i am a 65 year old male who was diagnose with cushings about 7 yrs ago
i have no adrenal glands that are working
i have to take prednisone to keep me from crashing
am now a diabetic and have heart failure
i spend 99% of my life in bed i am very weak and in pain most of the time , my family doctor keep giving me prenisone and never gave my body a break from this drug so now what caused me to be so sick is what i have too take to stay alive.
my doctors now really dont no that much about cushings so i feel as though i am just stuck ,
I’m 28 years old. I had a pituitary tumour removed at the start of this year.
My main symptoms were weight gain, bright red stretch marks, joint pains, muscle loss and fatigue.
I was originally diagnosed with PCOS, but when diet and exercise caused no improvement I kept looking. Once the stretch marks appeared I was referred to an endocrinologist who conducted urine and blood tests. My cortisol levels were double the normal level. I was then referred to a surgeon who ordered an MRI and found the tumour.
The tumour was removed.I was in ICU the first night then a week more in hospital. It took me about 3 months to recover from the surgery. I am now recovering from the disease itself which is ongoing.
I do physical rehabilitation 6 days a week as well as regular seeing a dietitian, psychologist, endocrinologist, exercise physiologist and hormone specialist.
I’m hoping to return to work next year, which will be about a year after my surgery. I believe the disease has manifested for many years.
I think the perhaps the hardest part of the disease is the time it takes to get a diagnosis. I hope my story can help others get their answers sooner.
Hi, I am a 39 year old woman. I have a putitory tumor for the last fourteen years. the tumor has kiilled my putitory gland. I no longer produce any hormones. I have been on steroids for over fourteeen years and now my organs are getting damage from the steroids. The doctor say I will die if I take them I will die without them. Everytime they try to lower my steroids I catch a severe infection. I usually hospitalized every three or four months because my body won’t fight the infection so They put me in give me iv steroids and antibiotics.
I have gone down hill so bad in the last two years I can no longer work or even clean my house the doctor wants me to limit my walking to two hundred feet that is impossiable to do with children. this disease is so frustrating as no one understand what you or going though. My husband has done a lot of research on it and he a wonderful support system. I had a very hard time finding a doctor that can help me. I was hoping I could find someone to talk too that is going though the same thing.
I live in constant pain and now the depression is so bad. I try so hard to be upbeat for my family but it is a efffort to get out of bed. I am thinking about going to Nashville clinc or maybe the mayo clinc. If anyone knows about these clincs please email me K-K_Kline@hotmail.com I would very thankful for any suggestions.
Kandy passed away September 9, 2007
Kandy Klein long-time member of the message boards passed away September 9, 2007.
Like all of you I am in pain, gaining weight, have moon face, etc. I have had Fibromyalgia for over 4 years and am lucky to have a very good doctor for that who is a specialist in his field-Dr. Pelegrino.
However for the last year or so I have had pain that is more than the tender points and general fatigue you get from Fibro. We started giving me cortisone shots every 5 weeks or so for the “bad” areas, but the “bad” areas are worse now and have enveloped my muscles to where I don’t know what to do. My fingers are aching just typing this. Does anyone else experience this? Do you use the thing that you can talk in and it types? I have so many questions but will have to ask more later.
My main question is about this horrible tightness and pain to turn my head-is this a symptom? I have had it for more than 2 weeks it is from the base of my skull to my shoulder blades. Any suggestions to help ease this would be welcome. I take Vicodin now but it is not affecting it and can’t take steroids because I am having the test next Monday to see how high the cortisol is. I had a saliva test and it was pretty high on that so now they are trying this.
I also have elevated blood sugar, lowered thyroid, higher blood pressure and the purple stretch marks on my stomach. My face has officially become “moon” so is this pain from the “hump” forming that I have read about? See how scatterbrained I am-my memory is totally gone-if you tell me something and I have not written it down it is forgotten, which is bad especially for my job.
Thank you in advance for your support and helpful advice.
Double click to see these ribbons
used in Janice’s memory.
