I am here because I believe my 26 year old daughter has cushings.
She went through puberty late, just as it started she had a strange episode where she couldn’t speak, walk and was confused. I took her to the ER, the ran different tests and sent us joke with b vitamins? Since that time (11 years ago) her behaviour has been bazaar, she had put on about 6 stone.
After the birth of her child 3 years ago she had gone a lot worse. Aggressive, numbness in both legs, depression, tingling in fingers, ties and around mouth, exhaustion, insomnia and the buffallo hump which she has had for years. I thought at first she had pernicious anemia but her b12 level is ok.
The haematologist is asking out gp to run tests he mentioned cortisol, I looked it up and couldn’t believe she has exactly the same symptoms, she has constant headaches and her legs are also covered in bruises because when she does eventually go to sleep she wakes up in another part of the house due to sleep walking.
She has just been given anti depressants and sleeping tablets which she does not take. I requested her medical records and went through them found out that she had lesions in her frontal lobe 11 years ago when they ran the tests. I also discovered that she had normal low TSH and very low t4 which points to the pituitary gland
Some days she feels ‘ok’ which is very rare. Most of the time she is suicidal and stressed. I’m waiting for her to be called for her cortisol tests, I just hope they are done at a time that she is going through her cycle.
Currently undiagnosed but I am a medical professional, and not stupid.
All through my adulthood (age 21ish to now at 43) I have had the following symptoms: B12 deficiency, Vitamin D deficiency, the depression/anxiety/irritability, major loss of emotional control (I can cry at the drop of a hat, sometimes in very inappropriate situations (like at work).
I can gain weight like no tomorrow (60 pounds over about 8 months. The only way I’ve been able to lose it is either gastric bypass (which created a whole other set of issues and had to be reversed) or an entire month on IV nutrition (TPN), in short abject starvation.
I have stretch marks all over the place, a fat abdomen (in spite of a tummy tuck), fat upper arms, fat thighs, back fat (oh yes, the ubiquitous hump between my shoulders and fat pads above my clavicles). I am weak to the point that a two mile walk has me in bed for the rest of the day. Forget working out, I drop from exhaustion. my back hurts, I have horrendous posture and get muscle spasms and a backache when I try to remind myself to stand up straight. I am always thirsty, and subsequently pee nonstop, I have a seemingly insatiable appetite usually for carby type stuff (although I really try to pay attention to what I eat).
I’m a total klutz and oh yes, the crowning glory: I have hair on my inner thighs, heavy hair on my lower arms and I can win a beard growing contest with a bunch of guys, although testosterone levels have been tested and are unremarkable. I’ve got a bit of hypertension (although also a little decreased kidney function, which may explain that.) I had a total hysterectomy for the heavy bleeding and constant ovarian cysts (but not the string of pearls pattern indicative of PCOS. Libido?, yeah right. I have the sex life of a nun and am frankly not interested. This is not genetic because I am the only one in my family that is like this.
Over the years I have been diagnosed with PCOS, major depressive disorder, and more recently some kind of unspecified eating disorder (apparently just because I’m fat). I have been treated as such over the years with totally no change. Birth control pills just made me bitchy, the cocktail of antidepressants seem to help minimally (I can still cry over nothing), and this is now having a huge impact on my professional life (like nearly destroying my career).
If all this crap isn’t a good reason to at the very least, look at Cushing’s, then I don’t know what is. Incidentally I had a doctor, some 13 years ago start the workup for this (had 24 hour urine, dexamethasone suppression test and a brain MRI) but this was pre-nursing school and I did not realize the seriousness of what he was suspecting, so I never followed up.
I finally have a primary care doctor who has immediately referred my to an endocrinologist. I appointment in 2 weeks and well…to be continued….
Updated January 9, 2016
still searching for a doctor who gives a ***. I’m quite peeved. It’s been a while since I updated because, well, just busy.
I went to the appointment and the doc pretty much just blew me off. i said that in my opinion, it was worth at least running the tests. I could be wrong but please humor me and run them. Well, he sent me off to the lab and all he did was a one-time single cortisol level. It was normal. His diagnosis, “weight gain due to excess calories” and recommended a medication that costs $1200 per month and was NOT covered by my insurance!!!!! Seriously????? Jerk!! I came into some money, so I ponied up for 2 months worth of the medicine and thus far I’ve lost 12 pounds and now I am plateaued. My new insurance covers it, so i’ll keep at it, but I’m finding a new doc. How hard is it to just run the bloody tests!!!
Have to go now, it’s time to shave the hair on my chin and go to my therapy session for depression. Someday, maybe someone will believe me, hopefully before I die!!!!!
