Enjoy the Moment

Life is Still Good

Q: How old were you when you started feeling the symptoms of Cushing’s?

A: I was probably about 29 or 30 years old. I believe that is when I started seeing changes in my body and feeling different.

Q: How has Cushing’s affected your life?

A: First of all, Cushing’s has made me fat. I used to a healthy fit woman that was able to teach one or two aerobics classes a day. I was able to run, jump, swim, etc. and enjoy it. The one thing that comes to mind that has affected my life has been that I haven’t been able to attend my kid’s activities and functions as much as I would have liked. Ever since I started feeling the symptoms I have gained weight, I have not been able to do the things that I would like to do, I have had a plethora of seizures, and I have been in pain spiritually as well as physically.
I feel crippled. I feel like a part of me has been taken away from me that I really have enjoyed. I think it’s a blessing to be able to exercise and workout. Some people just don’t understand that exercising is beautiful.
Once I got my surgery to remove the tumor in my brain my life changed much more drastically than before the surgery. I felt much more tired and I basically had to sit around and do constructive things that didn’t require much energy. I couldn’t drive for the first 6 – 12 months depending on how I was during that time. If I did over exert myself my body would start to shake and my speech would become slurred as if I were drunk.
In all I have felt the difficulties from this disease and I’m hoping I can recover from it.

Q: What type of experiences did you have while going through these strenuous procedures to get diagnosed with Cushing’s?

A: I have had a couple experiences that have changed my life. Because of this illness I have met so many wonderful people. Not just people but people with the same problems, if not worse. I have gained a lot of respect for people that have legitimate illnesses. They have to put up with so much pain and suffering to get through these hard times.
Another wonderful thing that has happened ever since I was diagnosed with Cushing’s is that my family has grown a little closer. We have all wanted me to get better. I have had so many blessing given to me by my son and it has been awesome to let him help me out where he can. This is the time that I have ever felt so much love from my family. That is the greatest experience that I could have ever had.
I have also seen miracles that have changed my life. There are things that have happened to me and other people that have taught me important lessons. I also know that there is a father in heaven that loves us and wants us to feel better and not have to suffer.

Prevention

The funny thing about this disease is that doctors don’t know what to do to prevent this horrible thing. More than likely the reason for this is that there hasn’t been enough research and experiments done to figure out how to prevent and ultimately get rid of this disease.

The best way to prevent any disease or bodily malfunction is first to be positive. I truly believe that health begins in the mind. I haven’t been sick for almost 18 years. I believe it’s because I’m a positive and happy person. I don’t let my body take control of my mind but visa versa. My grandma went through a stage where she thought she was sick and she became really ill.
Another way to prevent disease is to exercise. Not only does help with depression, anger, etc. but it also helps to keep the body alert and tuned up. Exercising gives the body more energy to keep the immune system and the many other systems in our body working.

The last thing is to eat healthy. McDonald’s isn’t what America needs to be eating day in and day out. Eat some eggs in the morning or oatmeal. Have some chicken and vegetables in the afternoon and for dinner eat some shrimp. If you’re hungry don’t go for a donut or candy, go for some fruit, go for some yogurt or go for some peanuts. I believe that eating healthy can really impact one’s life. It’s amazing how not skipping meals helps one’s body.

Like I said it’s all mental. YOU GOTTA WANNA!!! You need to be able to turn away the sweets. It’s okay to splurge a little bit every once in a while but stick with a healthy lifestyle. I can honestly say that having a healthy lifestyle is just like the gospel of Jesus Christ. Reading the scriptures and praying every once in a while doesn’t do anything. You have to do it consistently to get anything out of it. The same can be said with healthy lifestyles. BRING IT!!!!

Click here to find some ways and things to do to enjoy a healthy lifestyle.

“Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it” - Confucius

The problem with the world today is that we are too focused on the outward appearances of the people around us. What exactly makes people beautiful? According to Hollywood beauty is how you look and what the general public thinks about you. Personally beauty is a state of being. I believe beauty starts within then grows outwardly. A person that has a great heart, serves others, doesn’t deceive, is true to their beliefs, etc. I believe these are the type of people that are beautiful.
Beauty is all relative. What I think is beautiful is different than what someone else might think is beautiful. Depending on everyone’s life experiences is what creates our view of who’s beautiful. Someone can still be beautiful even though they’ve been through a fire and 50% of their face has been burned. Someone can still be beautiful if they were in a car accident and have scars from the experience. Someone can still be beautiful if they gain weight or can’t control their weight due to a disease. I believe the key to beauty is what you think about yourself. Confidence makes a difference in ones outward appearance. Be the person you want to be and let the world worry about what they want to worry about.

Beautiful!

