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Sharon, Undiagnosed Bio

September 14, 2013

MaryO Golden Oldies, Menopause, Other Diagnosis, Thyroid, Undiagnosed , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

A Golden Oldie

Hello. My name is Sharon. Im 42 years old from Saskatchewan, Canada. I’ve been lurking on this site for about 3 weeks now, and finally decided to add my story. I appologize now if  I get carried away, but here goes.

As a youngster, I was always a healthy kid, seldom sick. Always active, very athletic. Sports were my life. But I did always have very heavy periods, and painful ones, right from day 1. Doctor said it was Mother Nature, and was told to live with it.

Got married, had 2 children. In between the 2, I had to have my gallbladder removed, unfortunatly it was an unsuccessful surjury. I still get attacks till this day. A hernia operation, 3 months later, a hysterectomy. (due to endemetriosis) a year later, the removal of one of my ovaries. I must admit I never felt right after the hysterectomy, but chalked it up to being in early menopause.

Then a year ago, my husband had to rush me to the ER. My heart was palpatating so fast I could feel it in my ears. A second visit to the ER for more of the same. The Doctor on that visit seemed annoyed, and said, get your thyroid checked. I thought, why not. I’d been suffering from freezing cold hands and feet anyways. Tests came back normal, and after a holter test, they told me my heart had an electrical problem. I was put on pills to regulate it.

At this time, the weight gain started to elevate. Being thin my whole life, I was startled by this. I’ve always eaten healthy. We are not an eat out type of family, I prefer to cook at home. But I decided to become more strict with what I ate. I always walked for excercise, now I added a half hour of core workouts and a half hour of abdominal workouts, 6 days a week. Plus my daughter, who was a health coach at Herbal Majic, put me on a plan.(minus the herbs, just the menu) Weight loss after 2 months was zero. She said, Mom, this plan works, why is it not working for you? Good question.

Im also into alternative methods to maintaining health as well. I purchased a chi machine and far infrared hothouse. While it has helped with my constipation issues and seems to have kept the gallbladder attacks away, it had done nothing to help aid in weight loss. (my friends and family however, have all lost weight in it)

Then more puzzling symptoms appeared. Always covered in bruises, major hair loss. Feeling very tired. And it showed in my face, because I have countless people who tell me I look tired. Yellow eyes from time to time. (could be from the gallbladder issues) This went on for a year . And in that year, I gained 25 lbs, 5 of that was literally overnight. .

Then 2 months ago, my heart medication stopped working. The palpitations are back, as well as a very low heart rate at times. And a shift from freezing cold hands and feet, to not being able to tolerate being hot. Noticed facial hair, my normally straight hair if full of waves and curls. Wake up drenched in sweat (chalked that up to menopause too) While I have maintained my weight at 142 lbs (115-120 lbs is my norm) my belly continues to grow. If it wasn’t for the hysterectomy, I’d swear I was 6 months pregnant. Then I developed a burning pain in my right shoulder. The pain is always there, makes it hard to use my arm at times. Some days its severe, at times during the day, the pain is tolerable. I thought maybe I dislocated something excercising. After a bath I decided to have a look in the mirror, and discovered a hump on my back I never knew I had. I think the hump and shoulder pain are related. I lay on a far infrared heating pad for the pain and it helps. Pain medication does nothing for it.

But not only is my belly growing larger, I noticed my face and neck growing larger as well. And my once smooth skin has turned rough, and red. Acne breakouts that leave scars and even a couple of skin tags on my face. This is all new to me. After careful examination of my neck, I realized I had a few lumps on the right side, and a fatty pad under my right collarbone. And when I press on that fatty pad, I feel the pain in my shoulder. Im exhausted most days now, from the pain, and not sleeping through the night for the past 2 months. I get up 2 to 3 times a night to pee. The other day I noticed that my pee had a really foul odor.(sorry for the TMI)  But it never burns.

