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Leah J's Story

Hello All-

Well, I have been having some strange issues for the last few years but had no idea what it was until about 2 months ago. I thought mostly that it was all in my head, you are just lazy, your not eating GOOD enough, you JUST need to exercise more. But is seemed in all my efforts that nothing would work.

Last October I talked to my gyno about my issues and she wanted to test me for adrenal fatigue. So, a bunch of blood work was done and a nurse called me back and said that my cortisol levels were slightly elevated and the doctor had a list of vitamins for me to start taking. The nurse said if I did not feel better in about 6 months to call them back. Well, things were going better, so I thought. I did feel a little better and had some more energy. My husband and I went on our honeymoon in February and I fared well, with lots of sleep. I was even able to loose about 10 pounds before the trip (over a three month period of KILLING myself)

When we got back from vacation, I stopped taking all the vitamins cause I was feeling better (idiot). Anyway, when we were on vacation I developed a strange rash on my body that spread everywhere and lasted about 3-4 weeks until my doctor at home gave me a cortisone shot. Things went OK through the summer until the first of July I got a dry itchy spot on the back of my leg (right where your leg and butt crease :-( I went to my family doctor three times, tried two different rounds of antibiotics, two different creams, and they took some of my skin and sent a biopsy to the lab. The rash is still there, the lab said it was dry itchy skin that was being irritated by itching (so no answer). Believe me I do not go around itching my rear all day!! At the last appointment with my family doc I mentioned the high cortisol from October 05' and he was concerned. Especially with how often I get sick, the fatigue, weight gain and so on. So he did more blood work. This time the Cortisol came back high too. I got copies of the labs and they were 39 in Oct of 05' and 51 in July of 06'. The doc said he was concerned and wanted me to go see a specialist for possible Cushing's.

So, I started looking that up and found this site! But, then I got my appointment for an endo on OCT 15th. Wow, so far away, so I asked to be seen in an internal medicine office by an internist that is highly rated by many people. So, I got an appointment with them last week and the doc wanted to start running a bunch more tests including a dex reduction, 24 urine, and he was following up on other tests from July that were off…Thyroid, rheumatoid arthritis, and some others. He was also going to run insulin and blood sugar. So, now I am in the waiting game to hear back from the doc for the next step.

My symptoms include, fatigue, weight gain, prone to sickness, that rash on my bumm, headaches and the pinkish, purplish stretch marks. I am 25 and weigh 180 where only three years ago I was 130-140. I can't wait to get some answers and feel normal again. I would love any suggestions and love the support from this site.

Thanks-

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