At only 19, I have been through a lot medically. I went through puberty at the young age of 8 and by age 15 was diagnosed with osteoporosis after breaking 20 bones within a year’s time. I had always had hormone problems and was put on birth control pills in hope to help.
This January I stopped the pill and within a few days started to feel crazy. After an allergic reaction to nuts I went to the hospital and was put on prednisone. Within a few days I was miserable and ended up on suicide watch. I knew my hormones were wacky and I had panic attacks, depression and anxiety all of which I never had before.
Over the next two months I gained 40+ Lbs all in my stomach and got “moon face” with a slight buffalo hump. I was exhausted all the time. I bruised easily and was afraid to talk to doctors for fear they would put me in a mental ward for my anxiety and depression. I could barely sleep through the night becuase of nightmares. I had no libido and started growing a lot of facial and body hair…
When I came home from freshman year, I finally went to the doctors. Urologists, cardiologists, endocrinologist, gynogylogists you name it. Most wrote me off. The endocrinologist diagnosed me with PCOS and hypothyroidism after blood work and becuase of my symptoms. However I kept having headaches and would be freezing and rapid rate heart even when laying down. I finally perseuded the doctor to do a brain MRI. I got the results last week and there is a suspected 3mm pituitary microadenoma. Of course my endocrinologist left for a month vacation and I go back to school next week.
Right now I’m in the process of figuring out where to go and what to do but I feel like this would be the closest thing to what I have… Hopefully answers will come soon
Hi. I’m a patient of Dr. F and a member of the Cushing’s Help and Support FB community.
I have a pituitary microadenoma and am still doing all kinds of testing to see if it is active. I’ve gotten two clinically high indicative Cushing’s test results so far–midnight serum cortisol of 14 and 24 hour uring 17OHS of 11.5.
I was diagnosed with Cushing’s in 2003 . I was 34 years old, a single Mom of an 8 year old daughter and a Ceritified Nurse-Midwife. I had a pituitary microadenoma and it was removed via TSA nov, 2003. I had remission until 2006.
I knew I was getting sick again but my labs were inconclusive for many months. I had reduced my work hours and still too fatigued to work safely.
In August of 2006 I went to my primary care doctor and told her I was also having a great deal of trouble with my memory such as remembering medications that I gave all the time and even remembering how to look them up. I stopped working that day.
I had 1/2 pituitary removed in November 2006 with no remisssion. I researched options and got other opinions NIH, and Mass General and everyone agreed on radiation…the BIG dose ond day kind. Remission achieved a few months later.
I am still in remission currently, but not who I used to be. Still requiring naps a couple of times a day and to bed early . I have a lot of trouble concentrating, so I can’t drive more than 30 minutes or as my friend says, “my inner canine comes out” and I start staring out the window…kind of forgetting i’m driving. It’s funny but not really. what a wild ride this has been.
It is easy to feel like the only one with this disease, I’m glad you all are here to make it a friendlier place.
I was diagnosed with Cushings in 2005 after 10 years of living the nightmare.
My first symptom was a 30 pound weight gain in 1995 over only 3 weeks. My MD told me to go on a diet. At the time I had whooping cough and was bed-ridden and not eating anything. I thought it was my thyroid, which I had problems with since giving birth in 1983.
I was diagnosed by my endo, who soon after became my primary physician as well. It was very hard to diagnose the Cushings as it is cyclic, but finally in 2005 a dexa test finally showed up. We had tried everything at that point.
I did have pituitary scans; the first time showed a microadenoma of about 5mm in the left lobe. When he repeated the test that was gone and there was a 2mm one on the right side. That too disappeared, but at the time I was going to healing masses often.
We cannot find the cortisol producing tumor, so we just try to keep me calm and address the symptoms to make me as comfortable as possible. The ONLY symptom I do not have is the striae, but I have every other one including the lovely moon face, hump back and GASP whiskers.
Thank the Lord God above for tweezers and hair removal products!
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