And It's About Time There Was Some Support For Cushing's!
Hi my name is Stacy I am 24 years old, I was diagnosed with Cushing’s in February of 2007.
In the summer of 2002 I started to have dizzy and black out spells. I first started to gain weight in November of 2002 I went from 110 to 125 lbs., I couldn’t seem to loose it.
In January of 2003 was when I first had a high blood pressure reading. The summer of 2003 was when I really started gaining weight I got up to 145 lbs. November of 2003 I was having health problems that the doctors thought might be gull stone, but the never found any.
In January of 2004 I had my first bout of kidney stones, this was the first time the doctors saw my adrenal tumor on my CT but did not tell me about it. I continued to have problems with my weight and blood pressure.
By my second bout of kidney stones in August of 2006 I weight 180 lbs. this was the second time the doctors saw my adrenal tumor on my CT and didn’t tell me about it. In the end of October in 2006 I had lithotripsy to break up a large kidney stone, at this point my tumor had grow and had some feature that caused the doctors to think it might be cancer. This was when I finally found out about the tumor.
In November of 2006 my doctor sent me to get a CT with contrast, it came back that the tumor was benign. My doctor was not going to do anything else. So I went to a different doctor and told him I wanted to see an endocrinologist, I had my first appointment with the endocrinologist in January of 2007. Then in February of 2007 I was diagnosed with Cushing’s due to a right adrenal tumor. At this point I weighed about 195 lbs. In March of 2007 I met an endocrine surgeon at the University of Michigan Hospital, and then March 29, 2007 I had an adrenalectomy on my right adrenal gland.
On October 8, 2007 I went down to Ann Arbor again to the University of Michigan Hospital for a pituitary function test, to find out if my other adrenal gland had started to produce cortisol yet. It had.
On October 16, 2007 the day after my second wedding anniversary and 6 ½ months after my surgery, my doctor took my off of my cortisol replacement. It is now November of 2007 and my blood pressure is doing great I have lost 35 lbs. so far, and it is still coming off.
I had great doctors at U of M, and I am grateful for everything that they have done for me. My endocrinologist at U of M Dr. Hammer had answers to all my questions which is more than I can say for my original doctors in Northern Michigan.
I would love to hear others Cushing’s stories.