Well, the final straw was a rash that appeared on my back. Even though I had a Doctors appointment in a week, I decided to go to the ER as the rash had me freaked out. I made the mistake of telling the nurse I thought I might have cushings. (had been reading the patient bios. It all seemed to add up) She smirked, and took me to another room. The Doctor came in and in a condecending tone, asked me,”what does google have to say about cushings” I should have told him that I leaned more from actual patients who had been diagnosed than I did from google. But we ran through my symptoms. He assured me he thought I didn’t have it. It was probably all menopause. He asked to see my drivers license and told me he thought I looked no different. I asked him if he could feel the lumps in my neck, he said no. (at this point I knew I was wasting my time)

He asked if I had used a heating pad, I lied and told him No.(Because he ticked me off) That may have been my saving grace. He called in another Doctor to have a look at this rash and neither one could figure it out, so he ordered alot of blood work. (odd though, i’d been using this same heating pad for years, and never developed a rash until now) They took blood sugar (a little high) urine, shoulder x ray. I was told to follow up with my Doctor. A week later my Doctor informs me that my blood sugar  in the ER that day was very high. And a large amount of sugar in my urine. He never said a word to me about my urine that day. She told me that one of the blood tests that came back showed abnormal for lupus.

Although she feels I am neither diabetic, or have lupus, it lets her know that there is something definatly not right. But the affirmation I got was from my Doctor who took one look at me and told me I did in fact look different. She could see the lumps without actually touching them. I guess Im not crazy after all.

She set me up with a specialist who told me flat out that he did not think I have cushings, because he sees the worst of the worst. I then showed him a picture of what I normally look like, and took a pause. Well, he’s looking into plenty of things, he has included cushings after all. And assured me if the tests come back normal, we will retest, and retest. Im also scheduled to have a thyoid ultasound in April. I feel like there is now hope that we might find an answer to all of this.

I went from being a shy person, to someone who is outspoken. I felt I needed to be, because I wasn’t being heard. Im angry at being dismissed over the years, and to the Doctor in the ER, i know i must have bruised his ego by telling him what I felt was wrong with me. Although I have alot of things wrong with me, there was nothing wrong with my hearing that day, when I over heard the Doctor and Nurse making fun of me.

I feel for each and everyone of you who’s stories I have read the past 3 weeks, who have had to endure way worse hardships than myself. I read how often you are mistreated by Doctors, and the horrible situations that you have gone through.

It breaks my heart. But each of those stories have given me the courage to fight for myself and for that, I can’t thank you enough, for being so open in sharing your lives with us.

God Bless You All!

Update May 18, 2012

Since my last post, there has been some developements, I’ve had a thyroid ultrasound and cat scan on my neck. They discovered 3 thyroid nodules the size of a pea. My Internist says that it does not explain my symptoms. An incidental finding was arthritis and disc degeneration in my neck. I am also newly diagnosed as active hypoglycemic.

Another 8 lb weight gain in 2 weeks. During those 2 weeks I lost my appetite and got the flu twice in 1 week. I barely ate enough to stay alive in those 2 weeks and still gained weight. My Internist told me he is at a loss. The swelling in my neck is now on my left side as well, and a chunk of thigh muscle in my left leg has all but disappeared. I ended up spending Mother’s Day in the ER. I woke up that morning with a burning pain in my chest and was so dizzy I couldn’t walk a straight line. Stayed dizzy for the next 5 hours. The heart checked out fine. The ER Doctor listened to my history and wished me luck, he had no idea either. I have had 3 Doctors tell me that if it is cushings, “do you know how hard that is to diagnose?” Meaning it’s to hard for them to figure it out, so they won’t bother. My Internist who tested me for cushings took a blood test, and told me that the 24 hour urine test, is old school. We don’t test for it that way anymore. Just a blood test. Of course mine came back normal. All my tests seem to be coming back normal, however I decided to document my findings as NO ONE believes me, except my Primary Doctor. But she knows nothing about cushings, she just sees the physical changes in me. I video taped the yellowing of my eyes, took pictures of my expanding belly, the hump on my back, the loss of muscle in my leg. And these strange muscle twitches that are happening throughout my body. The only thing my Doctor can do for me is to refer me to an Endo, which she is now doing.

