HOUR-LONG seizures, vision loss in the right eye, and failure to complete sentences are among the challenges that 54-year-old Valrie Anderson has been battling for the last 20 years.
These problems stem from a condition called pituitary adenoma, which is a growth or tumour on the pituitary gland in the brain.
In an emailed response shared with the Jamaica Observer, Anderson’s doctor at the University Hospital of the West Indies, Peyton Lawrence outlined her diagnosis, which has to be treated at Miami Neuroscience Center, Larkin Community Hospital in Miami, Florida.
“After having carefully reviewed your patient’s medical information, in my opinion, Ms Valrie Anderson is a candidate for gamma knife radiosurgery for the treatment of her pituitary adenoma,” the email stated.
According to her sister, Winnifred Anderson Plummer, Valrie began showing signs of the condition while she attended high school but her health got worse during her 20s.
She said her sister’s seizures would last for two to three hours, though the typical time span is usually seconds or minutes before the brain cells return to normal.
“When the seizures became more frequent was when we discovered, after MRI [magnetic resonance imaging] tests, that she had a tumour on the brain. A surgery was done in 2013 at UHWI but since that time the tumour has regrown; it has caused her to have more violent seizures before the surgery and they last for longer periods. Even the doctors that are seeing her when she has an attack, they too are dumbfounded about the length of time her body takes to settle,” she explained.
Anderson Plummer stressed that the deterioration of her sister’s condition has been painful for her relatives.
“We remember how Valrie was – a go-getter. When she was at the bank she was the best at what she did. She left the bank and went into sales and it was the same thing. She is not the person who would sit down and watch the world go by, she wants to be a part of what is making the world go by — that is just how Valrie was — and to see her now it is just heart-breaking. She can’t even open a can of milk,” her sister stressed.
“Valrie is a praying person and she believes that one day the Lord will take away this from her, and I think that is what helps to sustain her as well. I know there is something special about Valrie why God is preserving her,” she added.
Valrie is scheduled to complete the surgery at a cost of approximately $3 million in August, but her relatives are facing financial difficulties and might not be able to source the funds that soon.
I have had Cushing’s for two years. I have been to Mayo Clinic four times in the last two years, and just recently was accepted and seen at the National Institue of Health’s Rare Disease Program in Bethesda, Maryland. I am from Michigan.
I am 34 years old-a RN, BSN who had worked for ten years happily as a nurse-then I became quite ill due to my Interstitial Cystitis-my Urologist put me in the hopstial-I came out of the hospital after five days, and ten days post hospitalization I awoke with severe joint pain, pitting edema, night sweats, fever, Short of Breath, I had a seizure the next day…..I had only been 135 puonds-very active, worked out-played the clarinet in my church orchestra weekly for three services.
After this illness-I was put on steroids to decrease the joint swelling-turns out I was exposed to Legionella disease during the hospital stay and most likely contracted it after taking a shower at the hospital. My world has been turned upside down since then…I was gaining 10-12 pounds of fluid WEEKLY…finally when I went to Mayo Clinic my first visit in 11/07, they felt the Cushing’s was related to the steroid’s I was on-which was not a high dose, to try and decrease all the swelling-no one thought could pin point why I had so much fluid retention-this was about four months from when I first became ill and I know was 195 pounds!
I returned again to Mayo 1/08 and then again 4/08….in April of 2008 it was an urgent visit-I had been passing out DAILY in my condo in Grand Rapids, MI-two hours from my family-my friends would find me-or I’d wake up fallen on the floor, etc-my internist had me come immediately to Mayo-I was set up with a leading Endocrinologist at Mayo and within 24 hours I was diagnosed with Cushing’s Syndrome and Adrenal Insufficiency-my Urine Cortisol and ACTH stim test were awful. I was put on Replacement Hydrocortisone (At this point I had been off ALL steroids for five months-but continued to gain fluid-I was now 240pounds…they did a tissue biopsy-when they cut into my skin fluid came running out-they-at Mayo had NEVER seen anything like this!).
After returning from Mayo-(my father took me for the ten hour drive each time, we would be there about 8 days-he was such a rock for me as I had always been the independent child in the family…now I needed help-and that was hard to accept). I forgot to mention at this point I was developing many skin rashes, my hands looked like they had been chemically burned all the way up to my elbows….I had allergy/PATCH testing done-found out I was literally allergic to almost everything in the environment-All preservatives in medicine, formaldehyde, lanoline, rubber, adhesive, all chemicals, fragerances-even toothpaste, makeup, it was unreal!
