And It's About Time There Was Some Support For Cushing's!
My story begins many years ago. As a teenager I always struggled with my weight and at 15 I found a hump on my back. My brothers used to tease me to no end about my buffalo hump. Every thing seemed normal in my life until my senior year in college. I became very ill and I doubled in size. I am 5'11 and weighed 150 lbs and then within 6 months I was huge. I tried everything to combat the weight. Doctors can be so cruel. I don't know how many times I have been told to go on a diet and to stop being lazy. I tried to tell them that no matter what I did the weight did not diminish but took on a life of its own. I felt like I no longer had control over my body. At 23 it no longer belonged to me.
Then at 25, during my second year as a junior high teacher in Las Vegas, I had my gallbladder removed. I thought ok that's over I'm going to be out of pain and ok again. Boy was I wrong. From May 2001 untill November 2001 I became deathly ill. I was diagnosed with a rare gastrologic disorder called sphincter of oddi dysfunction type II. A doctor went in to open my closed bile duct on November 8, 2001, which landed me in the hospital with pancreatitis. Once again I thought ok it's over, I am going to get better. I never got better and by Jan 11, 2002 when I was at UCLA for my second ERCP on my bile duct I found out that the doctor had not performed the first ERCP correctly. Then I thought it is fixed I'll get better and once again I didn't. So on Dec. 26,2002 I went back to UCLA and discovered that my pancreatic duct was closed and desperatly needed to be opened. Great! I felt new for about two weeks.
In late January 2003 I began to become so tired and achy. I couldn't get up in the morning. I felt so strange. I felt at times like I was going in reverse. I have a long list of symptoms;severe back pain, mood changes, insomnia, swollen hands and feet, memory loss, exhaustion, bruising, moon face, buffalo hump, pot belly, obesity,heart palapatations, low thyroid, sweating, fevers, sensitive to heat, WBC's elevated, skin discoloration, low imune system, menstrul cycle abnormalities, low Human growth hormone, high levels of cortisol, vision problems and more. Now I find out that I have a tumor on my left adrenal gland and I have cushings. I am terrified of my future. I am so miserable and things seem so bleek. I'm 28 years old and I feel like my life has been stolen from me. I am in so much pain that it is becoming more and more difficult to walk.
I am currently on summer vacation and I am horrified as to how I am going to be able to function in the classroom. I am also a writer and am trying to get my first book published. I am writing book two but my mind is not what it was a year ago. I am deeply troubled because I don't know how I am going to be ablt to support myself. I also take care of my sister who was diagnosed a year ago with MS. She's only 20. I am so depressed. How much sicker am I going to get? Am I ever going to be normal? Am I ever going to be able to have children? I am so angry.
Feel free to . It is not easy for me to ask for help, but any suggestions, words of inspiration would gratly be appreciated.
At least I know I am not alone thanks to this web site and all of your stories. I don't think anyone understands unless they have Cushing's.