On the message boards, Lorrie wrote: Our dear friend, Janice died this past Tuesday, September 4, 2001. I received an IM from her best friend Janine, tonight. Janine had been reading the boards, as Janice had told her about this site, and she came upon my name and decided to IM me. I am grateful that she did. She said that she knew that Janice would want all of us to know that she didn’t just stop posting.
For all of the newcomers to the board that did not know Janice, she was a very caring individual. She always had something positive to say. Janice was 36 years old, was married and had no children. She had a miscarriage in December and began to have symptoms of Cushing’s during that pregnancy. After the pregnancy, she continued to have symptoms. When discussing this with her doctor, she was told that her symptoms were just related to her D&C. She did not buy this and continued until she received the accurate diagnosis of Cushing’s Syndrome (adrenal) in March of 2001. Tragically, Janice’s tumor was cancerous, a very rare form of Cushing’s.
Janice then had her tumor and adrenal gland removed by open adrenalectomy, a few months ago. She then began chemotherapy. She was very brave through this even though she experienced severe side effects, including weakness and dizziness. She continued to post on this board at times and even though she was going through so much, she continued with a positive attitude. She even gave me a referral to a doctor a few weeks ago. She was my inspiration. Whenever I thought I had it bad, I thought of what she was dealing with, and I gained more perspective.
Janice was having difficulty with low potassium levels and difficulty breathing. She was admitted to the hospital, a CT scan was done and showed tumor metastasis to the lungs. She then was begun on a more aggressive regimen of chemo. She was discharged and apparently seemed to be doing well.
The potassium then began to drop again, she spiked a temp and she was again admitted to the hospital. She improved and was set to be discharged and then she threw a blood clot into her lungs. She was required to be put on a ventilator. She apparently was at high risk for a heart attack. Her husband did not want her to suffer anymore and did not want her to suffer the pain of a heart attack and so chose for the doctors to discontinue the ventilator on Tuesday. She died shortly thereafter.
Funeral services will be on Tuesday.
Janice was our friend. She was a Cushie sister. I will always remember her. Janine asked me to let her know when we get the Cushing’s ribbons made as she and the rest of Janice’s family would like to wear them in her memory. She said that Janice would want to do anything she could to make others more aware of Cushing’s.
A Poem written in Janice’s Memory:
JANICE’s POEM
When I Am Done
When the leaves settle
Among the earths soil
Then will I find peace
For all my work and toil.
Know not I when it will be
But of its happening, it’s a certainty
For once sick in body
Though healed in time
Can never be wiped clean
Of the illnesses grime.
The stamp of death
Left upon this soul
Will never have reason to fear
It’s pearly gates that have come, for some
But for me only when I am done.
~Adrienne Lilley
Written in Janice’s memory, may she rest in peace always.
One thing about Cushings—I no longer fear death. But I sure do embrace life.
RYAN TYLER MONDS (FONZ) December 29, 1981 – September 4, 2016 Ryan passed away peacefully and is free from illness and pain. Heartbroken by his passing are his mother Anne (Dave); father Ron (Charlene); brother Cody; stepsisters, Emily and Grace (Kyle); and nephew Nathan.
Also mourning his loss are aunts, uncles, cousins, many life-long friends and friends through Cushing’s Disease Awareness.
Respecting Ryan’s wishes, there will be no funeral service. A private family interment will take place at Sunnyside Cemetery.
Donations to Siloam Mission in Ryan’s memory would be greatly appreciated.
Goodbye came too soon. We love you. Miss Me But Let Me Go When I come to the end of the road And the sun has set for me, I want no rites in a gloom-filled room, Why cry for a soul set free? Miss me a little, but not too long, And not with your head bowed low, Remember the love that we once shared, Miss me, but let me go. For this is a journey we all must take, And each must go alone, It’s part of the Master’s plan, A step on the road to home. So when you are lonely and sick at heart, Go to the friends we know, And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds, Miss me – but let me go.