Five days after returning home-I ended up in the hospital in GR-I had a secondary cellulitis/bacterial infection with fever on my hands and arms-I was put on IV antibidics …unfortunately the “hospitalist” I was assigned (In Michigan your internist doesn’t round on you-you are assigned a hospitalist to take care of your inpatient care)…anyways-he didn’t believe I needed to triple my steroid dose when ill-so he refused-I fell into a coma that day! Thankfully one of my good friends, also a RN, came to visit when all th staff was trying to awake me-and my friend said, “my God-she’s in an adrenal crisis!” Once they got the Cortisol in me I was okay. But that was terrifying-I could hear everything the nurses, and medical staff was s aying and I couldn’t talk, blink, move anything-I had tried to call my internist before I slipped into the coma-but I couldn’t talk-I remember hearing the receptionist-but I coudln’t talk-they found my cell phone on the floor where I had dropped it.
it has been a hard road-i returned to Mayo 11/08……at this point I was 300 pounds-they did a full body CT, MRI’s of knee’s, etc-all my tissue is full of fluid-they honestly wre not sure what to do-they just hoped that by tryijng to wean down on the steroids my body would start making aCTH and “Cortisol-I brought intormation on the Rare disease Program at the NIH-my internist at Mayo and in Grand Rapids, MI referred me-I also sent a letter with photo’s. I kept a photo journal from the beginning of my journey-taking photo’s of my striae, abdomen, buffalo hump, arms, legs, abdomen, and SEVERE fluid retention – I took these photo’s monthly so the doctor’s could see how this progressed-this was one of the most helpful things I did.
Thousands are referred to the Rare Disease Program-only 50-100 are accepted. I was accepted. My father and I flew out to the NIH May 17th and returned May 22nd. They paid for our travel, all hospital charges, and lodging for my father at the Safra Lodge there on the NIH campus.
I met the guru of Cortisol-Dr. Nieman-she was incredible. It was an amazing experience to be there-like Mayo-their philosophy is “we are here for the patient” unlike many doctor’s I had run into in Grand Rapids-I’m sure many can relate to some doctor’s that don’t even have ten minutes for you-here and at Mayo then spend 1-2 hours with you-you are their priority. It’s refreshing.
They changed my replacement steroids from Prednisone to Hydrocortisone, I’ve slowly been weaning-but I’m stuck at 10mg in the am, 5mg at 2pm, and 5 mg at 6pm. I also had many other consults while there.
Currently I have a WONDERFUL internist in Grand Rapids-I had to change doctors 2/08-I had been with a family practice doctor and this was just way out of his expertise, I also have a wonderful Urologist, Dr. Casamento whom has been my urologist for over ten years-he has been SO kind and helps me handle my Interstitial Cystitis.
Other than that I have transferred my care to Univ. of Michigan. I have the Chief of Endocrinology at U of M as my Endocrinologist-he is awesome-so intelligent-and he works with the NIH and my internist to help formulate a plan.
I also have a wonderful Rheumatolgosit at U of M- I have a lot of damage to my knee’s-and as I said-my weight is now at 300 pounds-they say over 50% is fluid-and you can tell-my skin is SO taught, nothing is flabby….I’ve been on so many diuretics-nothing helps-next step is to see nephrology at U of M.
They Cushing’s Syndrome symptoms are hard to deal with-you have to learn to adapt-the abdomen, the buffalo hukp, the stria-I look just like the diagram on your website-I had to cut my hair very short as I was sweating ALL the time-another bad side effect. I have had to go from being able to live in my third floor condo-to moving home to my parents-I can’t do stairs anymore-I do PT exercises daily at their home-I have to use a walker at all times, I also have to sleep upright-as my abdomen is SO distended if I like even at a 45 degree angle I feel like I’m suffocating. I PRAY for a miracle-the NIH and Mayo had NEVER seen someone with such severe symptoms of Cushing’s. They now are not sure if I have primary or secondary adrenal insufficiency.
In the meantime I have some major damage and arthritis in my spine/knee’s ankles-but I’m not a surgical candidate per my ortho doc….he’s just doesn’t know how to help me.
I think the hardest things for me are just ADL’s (Activities of Daily Living) shower, even using the bathroom, hygeine, etc….and still not allowing anyone to help me-I’m stubborn that way-but the worse the abdomen distends, the worse the fluid gets-the harder it is for me.
Thankfully I have so much loving support from family and friends-but qualify of life is so low. I no longer get out of the home-it’s too hard-and the stares I get from people, and the laughs because of the Cushing’s is hard….I had been getting my groceries using an Amgio cart-but now that I’m living with my parents they take care of that.
