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Joanne (Mojo1973), Steroid Induced Bio

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steroids

 

Hello Everyone,

I will try to keep my introduction short. I am a 43 year old wife, mother, and certified freak of nature. I was diagnosed with steroid induced Chushings in October of 2015.

Since I was a child I have had random medical issues but over the Over the last 20 years I have become a connoisseur of the medical arts. Funny because the I worked in the medical field for 15 out of the 20 years. I seem to collect diagnoses like a girl scout collects badges.

At 17 years old I collected my first big badge after months of being sick, Chronic EBV. In my 20’s I received the badges for Hashimoto’s Thyroidism, Fibromyalgia, and Adenomyosis.

As I moved into my thirty’s my badges were getting bigger and better; they included Sjogren’s syndrome, Raynaud phenomenon, Hemiplegic migraine, Meniere’s disease. It seemed every time I needed to go to the doctors they wanted to test me for something new. All I wanted was relief because my symptoms were getting more aggressive. They have caused me to several surgeries’ not limited to Hysterectomy (by 28years old), Splenectomy, Smart plugs in my lower eye lids, EGD’s and Colonoscopies.

My hemiplegic migraines have caused multiple visits to the ER and the hospital’s Neuro floor. With these Migraines I have TIA’s so I have trouble walking or talking for days after. As the years have gone by my illness has gotten worse and it all came to a head in June 11th 2015.

I felt awful and I had for several months. My new doctor was very confused because my blood work kept coming back normal for the most part, but I kept having random fevers (up to 105 degrees Fahrenheit) joint swelling and body aches/pains.

On June 11th my family couldn’t take it, they had watched me be in pain for too long, so they took me to the doctor in the morning. When the doctor saw my whole family there at my appointment in tears, he decided to do more blood work. After the appointment he sent me home and said I should hear from him in the next few days with the results. So, we left feeling defeated and like their would never be any help. About two hours after I got home the doctor called and said to get to the hospital that something was wrong but he was unsure what it was. My blood work showed my inflammation markers at 174 and my WBC 28,000. In addition to that my kidneys and liver were fighting to staying the game. This was the start of the current medication roller-coaster, and prednisone was the main med in this cart I’m riding in.

It took three months to get the inflammation and WBC down but I took 1 month at 80mg then 3 months of 60mg of steroids. My taper is going very slow and painful. I’m currently down to 4mg and it will take till October to ween all the way off. But because of the steroids I gained 70lbs in four months. This brought my 5 foot frame to 211lbs. I have all the best signs of Cushings and for the most part I’m dealing ok. Until I can’t bend over to put on my shoes or I have to use my vpap machine to breath at night.

I guess I should tell you what my current badges are narrowed down to. I have a rare auto immune auto inflammatory disease called Hypergammaglobulinemia with Familial Mediterranean fever. To have have name gives me a direction. I would rather I do this then one of my children. I just want the information for my family so they can have early diagnoses and live a long life without pain.

 

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Roseglass (Roseglass), Adrenal BIo

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adrenal_glands

 

I have been ill for 9 years. I was experiencing severe anxiety/depression, profuse sweating, extreme hypertension, a non-stop migraine, and living in a constant state of fight-or-flight. Seven years ago, a full body CT scan revealed a left adrenal tumour. It has taken until this past year (actually just a few months ago) to finally get a diagnosis of pheochromocytoma from the medical field (no one listens to the patient – I have been telling them about the pheo and that I have Cushings for 7 years! My cousin died from an undiagnosed pheo.) Fortunately, I have wonderful long-term family doctor and more recently a great endo who have given me alpha and beta blockers to keep the symptoms more tolerable while we waited for a confirmed diagnosis.

Besides the above symptoms from the pheo, I have all the typical Cushing’s symptoms, I have also had a stroke, at least one TIA, and a heart attack. My heart has become enlarged and I can hardly breathe. After the heart attack, my weight took a huge jump. I had already become quite large but then I gained 7″ around the middle in 4 weeks. I complained to my doctors that something was terribly wrong but they kept saying I was just eating too much (sound familiar?). I also have a variety of lesions covering a variety of organs.

Due to the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma (via a MIBG), I was sent to a surgeon. The first was an idiot (don’t stand for that – ever – there are decent people out there). Then I was allowed to choose my own team. I found a team in Toronto, at Princess Margaret Hospital, who are knowledgeable and really understand this disease. When they said I had classic Cushing’s, my eyes teared up – finally someone saw it.

I have just had my 1st consultation with them, plus more tests, and am waiting for my 2nd consultation in January when I also expect to meet with the surgeon. It is looking hopeful that I may have my life back. They believe my body will go back to normal: my heart, diabetes reversal, my hair return to normal (more on head, less on chin), pain relieved (I can hardly walk and cannot climb stairs), and other delightful changes …including a normal life span.

I am worried about small lesions developing on my pituitary and right adrenal gland but no one is really looking at those at the moment. I just got word that the left adrenal tumour doubled in size recently so getting this out is the priority. It has been such a long and frustrating process that I won’t feel truly at ease until I have an actual surgery date.

Roseglass

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