![]() |
![]() |
![]()
After my son was born in 1973, I went into a depression. Everyone thought it was postpartum blues after having a baby. The depression lasted a long time. In the meantime I was getting heavier and gaining more weight, especially in my stomach and trunk of my body. I noticed that I was bruising very easily, getting tired all the time and emotionally unstable. I had a hump on the back of my neck, facial hair, ugly purple lines on my stomach, and my back and legs were always aching. My bones became very brittle and resulted in collapsed vertebrae in my back. I also had a lot of muscle weakness.
I saw doctor after doctor. They didn't seem to know what was wrong with me. In fact, they put me in a mental hospital and gave me shock treatments and various medications to get me out of my depression. Since it was a physical problem and not mental, nothing seemed to help.
After about two years of going through this sickness and about 70 pounds heavier, I went to see a doctor at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida. A young doctor diagnosed me with Cushing's Disease. Thank God, he started me on the road to recovery. He said one of my adrenal glands was enlarged and sent me to Dwight David Eisenhower Hospital in Fort Gordon, Georgia for surgery. After being there for two months, they decided it was something more than just an enlarged adrenal gland. They called an endocrinologist from Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) in Washington, DC to examine me. I was then taken to WRAMC in January of 1977. After a month in the hospital and hundreds of tests, they discovered a microscopic tumor on my pituitary gland which caused all of my problems.
On February 11, 1977 I had transsphenoidal surgery and had my entire pituitary gland removed. That was over 20 years ago! Today, I am on all kinds of replacement medications, and believe it or not, am still seeing the same wonderful doctor at WRAMC. I still get tired easily and my bones and muscles are still tender sometimes. But all in all, I feel pretty good. I will have to see doctors and take medications for the rest of my life, but I thank God every day that I do have a life. I am also thankful for the support of my wonderful husband, family and friends for getting me through this.
I would just like to tell people who are suffering with this terrible disease to have faith and hang in there. YOU can make it, I DID!!!!
|
|
comment on this page
email this page
print friendly
