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I am a 37 year old mother of two small children. In March of 1996, I went on birth control pills and at the same time went on the popular Cabbage Diet. In addition, I started running 4 miles a day. After a few months, I started to lose the hair on my head and to grow facial hair. I went to my doctor who changed my birth control pills. After a few months, I was still losing hair on my head and growing facial hair so I went off the birth control pills. In July, I started to bruise easily and purple lines started to appear around my abdomen. I was also getting very irritable to everyone. I was getting up at 4 a.m. and could not sit still. I was also experiencing a moon face, fat on the back of my neck, redness of the face, gaining weight and my periods stopped. The doctor ran lots of blood tests. My cortisol level was very high. I was sent for a CAT scan of my adrenals. A tumor was found. I was almost ready for surgery when the radiologist felt that there was inadequate evidence the adrenal tumor was causing the problem. I was sent for an MRI of my pituitary, which came out clean. They still felt that my pituitary was the problem. I was then sent for a petrosal sinus catherization to demonstrate whether a pituitary tumor was present. The test was carried out, I had a large gradient between the pituitary and the periphery, indicative of an underlining adenoma causing Cushing syndrome. In December of 1996, Dr. Kalmon Post at Mount Sinai in New York did a Transsphenoidal Hypothesectomy.
I was put on hydrocortisone for 6 months. As of June 20, 1997 , I am not taking anything. My hair has grown back. I no longer have facial hair, a moon face, redness, bruising, and the extra weight. I have also started to menstrate again. I am now experiencing some purple lines on my abdomen, some irritable back pain, skin itching, right hand trouble gripping sometimes, and trouble getting up in the morning.
In October of 1997, I had some tests done which showed that I now have a crushed disc and kidney stones. I also have very dry skin now, which is causing a very bad rash all over my body. I want to know if this has anything to do with the fact that I had Cushing's.
Other than that I feel fine. People say that I look better than I ever did. Please let me know if I can be of help to anyone. |
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