Hi I’m a 51yo mother of four kidults and 2 grandsons.
I havea few health issues including diverticular disease, hypothyroidism, hashimotos autoimmune thyroiditis (including multinodular gland), secondary hyperparathyroidism, non alcoholic fatty liver, high cholesterol, major depressive disorder and social anxiety and borderline diabetes.
I’m currently undergoing tests for cushings due to 2 recent elevated cortisol levels on a 4 point saliva test and morning cortisol blood tests. I have a hump, puffy face, signicant weight gain, ushing, excessive sweating, anxiety, skin issues (granuloma annulare, new stretch marks, rashes).
Have been experiencing symtoms since mid90s. Spent almost four years on high doses of steroids for brain tumor, snd diffilculty being weaned off.
Midsection has continued to grow,blood pressure and glucose levels have risen. Upper body muscle has all but disappeared, have the hump on back of neck. Developing facial hair, have lost upper body muscle
Cushing’s survivor hopes to make others aware of illness
July 16, 2007
Denise Potter, who works at the Christus Schumpert Highland Hospital as a mammographer, has Cushing’s disease which affects the performance of the pituitary gland. Greg Pearson/The Times 07.12.07 (Greg Pearson/The Times)
Denise Potter never connected her rapid weight gain to a disease or her high blood pressure to anything but her weight.
The hump on the base of her neck was a feature she supposed came with the weight.
And although the roundness and redness in her face was odd, she never connected it to the other symptoms she was having or the fatigue, heart palpitations and swelling she begin to experience in her 30s.
And neither did a stream of doctors over the decade when Potter’s symptoms related to Cushing’s disease began. It would take another two years after diagnosis to find a treatment that worked.
“You can see my face getting real round in this picture. They call that a ‘moon’ face,'” said Potter, 42, looking over a handful of photos that showed the progression of the disease, diagnosed when she was 37. “You learn one of the best ways to show doctors the changes happening is to bring pictures with you to appointments.”
Potter, who works as a mammographer at Christus Schumpert Highland Hospital in Shreveport, calls herself lucky to be working and functioning in life as well as she is.
“I only hope by telling my story someone else can be diagnosed sooner,” she said.
According to the National Institutes of Health, Cushing’s disease is a form of Cushing’s syndrome — caused by the overproduction of cortisol over a long period of time.
Cortisol is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands and essential to many of the body’s cardiovascular and metabolic functions. It also helps the body respond to stress.
Cushing’s disease is specifically caused by a hormone-producing tumor on the pituitary gland.
About 1,000 people each year in the U.S. are told they have a form of Cushing’s, but those affected think many more cases go undiagnosed.
“Making people aware of the disease is the name of the game,” said Louise Pace, founder and president of Cushing’s Support and Research Foundation Inc., based in Boston, Mass. “There’s a chance for 100 percent recovery if you get diagnosed soon enough. But not too many do. Out of the 1,000 members I have, only two are 100 percent cured and they both got diagnosed within a year. It took me five years. The longer you go, the more damage it does.”
In addition to feature changes, left undiagnosed the disease can cause associated diseases such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension and osteoporosis.
“It’s such a difficult disease to catch. It’s different from one patient to another. And for a lot of people it cycles. Doctors miss it unless they do particular tests,” said Warren Potter, Denise’s husband, whose gained a strong medical knowledge about the disease. “It’s amazing how much you learn about medicine when you have to.”
Warren Potter, originally from New Zealand, has lived in the states now for about eight years and met Denise online by chance while he was living in Tennessee.
He gives luck a large role in his wife’s diagnosis.
“At one stage she found a doctor who wasn’t too far out of medical school,” said Warren of the young doctor his wife went to in 2003 for her high blood pressure that would diagnose the disease.
“He was very worried about my blood pressure being 215 over 105 (a healthy adult is around 120/80) and began asking other questions,” said Potter, who’d also experienced an extreme, rapid weight gain. “I’d always been around 135 pounds but in my 30s my weight jumped up to 300 pounds. I knew my eating hadn’t changed enough for that much weight gain.”
Headaches and later migraines that Potter experienced throughout her life also began to make sense with a Cushing’s diagnosis. More than one eye doctor thought there might be something else going on there, but were looking on the brain not the pituitary gland where a tumor that causes Cushing’s disease sits.
A 24-hour urine collection was enough to prove that Potter’s cortisol levels were high, but not enough to pinpoint why.
Cushing’s syndrome can be caused by myriad of reasons, according to the National Institutes of Health.
A person who takes excessive amounts of steroids for inflammatory diseases or other reasons can suffer the symptoms of Cushing’s. Also a number of things can go wrong in the precise chain of events needed to produce cortisol.
It all starts with the hypothalamus that secretes corticotropin releasing hormone that tells the pituitary to produce adrenocorticotropin, which then stimulates the adrenal glands to produce cortisol that’s dumped into the bloodstream.
Potter’s tumor was confirmed with a magnetic resonance imaging of the pituitary.
The cure is surgical resection of the tumor, states the NIH, with about 80 percent success rate.