My husband grows increasingly frustrated, and has told me that, you’ll be dead before they find out what’s wrong with you. I feel the same way. Knowing my Birth Mother died when she was 49 years old from a massive heart attack, but had the same physical symptoms as me, is scary. I am almost too tired to fight anymore but my Husband and kids keep me going. It’s been a battle, and I am far from winning yet. Will keep you posted.

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Laura (Loves2Cruise), Adrenal Bio

August 10, 2013

MaryO Adrenal, Adrenal Surgery, Treatments , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The adrenal glands sit atop the kidneys.

The adrenal glands sit atop the kidneys. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was diagnosed with Cushings over 14 years ago and really thought it was over and done with. After seeing several doctors while starting in high school and into college, primarily to explain why my cycle had completely stopped, I was given various responses from the typical, “oh, it’s probably just stress” to “let’s just put her on birth control and it will start right back up.” And while the latter may have been true, it certainly didn’t explain the weight gain round my midsection, especially when I was eating so little while in college because I just couldn’t figure out why my pants wouldn’t fit anymore. It also didn’t explain the “buffalo hump” at the base of my neck, or why my hair seemed to be falling out. Or why my blood pressure was high all the time. Or why I had constant headaches. So only after my mom refused to accept “stress” as an answer, she turned to Dr. Google, and started looking up my symptoms. She finally convinced a doctor to test my cortisol levels, which were off the charts.

Luckily, I went to college in Milwaukee, and saw Dr. Findling who immediately diagnosed me with Cushings. After dealing with this for several years, Dr. Findiling diagnosed the disease, located the tumor (left adrenal gland), had it removed, and was on my way to recovery in a matter of a few months. By the time I returned to college in the fall, after having the turmor removed over spring break, people did not even recognize me, my appearance had changed so drastically.

Well, fast forward to today, and I am wondering if the one adrenal gland could have anything to do with what my husband and I have dealt with for the past 2 years. We conceived 2 children easily with no problems who were born in 2006 and 2009. When we tried to have baby #3, two years ago, something was different. We practice natural family planning, so I was very aware of my cycles. But after a surgery and terrible cold, things changed. No longer could we get pregant. I saw several different doctors who all said again, “it’s stress” or “there’s nothing wrong with you.” One even gave me a brochure on how to have a baby. Really! Anyway, I started myself on an “adrenal fatigue” diet last fall, started taking Maca root (because I read it was good for adrenal health), and we got pregnant last November after trying for over a year and a half.

Unforunately, at a 13 week ultrasound, we discovered that the baby stopped growing at 9 weeks. We figured we were just a statistic, and 1 in 3 pregnancies ends in miscarriage. We did not have any testing done because we figured we were just one of the odds. We conceived again in May, only to find out at 12 weeks that our little peanut stopped growing at 11 weeks. We opted for testing this time and are awaiting the results to determine whether or not there was a chromosomal abnormality. Although I am sure it happens, to lose 2 babies, after confirming heartbeats multiple times, seeing it move around, and find out it has passed is devestating. I won’t forgive myself if this happens a third time without ruling out the role my one adrenal gland may have played in this.

One doctor did test my thyroid during our efforts to get pregnant, and my RT3 was very high, especially in relation to my T3. He just put me on T3 and said I was “stressed.” I am now wondering if yes, I was stressed, but my one remaining adrenal could not handle the necessary work required to sustain a pregnancy. Or affected our efforts to even conceive. I have read (though don’t completely understand) the relationship between the RT3 and adrenal glands. I am going to return to Milwaukee to have my remaining gland tested to see if it is indeed working at an optimal level.

I guess my point in joining this board is to not only share my story with Cushings, but also to see how patients have fared after the Cushings was resolved. Has anyone had any long-term affects from only having one adrenal glad? Specifically as it relates to fertility? Curious to hear from others who have gone through this experience. I know there are not many of us. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard, “wow. I have never met a cushings patient before” from various doctors. But I am glad to find others who have shared this experience.

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Joseph (joeysauce), Pituitary Bio

June 19, 2013

MaryO Male, Pituitary, Pituitary Surgery, Thyroid, Treatments , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Hello everyone. My name is Joe. I’m a 23, soon to be 24 year old male who is (hopefully) in remission from ACTH-dependent Cushing’s disease and two transsphenoidal surgeries.