Thankfully I had no problem getting disability-but COBRA and my medical bills have taken my entire savings. My church family even pays every other COBRA-but at 540.00 a month-plus all my other bills/mortgage, etc-it’s been a devestation financially.
I wish everyone with Cushing’s the best of luck-just know you are NOT alone. My faith has sustained me in hard times-I can’t imagine not having faith to get throgh this.
I suspect I may have cushing’s syndrome or disease but all I know for sure is I’m sick, I don’t know what’s wrong with me……..and I want to get better.
I just turned 25 in March but looking back i think i’ve been showing symptoms for the last 13 years.
At the age of 13 over the school holidays I gained a bunch of weight (14 kg in a month and a half) and since then my weight just keeps climbing up. I also became lethargic, depressed, unmmotivated, struggled with my concentration and continue to do so. The stretch marks followed the weight gain. I definitely have a really round face, which I guess could be moon face. My face gets really red and flushed. I have very little body hair but its quite strange that i have hair growth on the lower part of my fingers and toes. I have a significant amount of foot pain especially when I get up in the mornings. I have lower back pain too. I wouldn’t say my periods are highly irregular but they are often off from my usual 28 day cycle by about 5 to 14 days. This is becoming a more frequent occurrence. My skin is really thin, soft and doesn’t heal well. Small cuts and bruises take longer than usual to heal and almost always leave scars. I feel hungry and tired all the time.
The depression and fatigue is by far the most debilitating of all the symptoms I have suffered from. My grades in school and later on University have steadily dropped since the age of 13. I find it really hard to concentrate. It was only when I began failing in uni that my parents finally allowed me to see a doctor who was a psychiatrist in 2009.
I had an abnormal EEG showing evidence of seizures. The evidence was not sufficient enough to diagnose me with epilepsy but he called it seizure equivalent depressson. I was then put on heavy rounds of anti-depressants and anti-convulsants which kept on being adjusted. Different dosages and combinations would work for awhile then stop so that meant more combinations, stronger drugs and higher dosages. To cut a long story short I finally quit the meds in Dec 2011 and began to see a new psychiatrist in May 2012 who ordered blood tests, a thyroid test, sleep-deprived EEG and an MRI.
My blood sugar and cholestrol is normal but heading towards the high range which worries me but not suprising given that I’m obese. The EEG again showed slight evidence of seizures but when I was referred to a neurologist he said I show no evidence of seizures and that normal people have abnormal EEGs all the time(?????) This is despite a history of epilepsy on my Dad’s side of the family. What about non-convulsive seizures-could this explain the lack of poor concentration?
The MRI came out normal, only showed that I suffer from chronic sinusitis. But then again it wasn’t done by a specialist in the diagnosis of pituitary tumours and they most definitely were not looking for one so if there is a microadenoma, its flown under the radar. The blood tests showed I have a low white blood cell count (neutrophils and monocytes). My cortisol level was normal but then again it wasn’t a 24-hour cortisol test.
From my own research I found that chronic sinusitis could be linked to the depression but my Psychiatrist seemed to be unwilling to explore these leads any further and advised me to stop researching so much online. At the same time he put me a new round of anti-depressants and anti-convulsants which left me feeling weak, tired and drained. For the first two weeks I slept all day and could barely get out of bed. I quit these too in September 2012 and since them haven’t seen any doctors but symptoms remain and its a struggle to live with them every day.
I am still financially dependent on my parents who are tired of my constant “depression” which they feel is an attitude problem so I don’t even speak about it with them any more. They feel I should just try harder. I hope to graduate from Uni this year but due to my health problems I’m 3 years behind and my grades have suffered. I have health insurance which makes it very difficult to get referrals to specialists and they hardly covers pre-exisitng conditions. All treatment described above was paid for by my parents and not health insurance. They are retired now and don’t want to spend a ton of money they don’t necessarily have, looking for a phantom condition. I understand their point of view but I feel if I had a child I would do all I could to help them get better.
The more time that passes the more difficult it becomes and the more paralysed I feel. I have a part time internship at a law firm that is even becoming too much now. I can barely study. I’ve lost almost all my friends either because I isolate myself or am too tired and depressed to be there for them like a good friend should.
As of March 2013 I went to see a gynacologist about my irregular periods he ordered another thyroid test, prolactin test and a Pelvic scan so i’ll see how that goes….maybe its PCOS.
Anyway I have no one to talk to . I don’t know what to do next. I wonder if anyone else has been/is in a similar position.
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