January 26, 2019
Adrenal, Diabetes, Other Diagnosis, Pheochromocytoma Adrenal, diabetes, pheochromocytoma 1 Comment
In December, 2018 I had my right adrenal gland and a pheochromocytoma removed.
Pathologist and endocrinologist diagnosed me with Cushings Disease.
I’ve also been Diabetic for 30 year.
Michele added her Helpful Doctor, Toni Murphy, to the Cushing’s MemberMap
HOME | Sitemap | Abbreviations | Adrenal Crisis! | Glossary | Forums | Bios | Add Your Bio | Add Your Doctor | MemberMap | CushieWiki
January 22, 2016
Adrenal, Diabetes, Other Diagnosis, Pheochromocytoma, Pituitary anxiety, CT scan, depression, diabetes, heart attack, hypertension, MIBG, migraines, pheochromocytoma, stroke, sweating, TIA, weight Leave a comment
I have been ill for 9 years. I was experiencing severe anxiety/depression, profuse sweating, extreme hypertension, a non-stop migraine, and living in a constant state of fight-or-flight. Seven years ago, a full body CT scan revealed a left adrenal tumour. It has taken until this past year (actually just a few months ago) to finally get a diagnosis of pheochromocytoma from the medical field (no one listens to the patient – I have been telling them about the pheo and that I have Cushings for 7 years! My cousin died from an undiagnosed pheo.) Fortunately, I have wonderful long-term family doctor and more recently a great endo who have given me alpha and beta blockers to keep the symptoms more tolerable while we waited for a confirmed diagnosis.
Besides the above symptoms from the pheo, I have all the typical Cushing’s symptoms, I have also had a stroke, at least one TIA, and a heart attack. My heart has become enlarged and I can hardly breathe. After the heart attack, my weight took a huge jump. I had already become quite large but then I gained 7″ around the middle in 4 weeks. I complained to my doctors that something was terribly wrong but they kept saying I was just eating too much (sound familiar?). I also have a variety of lesions covering a variety of organs.
Due to the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma (via a MIBG), I was sent to a surgeon. The first was an idiot (don’t stand for that – ever – there are decent people out there). Then I was allowed to choose my own team. I found a team in Toronto, at Princess Margaret Hospital, who are knowledgeable and really understand this disease. When they said I had classic Cushing’s, my eyes teared up – finally someone saw it.
I have just had my 1st consultation with them, plus more tests, and am waiting for my 2nd consultation in January when I also expect to meet with the surgeon. It is looking hopeful that I may have my life back. They believe my body will go back to normal: my heart, diabetes reversal, my hair return to normal (more on head, less on chin), pain relieved (I can hardly walk and cannot climb stairs), and other delightful changes …including a normal life span.
I am worried about small lesions developing on my pituitary and right adrenal gland but no one is really looking at those at the moment. I just got word that the left adrenal tumour doubled in size recently so getting this out is the priority. It has been such a long and frustrating process that I won’t feel truly at ease until I have an actual surgery date.
Roseglass
HOME | Sitemap | Adrenal Crisis! | Abbreviations | Glossary | Forums | Donate | Bios | Add Your Bio | Add Your Doctor | CushieWiki
September 11, 2013
Adrenal, Adrenal Surgery, Golden Oldies, Other Diagnosis, Pheochromocytoma, Pituitary, Treatments adenoma, Adrenal, eyes, Golden Oldie, hysterectomy, insulin resistance, MRI, occular migraines, pheochromocytoma, Pituitary adenoma, weight Leave a comment
A “Golden Oldie” from 2008.
Hi everyone. My name is Jeannine and I am an old member of this site. I haven’t been on it since 2003 because I thought my problems were over. Obviously, this is not the case.
I am a 49…soon to be 50. I’ve been married for 29 years and have two sons(26 & 20) and one daughter-in-law. After 3 long years of being told I was crazy and lazy, and searching for answers for my rapid weight gain, fatigue, and lots of other weird symptoms, an adrenal adenoma was accidentally discovered when having a CT scan before my hysterectomy.
After initial testing, I only had very mild elevations in a few tests and negative results in most others. I was told to wait and watch. As the year progressed, I became sicker and heavier. I begged, demanded and finagled tests, still only to be told I just “wasn’t sick enough.” One year and 100 lbs. later, my 24 hr. urines were finally high enough to convince the dr. to do surgery.
My test results were never very clear and I was never given a diagnosis, even after surgery. The weird part about my test results were that I tested positive for a pheochromocytoma as well as for a cortical adenoma. I had my left adrenal gland removed in April of 2003. It was not a pheo and the pathology listed “adrenal cortical adenoma”.
I never had to have any hormone replacement, and aside from not losing the weight and becoming insulin resistant, I was cured. I couldn’t lose the weight on my own, so I joined Optifast, the medical liquid diet program. Over the course of about 6 months, I lost 60 lbs.
Unfortunately, as I started to re-enter normal eating patterns, the weight began to return. There was a steady weight gain almost every week for the past 12 months. I have now gained 50 lbs back. Aside from gaining weight, A few months ago, I started to feel badly again. I immediately had my endo send me for 24 hr. urines and basic blood work, but everything was negative.
Then, a few weeks ago, I went to a new opthamologist to have my eyes examined. I mentioned to him that I sometimes got weird visual symptoms with blurry lines in my eyes. I had first noticed them a few months after my adrenal surgery four years before and they had continued to occur sporatically ever since. I had my eyes examined twice during these last 4 years and nothing was ever shown to be wrong. The new dr. suspected occular migraines, but because of my history with the adrenal tumor, he decided to do a cranial MRI. Lo and behold, I was just diagnosed with a 3-4mm pituitary tumor. So…..here I am, back on the boards looking for answers. I have an appt. in three weeks to see my endocrinologist and the testing will begin.
While I really don’t want to be here, it’s nice to be able to come “home.”
HOME | Contents | Adrenal Crisis! | Abbreviations | Glossary | Forums | Donate | Bios | Add Your Bio
Recent Comments