I’d like to say my journey all started back in November of last year. Though, the past year has been a stressful, anxiety filled year for me with a roller coaster of it’s own. I was working full-time as a web designer at a web firm down the block from me for a little over a year, but was just getting so sick of the grind. I was also dating a younger girl for about 2 years up at this point, who had just left for college last August. Thinking that I was finally going to have a little more time to myself to make and save money and just freedom in general, I was proven very wrong. As soon as she left, the separation anxiety hit me like a TON OF BRICKS. I could hardly sleep, go to work, or even function. I knew the first thing I needed to do was free myself of the miserable grind of work and get back to freelance work. I told my job I was leaving and actually had an opportunity to do some other work with my uncle across the country decorating malls for the upcoming holidays as soon as my two weeks approached. It was a nice break and a good way for me to get away and experience some new things, like my girlfriend was doing. When my girlfriend first went away, I started taking Valerian Root to help me sleep and have been taking St. John’s Wart for about a year and a half to keep the anxiety as it’s lowest. I decided that when I get home from this trip, now that I’ll have a MUCH more free life, that I’d like to cut out all these vitamins that I’ve been taking for years to help with my skin, health and anxiety. Like Fish Oil, Vitamin A, E, C, Multivitamins, Probiotics, etc. I wanted to come home and have an awesome natural routine of exercising, working, and juicing. It sounded perfect. Make money, get fit, stay healthy and feel good. As the end of the trip approached, I was pretty much finished with all the vitamins. We traveled for about a month and a half and was home just in time for Thanksgiving. My girlfriend was home then as well, so it was good to see each other again finally. We were in touch as much as we could be when we were both away and decided to keep things going.

Here’s where things started to change. One of the FIRST things my mom said to me when I got home was “Wow, your face looks puffy and swollen.” I actually agreed and said it’s probably this stuff that I decided to stop taking called “hyaluronic acid”. It’s supposed to make your skin more supple and moisturize from the inside out. I figured that’s why my face was looking that way. I JUST started using it too. As the weeks went on, I noticed that there was a prominent redness in my cheeks as well. My cheeks were usually red like this, and I always thought I had Rosacea, but noticed that they were now red the whole day long, and I could almost see where the redness kind of cuts off. I didn’t pay much attention to these signs, but still was a little concerned.

As the holiday’s approached, I didn’t really get a chance to start working out or running or anything that I planned to do now that I was working home. I was gaining a little bit of weight in my face and my tummy, but just blamed it on being lazy. My girlfriend noticed and would tell me that I’m getting chubby and looking different. It was getting pretty annoying at this point hearing everyone saying that I’m puffy and chubby looking. I then started to work out a little and was running as much as I could outside, even though the winter was approaching and it was getting harder and harder to run. I really wasn’t seeing much progress and even started to diet pretty hard with veggies. The crazy part is that I’ve ALWAYS been such a thing HEALTHY person. Always juicing veggies, always drinking water, always taking vitamins, very athletic, etc. It was crazy that I couldn’t get rid of this belly weight or get my face to slim back down.

This is when the weirdest thing happened…The stretch marks. I began to freak out. I saw these ugly purple lines on my inner thighs and was really confused. I thought…”How can someone my size get marks like this…am I exercising too much?” This was around February, and my girlfriend came home on another break and I remember one morning her mother made a comment and said “Wow, your face is so puffy and red, maybe you’re allergic to something, you look so different” This is when I finally decided that I needed to see a doctor. I decided to see an allergist to figure out why my face is so red and bloated looking. We did all kinds of allergy tests just to find out that I’m allergic to most environmental allergens. In between visits, I was doing my research. I started to Google things like “stretch marks inner thighs” and eventually came across the word “Cortisol”. Then Googling Cortisol, I eventually came across “Cushings”. I started to read the symptoms and began to notice that the majority of them were exactly what I had. The “moon face”, the “striae”, the “central obesity”. Then I realized how bad my sleep was over the passed few months. I thought it was just me being anxious about work, because I would wake up VERY early in the morning and wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep, so I would just get up and make breakfast and hop on the computer. Then I remembered the headaches I’ve been getting, or how tired during the afternoon I’d be. I was starting to make sense.