Potter’s first surgery done at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., failed as did another attempt to shrink it with radiation.
Potter and her husband took a bold step they both felt was her best chance for a cure.
“We moved to Oregon where the best specialist in the country was,” said Potter, who was treated by Dr. William Ludlam, an endocrinologist. “I liked him immediately. He thought maybe my first surgery hadn’t been done quite right and wanted to try it again.”
When a second surgery done at the Oregon Health and Science University also failed, Potter and her doctor made the decision to remove both her adrenal glands in 2005.
The surgery took away her body’s ability to produce cortisol, which is now replaced orally. She’s also taking other hormones that are no longer produced by a damaged pituitary.
“On the endocrine aspect it’s all guess work to the levels of medication that works to make her feel relatively normal. We learn to tweak it when she needs to,” Warren said. “We’re lucky in a lot of ways that the disease was caught in time. She did not get the cure from the tumor being removed and she has other symptoms, but they can be treated.”
The Potters moved to Shreveport late in 2005 to be closer to her parents. An endocrinologist follows her hormone replacement therapy.
“I’ve lost 70 pounds, but because my age and the length of years I had the disease, my recovery will be slower,” said Potter, who takes 10 pills and one injection daily to manage her hormones and diabetes. “It’s also caused some memory loss that I still can’t access.”
Potter and others affected by the disease think experts are underestimating the number of cases.
“I see people all the time that look they are walking around with similar symptoms as I use to have,” she said. “I hope this makes people more aware of the disease.”
My daughter had hair loss since age of 15
At 16 she had a hump at the back of her neck
Age 17 had anxiety, negative thoughts and memory loss.
Weight gain, acanthosis and menstrual irregularities.
I had shown her to many dermatologists for hair loss. At 16 had shown her to 2 endocrinologists
At 17 to psychiatry, gynaecologist and 2 more endocrinologists finally arriving at diagnosis after cortisol and ACTH tests followed by dexa suppression and CT abdomen.
She was operated laparoscopically and is now 7 mths postop.
She is off steroid supplementation and is improving steadily.
I WISH THERE WAS MORE AWARENESS ABOUT THIS DISEASE !!
My daughter has suffered a lot and I pray she recovers completely 🏼
Hi. For the last couple of years I have had different symptoms. I’m 45 and feel like I’m 70. I think it started about 3 years ago. I would break or fracture something and it would take forever to heal. I gained over 60 lbs. I’m always tired yet don’t sleep well. I look like I’m 9 months pregnant but skinny arms and legs. Stretch marks on body. Round red Face that constantly feels hot. My back has a hump and my neck has fat pads. Finally, prehypertension. I also have intense itching especially in a soecific area. Oh, let’s not forget anxiety and focus issues. .
I had enough. About 7 months ago I began going from doctor to doctor. Every test came back fine and they dismissed me. Finally, I went to an endo. She tested me for Cushings. I gad 5 tests and all came back positive. All this took time but I tried to be patient. I know this is horrible but I was actually happy to finally have an answer to my issues. I then had a CT scan and found an afonona in my left adrenal gland.
I had surgery a week ago today. I’ve heard so many different stories of figuring out if they have cushings but little about their recovery. I’m hoping to hear people’s recovery stories. I’m actually much better than I thought I’d be. I’m weak, still some pain at surgical sight, out of breath, and very emotional. Also, hard to do an intellectual activity before feeling overwhelmed.
Can you all share your journey? I’m taking 40 mg of hydrocortisone a day. I was wondering if anyone had itchiness as a symptom. Doctors have told me that they haven’t heard of that as a symptom of cushings. It is horrible with me and am hoping it will go away with this surgery. I feel like it has gotten better.
Looking forward to hearing about some recovery stories and feel free to ask me anything to help other understand what they are going through.
Hi there, I am 26 but I was diagnosed at the age of 16 with a pituitary tumor, 17 when I had removed the first time and 19 the seconded time.
Here is the story. I was pregnant at 15 and gave birth at 16. My son was born in June (I was 135 lbs) by December I was 240lbs. I had all the classis symptoms. Weight gain, thin skin, upper back hump, moon face, lack of a menstrual cycle, high cholesterol and the strata (all over stretch marks).
I was diagnosed in March in July (1999) since I live near Pittsburgh I had surgery with one of the doctors who developed the use of the Endoscope for removal of pituitary tumors. I had been told that the tumor would not come back. It was fine to have more kids. There was one in a billion chance that it would be a tumor that grows like cancer, and then there was a one in a million chance that there would be any of the tumor left behind that could grow back. A
fter words I lost most of the weight and the moon face. I had no need for hormones, because they only remove part of my pituitary, I also graduated high school and was married.
I felt very good when I gave birth to my 2nd son 22 months later (April 01). I was 160lbs. Well, I tried to ignore the weight gain, the lack of menstrual cycle, but when my hump started to come back and when in infant’s finger nail scratched me and I bleed, I self diagnosed this time and went to the doctor for confirmation.
