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My story seems to be much like that of many others that are suffering from Cushing's disease. Since the early 90's, it appeared that my health was declining. I gained 100+ pounds and no matter what I did, I could not get rid of it. I also had extremely high blood pressure, which caused me to have horrible headaches, and suffered from muscle and bone weakness. Every doctor I went to informed me that my problem was because I was overweight, and I believed them. I started to believe that I was just supposed to be overweight and nothing I could do would change that. Prior to my diagnosis, I had the typical Cushing's symptoms; always tired, bones and muscles ached all the time, could not sleep at night, my body became distorted, broke a bone in my foot, lost most of my hair on my head, bruised easily, periods ceased, diagnosed with Diabetes, my face and body had acne all over, severe depression and I overall just felt lousy. I was on about 20 medications a day and I am not going to lie, there were several times I wished I could just die.
I finally got diagnosed in February 2003, but the pain and suffering did not immediately stop. It took several tests (my favorite being the urine collection) and several doctors to finally figure out that I had a tumor on my pituitary gland. I was referred to University of Virginia and there I met Dr. Vance and Dr. Laws, which changed my life forever. They immediately saw the tumor on the MRI I had done in March! I went through the Inferior Petrosal Sinus Sampling procedure (which was not very pleasant) for confirmation that it stemmed from my pituitary gland. The following day I was asked to come back in 4 days to have my pituitary gland operated on. I was so relieved that someone finally understood what I was going through. I went in for my operation on a Monday and after staying in the hospital for 2 days, Dr. Laws informed me that they needed to go back in to see if any tumor remained because my cortisol level was still too high. So, I went back under the knife. Let's just say the post op was not fun at all. I felt as if I was on the verge of death. I went home 2 days later with only 20% of my pituitary gland left. I have been back to UVA 3 more times for follow up. As of June 2004, I was found to be in good health! I am now only taking 1 blood pressure medication and all symptoms seem to have gotten better. I have not felt this good for years! If anyone wants to contact me, I am here for them - anytime day or night. This is a tough challenge for anyone to go through and I honestly feel that only the ones that go through this know what it feels like. There is not a day that goes by that I am not afraid it may come back. However, knowing that there are people out there who are part of this foundation has made me comfortable to know that I am not alone.
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