So one of the visits with allergist, I figured I’d mention the research I was doing. I asked the doctor if he was familiar with the disease. He said he definitely is. I showed him how different I looked a few months ago, and showed him my stretch marks. He was pretty shocked to see, but said it could just be from just eating bad and not exercising enough. I asked him if he could get me a blood test to check my Cortisol anyway. He said absolutely and sent me to a lab a few blocks away. I was very much expecting to see high cortisol levels. Like a fool, I went right after my appt with him, so the blood was taken around 12PM. I didn’t realize then that cortisol should be drawn around 8AM, but anyway…

The next time I came in to see him, he gave me the results. He said “You wanted to know if your Cortisol was low, right?” I said “No, I wanted to know if it is high.” He said “Oh…well, yes, they are a bit high.” He did mention that the RX said for me to have them taken in the morning and was kind of mad that the nurse didn’t notice that and say to come back in the morning. He said they could be high because of the time of the day and maybe the stress because of what I thought was going on. I knew now that I had to take these results to an endo.

This is when I started to mention things to my parents. They knew I was seeing the allergist and I have already talked to them about the cortisol and cushings, but I didn’t really get in depth. Once I had this blood taken, I knew I had to let them know what I think is really going on. I explained that the disease is caused by a tumor in the brain, or in your adrenal glands and they thought I was talking crazy. I was looking for local endos and found one not too far from me. When me and my mother first met with him, I knew instantly I wasn’t going to like him. It seemed I had to introduce myself before he even said anything. When I explained what I thought was going on, having Cushing’s and all, he said “You don’t look suspicious of Cushings at all.” He mentioned that the disease is VERY rare and that he has only diagnosed it about two times in his career. He looked my stomach, the back of my neck and said that when people have moon face, you usually see fatty deposits by the side of their eyes. As much as I didn’t want to hear I have Cushings, I wanted a solid answer to what is going on. He didn’t even ask to see the stretch marks when I mentioned them. He said, “Yes your cortisol is high, so we will do further testing.” I took home the urine test and also had a few blood tests done. Very anxious at this point, a few days passed and we came to see him again. Just as I thought, very high cortisol levels. He seemed very shocked and pretty much stated that Yes, I do have Cushings. He then wrote up multiple RXs for me to have done. An MRI, a CT scan, a chest scan. I was beginning to get pretty nervous. He explained how the disease is very complicated to diagnose and to find where the excess cortisol is coming from exactly. I was becoming very knowledgeable at this point and knew it wasn’t going to be an easy process.

Things started to get a little ‘different’ around the house and with my relationships. I’m actually a triplet and 1 of 3 children. My brother and I are very close, but not so much with my sister. My brother knew what was going on, but didn’t really know much about the disease. I would tell him and explain to him, but not really sure if he was even listening much. My dad was starting to get involved with things and becoming supportive of the changes. I was getting depressed with how I look and felt, and thankful my girlfriend was still away, even though I could’ve used her support…I just didn’t want her to see me like this. Things started to become pretty stale with her and my health was becoming more of a priority. I told her what was going on, but she hardly understood. So I started with the CT scan.

The doctor suspected the tumor to be found my in adrenal glands. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be found. The doctor then took some more blood work and realized that we should be looking in the pitutary. I then had an MRI done. At this time I receiving help from the whole family. My aunts and uncles were doing some research too, looking for better doctors. We live on Long Island, New York…so Manhattan is just a small trip away. It’s said that the best doctors around here are located in NYC. My mom found an endo by the name of Eliza Geer at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. We were lucky enough to get a appt rather quickly. We were still waiting on the results of the MRI at this point and recieved them the day of the appointment.