As published in the Winnipeg Free Press on Sep 10, 2016
Dr. Oldfield was MaryO’s surgeon at the NIH November 3, 1987. This was back in the olden days of transsphenoidal surgery. I honestly expected to die but this man saved my life.
Dr. Edward Hudson Oldfield quietly passed away at home in Charlottesville, Virginia, surrounded by his family on September 1, 2017.
Born on November 22, 1947, in Mt. Sterling Kentucky, he was the son of Ellis Hudson Oldfield and Amanda Carolyn Oldfield. Ed is survived by his wife of 43 years, Susan Wachs Oldfield; a daughter, Caroline Talbott Oldfield; three siblings, Richard Oldfield of Mt. Sterling, Ky., Brenda Oldfield of Lexington, Ky., and Joseph Oldfield (Brenda) of Morehead, Ky.; nieces, Adrienne Petrocelli (Phil) of Cincinnati, Ohio and Keri Utterback (Brad) and nephew, Gabe Oldfield, both of Mt Sterling. His parents and a sister, Bonnie Lee Cherry, predeceased him.
Dr. Oldfield attended the University of Kentucky and graduated from the UK Medical School. He completed two years of surgical residency at Vanderbilt University and spent a year in Neurology at the National Hospital for Nervous Disease in London, England, before completing his neurosurgical residency at Vanderbilt University. After a year in private practice in Lexington, he completed a two-year fellowship at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
In 1984, he was named Chief of the Clinical Neurosurgery Section at NINDS and from 1986-2007, he was the Chief of the Surgical Neurology Branch at NIH. He joined the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Virginia in 2007 where he held the Crutchfield Chair in Neurosurgery and was a Professor of Neurosurgery and Internal Medicine.
He led multidisciplinary efforts in the treatment of pituitary tumors and contributed to the research program in Neurosurgery at UVA. He often said it did not feel he was going to work because he so enjoyed every aspect of his career.
Dr. Oldfield was the author of over 500 original scientific and clinical contributions to medical literature and the co-inventor of patents on convection-enhanced drug delivery and genetic therapy. He served on the editorial boards of Neurosurgery and the Journal of Neurosurgery, where he completed a term of eight years as associate editor. Dr. Oldfield served as vice president and president of the Society of Neurological Surgeons (SNS). He received numerous awards including: the Public Health Superior Service Award; the Grass Medal for Meritorious Research in Neurological Science; the Farber Award; the Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of Kentucky Medical Alumni Association; the Harvey Cushing Medal; and the first annual AANS Cushing Award for Technical Excellence and Innovation in Neurosurgery.
In 2015 he received the Charles B. Wilson Award for “career achievement and substantial contributions to understanding and treatment of brain tumors”. A man of many interests and endless curiosity, Ed found joy in exploring the world around him with a great appetite for adventure, as long as it included variety and history. He preferred outdoor activities, and throughout his life enjoyed hiking, bird watching, photography and especially fly fishing, which provided the kind of peace he treasured in his limited free time. Learning was a priority in every activity. Ed was interested in genealogy and maintained a precise record of his family history, spending over a decade accumulating and scanning family photographs. It was important to him to know from where and whom his family originated. Though he loved to watch sports, especially the UK Wildcats, he did not always follow a particular team he cheered for the underdog.
His love of music was vast, from Arthur Alexander, Etta James, John Prine, Luciano Pavarotti, Van Morrison and Iris Dement, to name a few favorites. Friends and colleagues remember his gentle southern voice, particularly in his advice, “All you have to do is the right thing; everything else will take care of itself.” His family will remember him loving Shakespeare productions, a good barbecue sandwich, Ruth Hunt candy bars, a warm fireplace at Christmas and several beloved dogs.
A Memorial service was held on Monday, September 25, 2017, at the University of Virginia Alumni Hall at 4 p.m. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to Edmond J. Safra Family Lodge at National Institutes of Health, Hospice of the Piedmont, or Piedmont Environmental Council.
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