April is Cushing’s Disease Awareness Month. I would like to help raise public awareness about this debilitating illness. It is so misunderstood by most medical professionals that their patients often suffer for many years without a correct diagnosis and, in far too many cases, never get a diagnosis at all.
I personally suffered from a common list of Cushing’s symptoms for years. I sought help from medical professionals and was told nothing medically was wrong with me other than I was menopausal and needed to lose weight.
I gained 70 pounds in a short amount of time due to a tiny tumor in my pituitary gland which was overproducing the hormone ACTH, causing Cushing’s.
Besides rapid weight gain, my forearms bruised. I had a red face and neck, grew a hump on the back of my neck. My belly swelled to pregnancy size. I had high blood pressure.
No matter what I ate, how much I worked out, or how much I explained to everyone around me that I was not doing this to myself, no one believed me. I went about five years not sure what I would do because my body was slowly breaking down and was in really bad health.
In 2016 my back went out and I needed surgery. I was at a followup visit with a PA when he asked if I knew why I blew my back out.
Desperate, I got emotional and told him my story. I told him I thought I had Cushing’s disease based on my own internet research. He was the first person to listen to me and gave me a referral to see an endocrinologist. The endocrinologist took one look at me and knew without testing, although we did test and it was confirmed.
I met with my neurosurgeon and ENT and had surgery June 2017 to remove a 1 centimeter pituitary tumor, which lies at the base of your brain. I will forever be grateful to the team of doctors who saved my life and also to the PA who listened to me.
Life is slowly getting back to normal (or my new normal, I should say.)
Shared from https://www.thecamarilloacorn.com/articles/disease-may-be-hard-to-diagnose/
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