Question: Why does a patient who has been overproducing steroids due to Cushing's need to take steroids following curative surgery?

Answer: When a patient has been cured of Cushing's, their normal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system is not producing any cortisol because the high circulating levels prior to cure have suppressed the normal system. The normal hypothalamic- pituitary - adrenal system usually recovers, but this may take up to a year or two. In the interim, it is absolutely essential to life that the patient take replacement steroid medication.