We took them to Dr. Geer. Now this Dr. is no ordinary endo. She actually is VERY familiar with the disease and runs a research study on Cushing’s on “Body Composition and Metabolism” in Cushings patients. Immediately, we knew were at the right place. She took a look at all the blood work and could most definitely tell that what is going on is definitely Cushings. She was very impressed with me that I was able to basically diagnose myself, and asked me if I was studying in the medical field, hah. She knew that there was no need for more testing, but now just to figure out the source. We gave her the CD with the MRI results but she had trouble getting the images to show up on her computer. She asked that if we could wait a bit longer, that we could meet the neurosurgeon that she works with, Dr. Kalmon Post, and we would look at the imaging together in his office. Feeling pretty good about the new doctor, we waited a bit in the lobby until they could both see me again. During the wait, I dozed off, but woke up to my mother and aunt talking to a lady in the lobby. She was with her son. After some conversation with her, they found out that he also had Cushings, and has been going through it for several years. He is 20, so a few years younger than me. My aunt asked if it was okay to exchange emails, so me and him have actually been in touch since our surgeries.

Anyway, it was finally time to meet both doctors. Feeling very nervous and anxious, we sat with them and he explained a little more about the disease, and the complications of the surgery, etc. He made a joke about my rosy cheeks and it actually made me feel a bit comfortable with him. He also said how the reversal of the symptoms almost seem magical. I was beginning to feel really good about him as well. He said that he does pituitary surgeries multiple times a week. He then opened the CD and we all looked at the images together. He explained that when there is a distinct tumor found, you will see it quite easily and explained how it would make the gland look in the scan. Unfortunately…we couldn’t find anything. He explained that at this point it could so small that it may never show up on the scan, so he never wants to go into the gland and begin any sort of surgery without being 100% positive that this is the source of the problem. He then explained that there is procedure that completely confirms where the source is…”Inferior petrosal sinus sampling” It sounded pretty strange to me, but I knew it had to be done. As soon as we left his office, we made an appt with Dr. Patel to have the IPSS done ASAP.

A week later we were back for the procedure. What a strange procedure…but all went well. The results came back telling Dr. Post that it’s time for surgery. I think it was another week or so later that we made the appt for my first surgery on May 6th 2013. Both anxious and excited, I was more that ready to get this done and over with. My surgery was late in the day, so I wasn’t in recovery until I think about 6pm and then in my hospital bed until about 8pm. I remember my endo coming to see how I was feeling, as well as my surgeon. Knowing that I was supposed to be feeling flu-like symptoms, I was honest and said that I felt okay. My parents spent the next few hours with me until they had to leave. Unfortunatly, I was not feeling any sort of crash, but just very uncomfortable from the darn nasal-tampon in my nose. The next day the blood results came back from after the surgery and my cortisol levels were still very high. Disappointing news, but pretty much expected. I think they were 77. Though, the doctors mentioned that a second surgery is common and that the levels may be high because of the time of the day. We still kept our fingers crossed that they would still be dropping over the next day. They did come down ALOT the next day, but not in a normal range. I was sent home on the Hydrocortisone, incase that they would continue to drop, though I wasn’t very optimistic at this point. The pathology report did come back that whatever he did remove was all tumor, so that was good to hear.

Still feeling the Cushing-like symptoms over the next few days, I took my week later blood work again just to find out that the cortisol levels went back up. My endo said that I am going to need another surgery. I remember my surgeon explaining how he wants to be as gentle as possible when messing around with my pituitary, to make sure no damage is done to it. So I understood that maybe there is some tumor cells left behind and this time he will get the job done. We were lucky enough to schedule the second surgery only about a week or so later, with a very early appointment (May 20th).

Right before the surgery, the surgeon came to me and my mother and mentioned “Hyperplasia”. He said it’s very rare, but there is a chance that my gland is what’s producing the excess ACTH and not a tumor. He said is going to try his best to determine that and continue to remove any abnormalities he see, as aggressively as he thinks he needs to be. A few hours later, waking up in recovery I felt crazy anxious. I couldn’t stand the oxygen mask so I removed that after a few minutes. I could not wait to be in my bed. Unfortunately, again, I was not feeling the crash. Disappointed again, we were giving it time and hoping again that there were just a delay in the levels dropping. The next two days passed, and my levels were still a bit high. I saw both my surgeon and endo before leaving the hospital, and we spoke about other treatments at this point, but obviously we were going to wait on the near future cortisol results before moving forward with anything else. Me and my family were pretty devastated at this point, but my parents were still being optimistic. Not able to understand how this “amazing” doctor was having a hard time curing me and why it has to be so complicated for me was beyond everyone at this point. Sent home with HC again, everyone was praying for a drop in the cortisol levels. My doctor had me get my blood taken that following Friday with STAT on it. I spent most of that day with anxiety attacks and tears, over the fact that I just didn’t know if I was cured or not. I was feeling pretty dizzy and sick to stomach…but didn’t really noticed that UNTIL…

