And It's About Time There Was Some Support For Cushing's!
My struggle began at age 17. Prior to 17, I was an outgoing healthy teenager. I attended high school and college courses at the same time, I exercised atleast an hour a day, I had a very happy and active social life and looking back now, I realize that the year before I turned 17 was the best year of my life. I was always the life of the party, definately known by everyone as the social butterfly and as far as my family and I were concerned, the future held nothing but promise for me. I thrived on achieving social success as well as academic success, so I became concerned when I started to feel sick at the begining of my senior year and was unable to keep up with my usual busy schedule.
It all started with repeat viral infections that eventually landed me in the hospital with an infection of mono. I was given antibiotics and sent up under the impression that my life would soon go back to normal. Unfortunately, it never did and over these past four years, things have only gotten worse for me.
My first year of dealing with this "unknown" problem, I gained almost 90 pounds. I have gone from a size 8 to a size 20! My face is so red and swollen that most days I barely recognize myself, which to be quite honest, has made me feel almost completely hopeless. My stomach is so large, with such awful purple stretch marks, that I try not to look too much at myself in the mirror. I never had a skin problem, but now am dealing with recurrent acne breakouts.
In the past 11 months I have become insulin resistant and am currently on metformin for this problem (which by the way has not improved greatly.) I had quit having periods altogether and have been put on birth control for this problem. My hair and nails go through periods of falling out, and all but a few lashes have now fallen out. My legs, feet, and fingers are constantly swollen and the pain in my joints has become absolutely excruciating. I have recently developed asthma and am being treated for acid reflux with prevacid. What I consider one of my worst symptoms is the crippling fatigue, at times it is absolutely painstaking to simply go to the bathroom. Many times I have had to sit on the couch for long periods of time to be able to work up the energy and strength to even stand up. I do not sleep well and when I finally get to sleep, if I wake up early, I usually cannot go back to sleep.
Perhaps the most distressing part of my whole ordeal is that after suffering for more than four years with these problems, my doctors still have not helped me. My general practitioner believes that indeed I do have Cushing's Disease, however, I seem to get nowhere with Endocrinologists. The first endo that I saw actually told me that he would do no testing on me unless and until I lost weight, because he was sure this was the cause of all of my problems. I had no idea how hard it would be to get a doctor to understand that I used to weigh 130, I haven't always weighed 230...wow, seeing that number is still shocking to me, it's still so disheartening. I am now seeing my thired endo. and pray that he will finally be able to help me, though I try not to get my hopes up, because I have been let down time and time again. I will update you soon...I see the doctor on the 19th...please keep me in your prayers. God Bless everyone who is going through this...
