And It's About Time There Was Some Support For Cushing's!
Where to begin? I am 35 yrs old. I started having health issues back in 1999. I had suddenly started shedding hair in massive amounts and my clockwork periods got a kink. One month I missed and then I bled for the entire next month. I went straight to the OB. They put me on a birthcontrol and told me not to worry this happens as we get older. I was 28 yrs old. Gee I thought that was young. The periods went back to normal and my hair slowed it's shedding spree. Then I started having bad stiff necks and an ice pick pain in my right shoulder. I was a bulging disk and I had to have cervical fusion of C4 and C5. Everythign seemed to back on track but I was gaining weight here and there. It was gradual but no matter what I did I couldn't loose it. During a trip to the dentist, the hygenist told me my gums were spongy and I should ask my medical doc for a thyroid panel. I had been feeling quite tired and so I decided to get an appointment. The doc said my test were normal...but she also wanted to put me on meds for depression. I was so offended. I never returned to her. I went to another doc who did the Thyroid panel and found my TSH was slightly high. She reffered me to an doctor who I was told was an endo but when I looked him up under my ins. he was just a gen prac. Hmmm? Anyhow, he put me on a small dose of Synthroid. It seemed to help with the exhaustion for a while. And they tried to reassure me that it wasn't related to my neck surgery but it was ironic that my thyroid was right were my scare is for the neck surgery.
Then in 2005 after my first child I could hardly breast feed. The bra was huge but there was hardly any milk. I quite trying after 6weeks, but the bra never got any smaller and neither did my tummy. I was in love with my daughter but I was upset over my body(fat, no waist, purple stretch marks, hair falling out), not being able to sleep at night, being tired during the day and this hump had just shown up on my back at some time. I knew there would be hormonal shifts after pregnancy but these symptoms were lasting and my daughter was 11 months now. I decided to see a doctor. She told me she would do some tests but she would probably be reffering me to an endo because it could be Cushings but that would be a long shot. Ofcourse all her tests came back normal and so she sent me to a new endo....again...not showing as an endo on my ins. Hmmm..what is with that? Anyhow, he felt I didn't look like I had Cushings. I wished I had brought him photos of the past few years. But he wouldn't rule it out since at no time had anyone checked my cortisol levels. This week they are giving my a suppression test. I take the Dex this Wed. night and have my blood test at 8 am. I am concerned.
I want them to find out what is wrong with me but Cushings doesn't exactly sound like the best of things. I sometimes wonder if there isn't nothing wrong and I am just making it all up in my head. Even my husband teases me about being a hypocondriac over all this but then again he too notices the various symtoms. Surely there is something that can be done for people with these symtoms that helps get them diagnosis quicker and doesn't make them feel so demeaned. I have read tons of these bios and two things stand out: the years they suffered and the redicule of physicians they endured. Makes one think something seriously needs to change here.
-Tina C