I was 280lbs when I went in for the second time in November (2001). Now I am 90% sure there is a tumor up there I do not know I do not want to have a M I R to see. My husband and I will not have any more kids.
I still have a fear that it will come back on its on or if I suffer a body troma that causes the pituitary to enlarge that it will cause the tumor to grow and I will have to go through this again. I am still struggling to lose this weight. I am now 230
When I began this journey in 1999, I could only find one link for pseudo cushings on Google. I actually gave up finding anyone else like me until today. I was misdiagnosed several times before 2001, when I started seeing Dr. David Schteingart at the University of Michigan (two hours from my home). I was to the point where I was lactating, was growing facial and chest hair, was covered in acne from stem to stern, was passing out, had gained 30 pounds in one month – all around my stomach, was developing a hump on my back, was losing hair, had lost strength, memory, and self-respect, and some days couldn’t even raise my head.
With high cortisol, prolactin, and DHEA I was told I had PCOS even though I have never missed a period in my life. I was then told I had diabetes because I had had a high sugar read when I was pregnant in 1995. I was treated with birth control pills, anti-depressants, and diabetic meds. All of these things made me worse.
Finally, I had an MRI that showed a 2-3 mm mircroadenoma on my pituitary. Two more MRIs confirmed the findings. I was sent off to U of M to their pituitary clinic to find that my pituitary was fine. They sent me to their endocrinology department where I was diagnosed with pseudo cushings. I spent several years traveling to U of M monthly and began taking oral ketoconazole. Yes, that’s right, the same stuff that’s in Nizoral the dandruff shampoo. It took about two years on this stuff for me to develop an allergy. Dr. Steingart told me to choose: relief from cushings or relief from the hives that covered 90 percent of my body. I chose to give up the hives and have not taken ketoconazole since 2004. This is what I have come to realize: I cannot live in a stressful life. If I miss sleep, don’t eat well, or stress out at work, my cortisol sky rockets and I’m back to square one. This makes working almost impossible. My adrenals start off and don’t stop when I’m in a pressure situation. I am like a Southern Belle with the vapors pretty much all of the time. The only difference is: I want to live my life. I want to return to my career and be supermom; my efforts are continually thwarted by my body.
I’m anxious to hear if there are others like me out there in the world and how they have coped and made a go of it.
Hi,
I have only recently been diagnosed with Cushing’s syndrome,and it is due to the mediciine i take for asthma.ilast year i kept collapsing in the street and iwas suffering from low blood-pressure and hypoglycemia.
I live in france where this illness is practically unheard of. I am on two different medications to treat my illness but have gained a lot of weight,have a ‘camel’s hump’,edema on my legs and feet as well as having a ‘moon-shaped face”. I am British-American and would love to hear other people’s stories of living with this disease.
I am exhausted all the time,depressed,can’t concentrate on anything…i have trouble leaving the house because i get dizzy and people stare at me and judge me because i am obese.
I came to this website to hear other people’s stories and to feel less alone because Cushing’s syndrome is a nightmare.
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.
I had been sick for eight years before I finally got diagnosed with Cushings disease. My daughter went online and punched in hump on back and found out about Cushings disease. Then she went to sites like this one and found out what tests were necessary, which was very helpful, because not only did the endocrine doctor I saw think I didn’t have cushings disease, he also didn’t know what tests I needed. Thankfully he was on board with ordering the tests we asked him to order.
In 2008 I had pituitary surgery. I went on steroids afterwards for over a year. I lost all of the weight I had gained. My doctor told me I was cured. I kept telling him I was still exhausted and I was sick all of the time, but he wouldn’t listen and told me I was just depressed. Since then I have been to three other endocrine doctors. I have done a few 24hr. Urine collections and an 11 :00pm to 7am urine collection. I also did 3 saliva tests which were normal. The night time urine collection was on the “high side, but still within normal range “.
I had an MRI which didn’t show anything either. My doctor said he would do more 24 hrs urine collections in a couple of months. He said he would also do another MRI. I haven’t had any luck with the 24hr urine collections, so I am not expecting much. I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I will be fat and sick the rest of my life because I am so tired of doctors telling me they can’t find anything wrong with me.
I gained 60 lbs. In 6 months after my doctor told me I was cured. At the same time I started gaining the weight back, I started to get the same symptoms I had when I had Cushings disease. Since then my weight continued to climb until I started taking cortisol reducing supplements. Now I am still sick, but my weight has stayed the same. I have days where I am so sick I don’t want to get out of bed. Most of those days I have severe headaches and back aches. I get colds and flu a few times a month. People don’t think it’s the flu because I get it so often, but I have vomiting and body aches, just like I did when I had Cushings disease. I think I may have cyclical cushings because the tests aren’t showing anything. I am wondering if someone could recommend a test or tests that are good for cyclical cushings disease.
Denise Potter, who works at the Christus Schumpert Highland Hospital as a mammographer, has Cushing’s disease which affects the performance of the pituitary gland. Greg Pearson/The Times 07.12.07 (Greg Pearson/The Times)
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