be over the norm, but not eoungh to confirm a diagnosis. He ordered a midnight cortisol test (it was now about almost 2 months since I first saw him). The results were on the high side of normal. He wanted to keep an eye on me. He couldn’t diagnose me, but he felt that my concern was warrented. He wanted to keep on eye on me. I was to see him every three months. If my symptoms were to come back, then I was to call him immidiately.
Four months ago I had to say good-bye to Dr. Barnes. I moved with my husband when he retired from the military. I am now back to the drawing board. I have a wonderful PCP now (which I didn’t before). She listened to me and refered me to an Endo. I left the new Endo’s office very exasperated. She walked into the appointment and didn’t even shake my hand. Strike one. Next came the physical exam. She felt my thyriod, one point in her favor. That was all she checked, strike two. Then, right there told me that I was diabetic (go figure that the last blood test I got said my sugar levels were excellent) and I had PCOS. The woman had only known me for ten minutes, if that, and was diagnosing me without seeing blookwork results or anything else. Third and final strike. I am still so put off by this experience, I haven’t gotten the nerve to go back to my PCP and ask for another referal. The Endo did do a dexa test, and said that according to that test, there was no way that I could have Cushing’s and that was the end of it.
Since then, I have had my gall bladder removed after having a gall stone pains for the last 4 years that no one could find. I also have two new kidney stones. One of them about a half an inch in diameter (again). The fatigue has returned. Insomnia is hitting again. Depression is setting in. My temper is starting to flare for the slightest wrong. My concentration is failing. When I changed the chanel and found the Mystery Diagnosis on about Cushing’s, I felt that was God’s way of pushing me. So, when the week starts, I will be calling my PCP and see if there is another Endo she can refer me to. As the song goes, ‘Here I go again on my own”.
I was diagnosed in April 2016 with Cushing Disease caused by a pituitarty adenoma. I believe I have struggled with these syptoms for over a decade.
I had a goiter removed from my thyroid in 1997 and have had numours biopsys on other nodules on my thyriod over the years.
Fortunately, I changed doctors and walk into Dr. Levetan office in Chestnut Hill Hopital. The discovery of my high cotisal levels, many tests, MRIs and a cat scan confirmed my diagnonis. She gave me many answers to different symptoms I have been struggling with that seem to be worse by the day.
In May, I met with Dr. Salvatori at John Hopkins and I am scheduled for surgery 8/10/2016.
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