I’m so tired I think about giving up on finding out why I’m so sick. I’m just so tired. But I won’t give up I believe these symptoms are at their beginning stages of cushings.. I want this taken care of before it becomes heart related… I have been seeing an oncologist/hemotolgist/internist..He said because I have the supraclavicular fat pads usually a sign of too much cortisol and a 1.5 cm adrenal adenoma that sometimes releases too much cortisol into the blood that he is scheduling me with an endocrinologist and a rhematologist… there are many test involved to diagnose cushings syndrome. .. I pretty much have them all except the heart problem thank goodness… and no red marks.
I guess my first step is to see if the adrenal tumor is releasing cortisol. .. then we will see what happens. ..I almost convinced myself that I was a hypochondriac, but I still kept getting sick. I have seen numerous doctors ..The main symptoms that bother me are the supraclavicular pads…the adrenal tumor, the b12 deficiency anemia, the fatty liver, weight gain mainly in my tummy, the unexplained flank pain, glucose reading of a 100 in my urine (when there should be none). My alkaline phosphatase reading of 126…and blah. .
Sometimes I am so sick I end up in the ER, but get no answers. This last visit was horrible; I waited in the lobby 5 hours and asked my husband to tell them the pain was getting really bad.
My last ER visit was at Saint Mary’s on 6/4/2015. (I had a severe migraine, right side abdominal pain, aching left arm and leg, and upper back squeezing pain). The test St. Mary’s did are online and after reading them I was thinking should I be checked for Cushing Syndrome?
I have a 1.5 cm left side adrenal adenoma.
Unexplained right abdominal pain.
Fatty liver
Fat above the collar bone that seems to increase and decrease in size.
(Pictures of this)
Severe Fatigue
The worst migraines headaches ever; headaches are so bad it feels like I’m being hit by a hammer on one side of my head.
At least twice a month I get very nauseated and vomit
Red cheeks (Dr. Black observed this and thought it may be Lupus; that test was normal)
I cry more than I ever have.
Weight gain (mainly in my abdomen), I walk a mile every other night (even though it hurts so badly, like my bones will break) I have been eating healthier, but the weight gain keeps going up.
I have insect bites that take forever to heal
I bruise easily and have muscle pain
Many times it feels like my legs are going to break in half when I walk
Upper back ache constantly
My left arm and leg have this severe ache deep into my bone
Weak muscles in my shoulders
Used to have Periods that were irregular. (had an uterine ablation)
I wake up many times during the night very very thirsty
I have a b12 deficiency
I have had tremors for at least 10 years and have been taking primidone for a very long time.
My Alkaline phosphatase has been high on my last 3 cbc’s
I have a spot on my liver that I never got rechecked
Hello all
I’ve only just been referred this week to go see an endo so very much at the start of what I think will be a long journey.
I don’t seem to be a typical case of Cushings although I have “the hump” and some slow weight gain which is are the things that have gotten me referred.
Over the past umpteen years I’ve been going to the doctor with all manner of debilitating symptoms (mainly fatigue) and 15 years got diagnosed as B12 deficient and put on injections for it. Then after about 7 years I had to go back as symptoms worsening and was diagnosed as Folic acid deficient. Saw an improvement on taking the tablets but after a year was back to being utterly exhausted, waking at 3/4am every morning, aching everywhere in my body and multiple other symptoms that came and went. After pushing at the docs was diagnosed as low ferritin and put on iron tablets.
Over the next 2 years and ever increasing doses of iron we still couldn’t get my ferritin raised and I had started logging when I felt utterly gubbed and it seemed to be happening anything from immediately after getting my B12 injection to a few weeks after. Because it wasn’t easily definable as related to the injections, doctor didn’t want to make any association but it got to the point where I refused to get any more injections as I couldn’t face the 6 weeks of misery I knew would come after it so he agreed to put me on B12 tablets instead. And low and behold my ferritin started rising and I started feeling better. Luckily I was able to absorb the B12 orally as not everyone can do that. Almost all my symptoms disappeared except the sparse fluctuating periods, some vision problems and my reaction to eating sugar/carb food (Ok, I’ll admit it – biscuits) as I fall asleep at my desk sometimes directly related to what I’ve just eaten.
I believe a lot of what I was experiencing was down to my low ferritin and I’m actually feeling very good just now – but, since my blood has improved I’ve been slowly putting on weight around my middle (I only eat about 1400 calories a day so couldn’t understand it) and I’ve now got hump, and fine blond hair growing on my face. I’m 50 so doc had previously presumed I was just menopausal and that was what had stopped my periods but after 8 months one appeared. I had previously shown my hump to another doctor last year when I was there for back pain but was just told to sit up straighter at my desk. On showing my present doc the hump he said immediately he was going to send me to and endo.
So, I’m not sure what the outcome will be. I don’t seem to be a typical cushi as I don’t have a moon face and my weight gain has only been gradual and I actually feel fine. It was only at my partners insistence that I went to the doc as he kept saying my hump was getting bigger.
Does anyone have any advice on what I need to ask/say when I eventually see my endo?
Thanks
Pauline
ps, sorry, forgot to mention that I was only born with one kidney and also had an ovary removed due to a cyst.
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