I received a call later that day from my endo. She first asked me how I was feeling. I told her very anxious and pretty dizzy. She responded with “Good! Because your results came back and your cortisol is at 12.” My parents both jumped up (I was laying in their bed between them…yes, I felt that awful about everything going on) in shock and awe. I was shocked to hear good news for once. She said to continue the HC and that we will be doing follow up bloodwork in about a week. The next blood test approached, with prayers that it would be even lower or at least hopefully in a normal range. This time the levels were a LITTLE raised, to 18…so my doctor felt that at this time we can begin to taper the medication since my levels are indeed high, yet still in a normal range. At this point, we believed that I am in remission and on my way to recovery.

A week later, we went for the two week follow up with both the surgeon and endo. We were able to meet with both of them at the same time. Both doctors said that I am starting to look less cushing-oid, which was relieving to hear. My endo explained that because of the surgery, my Thyroid and Testosterone levels are also a bit low, and that I’d have to go on replacement until both levels are normalized. I figured that this follow up would only be to talk and go over a few things, with not any real results or new good news, but I was okay with that. Though, we did have an interesting conversation with the surgeon.

Dr. Post, the surgeon wanted to explain what was going on with this pathology report. He is known to be one of the top neurosurgeons in the country and has done thousands of pituitary surgeries. He said that I seem to be a very perplexed case of Cushings. From what he can see when he performed the surgery is that the abnormalities do NOT look like tumor cells, but that the pathologist insists that what they look like to them ARE tumor cells. Because of the confusion, he is having my pathology report results sent out to other surgeons and pathologist for further questioning. At this point, he feels that the abnormalities that he removed are indeed abnormal pituitary cells, or Hyperplasia, like he explained to me and my mother before performing the second surgery. From how it sounded to me and my parents, that treatment for Hyperplasia is pretty much the same and that if all of the abnormalities have been removed, then I should be cured. He did also say that during the second surgery, he removed a lot more abnormal cells than he did the first time. Knowing that I perplexed one of the best surgeons in the country, we all felt a bit confused and a little down about things. We spent the rest of the day in Manhattan and headed home trying to keep our chins up.

Well, today I think has been about 2 weeks from the follow up, and almost a month from surgery. I’d like to say that I am seeing changes with my face, but it’s really hard to tell, though everyone around me is saying that I look fantastic. I can’t seem to get rid of the awful bloat belly, though. I have been going to the gym with my cousin for a week or so now, since my body has been feeling ALOT Bbtter than it has the passed couple months.

Last week my endo was away for the week, and being that I have been feeling better, she decided to give me the week off from blood work, which was relieving. I finally received my Thyroid RX yesterday and began it today and will be getting the Testosterone tomorrow. I got a call from my endo today and she is having me get blood work for my cortisol this Thursday. I am praying everything is normal and that I can continue to ween off the HC even more. I’d also like to mention that I going to see a laser dermatologist tomorrow for a consultation to see what can be done about the hideous stretch marks that my legs are covered in.

So it seems at this point I still am not 100% positive that I am in remission and this Thursday’s results should give us a pretty definite idea. I think this just about covers everything you guys need to know about me and my journey and battle with Cushings. I’m sure there’s so much I left out, though I am sorry it’s such a long introduction. I do feel my story is quite unique, being that I basically diagnosed myself and caught the symptoms so quickly. Please, if anyone has any questions or anything they’d like to discuss, PLEASE feel free to post back. It looks me DAYS to finish this and about 6 drafts that I started over a month ago when I was going to introduce myself to you guys before my surgeries…just was never able to bring myself to finish.

Contact Joseph

Joseph may be interviewed in an upcoming BlogTalkRadio show.

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