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Michelle's Story

My name is Michelle. I'm 24 yrs. old with twins that are 5 yrs old now.

My story begins when I was between the 2nd and 3rd grade. The summer between those grades I had a lot of changes. A major change was weight gain. Before I was thin and very active. I began to gain a lot of weight, even though I ate very healthy. I lived in the middle of nowhere, so eating out was once a month. I didn't like chips and never drank soda, nothing junky. My parents took me to the doctor and he did a thyrod test, which was normal.

Headaches started when I was in high school. I developed migraines later. I was able to lose weight in highschool, but I never ate. I had stretch marks by the age of 13 on my hips and abd, and a hump on my neck. By the 10th grade I was up to 196 lbs. and stretch marks appeared on my upper arms. It was embarrassing to have so many stretch and be a cheerleader. In junior high I began sleeping a lot, and thats never stopped.

After having my twins, thats when everything has gotten worse. I have insomnia, but when I finally get to bed, I don't want to get up. I'll go to bed at 4 or 5 in the morning and get up a 1 or so in the afternoon. I work a lot, so i'll get to bed at 3 am and have to get up at 5:30 in the morning. My days off, I sleep them away. I want to be active with my kids, but I have zero energy. I've noticed my legs giving out at times, thank God I don't fall on my face. I started to have fluid in my feet/ankles after I had my kids. I take HCTZ for the fluid. I have bruises for a long time. The longest I've had a bruise that i documented was for 2 months. It takes 2 or so weeks for a cut or even a bug bite to start to heal, and the scab stays for 1 to 2 months. I also have chronic UTIs. Been to a specialist, and have had IVP's done. nothing has helped.

I started to go to a neurologist. I see him every 6 weeks. My headaches are everyday, and are one sided. Migraines are at least 2 to 3 times a week. I take medication, but nothing has worked. I go back on October the 24th. He said that the next step would be Botox. he's clueless. I've had my thyrod tested at least 6 times now. No other tests have been done at all, and none of the doctors I've go to have said anything about cushings as a possiblity.

My back and legs always ache at work and especially when I get home. My periods are irregular. I'm on bcp, I'm suppose to get a period every 3 months. We had to try this new bcp to help with cramping and clots. I don't get clots now. But my periods are nothing really. If I didn't use a tampon, I wouldn't have a period because they are so minute.

I have facial hair on my upper lip, a few on my chin, and my face has fine hair everywhere. My skin is very oily. I lose a lot of hair, but I have very thick hair. So you really can't tell. I have noticed in the last 2 yrs that my memory has gotten worse. I don't know how I made it through nursing school. Sad thing is, I don't remember half the things I learned. I can never stay focused at work. I have to write everything down, or I will forget.

My weight is crazy. I lost weight 3 yrs ago and slowly gained it back. It's in full gear now. In January I was 190 lbs. I had already gained 30 lbs of what I lost and now I'm now 220 lbs. I've gained another 40 lbs. In April of 2005 I was 160 lbs. I've gained a lot and I don't have much of an appetite. I usually on eat one meal a day. When I do eat, I get very nauseated.

My self esteem has been very low. My husband has been awesome with it. He tells me everyday how beautiful I am. I get mad when he does tell me that, because I can;t see how he could see that. I don't see anything good when I look in the mirror. Now, I'm not interested in being with my husband. I thought that the birth control was interfering with my libdo.

Which leads me to my depression, irriablity, and major mood swings. I can't control them and I'm now I'm going to therapy. I've been on so many antidepressants, its not funny.

About a month ago, my best friend (who is also a nurse) told me about this women that she read in Reader's Digest. She sounded just like me. Being a nurse, you would think that all these symptoms would click, but it didn't until she had mentioned it. I now have a doctor appointment with my regular doctor and I'm going to discuss all my symptom with him. I will be pushing the issue of doing all the tests possible to rule out cushings.

If anyone whould like to email me, that would be great. I'm nervous and upset. i just want some answers. It's been a long time dealing with this, and I feel it's getting worse.

thanks for reading my story so far. I'll update when I learn more.

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