And It's About Time There Was Some Support For Cushing's!
I am like most of you in that I hadn't felt well for a very long time with various symptoms. I was always able to explain them away due to having a very stressful career living in Hong Kong and Mexico and doing extensive travel. One day I found out my blood pressure was 200/125. I had always had normal or low BP in the past. This started a chain of events leading to seeing many types of doctors to treat each problem individually.
Finally on 9/11/2001 (hard date to forget) I saw an Endo in NY for the first time. Right away he suspected Cushing's and started the usual tests. I am very fortunate that I landed an Endo that knew about Cushing's. Once the tumor was detected, I decided to move back to Minneapolis to go to Mayo Clinic to have the surgery. When I got to Mayo they had to retest everything, but my doctor (Dr. Carpenter) was very quick about it and I had a diagnosis in less than 3 months.
I had my surgery on March 14, 2002. It was successful and I was only on prednisone for 3 weeks. I think this was too aggressive because I was in intense pain and nauseous. It's been over a year now since my surgery, but I am totally exhausted and have major depression. I haven't been back to work since. My endo at Mayo did not suggest I go on anti-depressants because he felt his patients recovered their pituitary function quicker if they did not take them. But finally I had to. I am so frustrated that I can feel so awful after more than a year. Do our bodies just naturally repair all the damage? I had mild Cushing's symptoms and so expected to feel great by now.
I am currently looking into Biochemical Nutritional Therapy to see if I can get off the anti-depressants and get my old energy back. Has anyone else ever tried this after surgery to build back everything that was lost?
Anyone can feel free to email me on anything or about the many, many symptoms I had - too long to list.