Honesty is beautiful
Kindness is beautiful
Intelligence is beautiful
Talent is beautiful

Beautiful is a romance with such abundance
Beautiful are the flowers that roam the earth
Beautiful is awaking to the sound of singing birds
Beautiful is a disguise
Playing hide and seek inside and outside
Beautiful is as naked as the rising sun
Beautiful is delightful and truthful
Beautiful is the golden daylight that shines
And the taste of sweet colored red wine
Beautiful was never ever created by mistake
Beautiful is the ingredient we bake life’s cake
When all or nothing is at stake

I am beautiful
You are beautiful
We are beautiful
Beautiful is great
Beautiful is sweet
Beautiful is love
Beautiful is power

Come to me Mr. & Mrs. Beautiful
Let me into your little secret
Of why you are so obedient and dutiful

- Sylvia Chidi



You are beautiful

You are beautiful
Not only because of the brownness of your eyes
Or the shape of your body
Not only because of the fullness of your lips
Or the curl of your eye lashes

You are beautiful because You want to be
You are beautiful because God made you that way
You are beautiful because in my eyes
There is no one more beautiful than you

You are beautiful because you have a heart
And that is a beautiful thing
You are beautiful because you have a brain
And that is a beautiful thing
You are beautiful because You give advice
And that is a beautiful thing

You are beautiful because God made You that way
You are beautiful because in my eyes
There is no one more beautiful than you

You are beautiful because you have confidence
You are beautiful because you have determination and wit
You are beautiful because you have goals and you plan to reach them
You are beautiful because you are always there to lend a helping hand

You are beautiful because God made you beautiful

- Padraic Husemann

FAQ's

Q: What is Cushing’s?

A: In simple terms, people with Cushing’s have a problem with their bodies not being able to control the level of hormones being released. This hormone is called cortisol. If the body releases too much of this hormone then the body goes haywire and begins to do strange things such as gaining weight and being more susceptive to infections.

Q: What causes Cushing’s?

A: The most common cause of Cushing’s is tumors either in the pituitary gland (brain) or on the adrenal glands (just above the kidneys). The tumors do either of two things. They either produce too much of the hormone ACTH, which triggers the cortisol, or the tumors produce too much of the cortisol. Another way someone can inherit Cushing’s is from steroids hospitals give to patients to treat certain problems.

Q: How is the diagnosis of Cushing’s done?

A: The diagnosis of Cushing’s is one heck of a journey. There are so many tests people have to go through to be sure that what you have is Cushing’s. Some tests include measuring cortisol levels in the urine, blood, saliva, etc. Other tests include head MRI’s, dexamethasone suppression testing and CRH stimulation. The worst test of them all is the petrosal sampling. This is normally only done if the tumor is too small to be seen by an MRI. This procedure involves measuring the amount of ACTH that is in the blood draining from the pituitary gland. They take small catheters and slide them through the veins on the inside of the legs all the way up to the small veins around the pituitary gland.

Q: How is Cushing’s treated?

A: The best way to treat Cushing’s is through surgery. It is a brain surgery so it would require the doctor to be specialized in Cushing’s so they know what they are looking for.

Q: How is the surgery done?

A: The surgery is most commonly done transsphenoidally, which is going up through the nasal passages.

Q: How can I choose a surgeon to remove a tumor on the pituitary?

A: Experience, experience, experience!! The best surgeon’s are those that have performed these types of surgeries before. Not to say that if a doctor doesn’t have experience that they’re not good but the more experience the better.

Q: What is risky about these surgeries?

A: The most common risk is damaging the pituitary gland. Since the surgeon might have to dissect the pituitary gland it could cause hormone insufficiency which means that the patient would have to take pills to regulate their hormones for the rest of the patient’s life.

Q: How will patients feel after surgery?

A: There will be sinus headaches and nasal congestion. After surgery Cushing’s patients are normally fatigued for the first couple of weeks then gradually gain their strength back. Once the tumor is removed the patients usually then suffer from hypoadrenalism, which is the opposite of Cushing’s, lack of cortisol in the body. The lack of cortisol may cause symptoms such as poor appetite, weight loss, headache, nausea, low energy, and weakness. To compensate for this problem patients take cortisol replacement pills a few times a day until their pituitary gland can recover and control the output of cortisol.

Q: How will the patients know if the tumor is fully removed?

A: The endocrinologist will run tests and check cortisol level to see if the body has control over itself.

Q: What are the chances of being cured?

A: There is an 80-90% chance that a patient will be cured if the operation was performed by an expert.

Q: What if the patient isn’t cured?

A: If the patient isn’t cured after the first operation the patient can receive another operation but there is a greater chance of damaging the pituitary gland even more and having a higher likelihood of needing to take the cortisol pills for a longer period of time. If there is no tumor remaining the patient is referred for radiation therapy. This could take up to 2 years to be cured. In some cases both adrenals glands can be removed.

Q: What are the chances that Cushing’s will come back?

A: The chance of getting Cushing’s again is between 5-10%.

Cushings

Inro
I’ve decided to write about Cushing’s disease. I wanted to learn more about this disease because about 3 years ago my mom was diagnosed with Cushing’s. She has actually been suffering from this disease for almost 11 years. For the longest time doctors didn’t know what she had or what was going on. She was a very active person. She taught aerobics about 6 to 7 times a week and she was still gaining weight, feeling weak and having seizures. Because of this my mom was worried about what was going on with her body. After 4 years of this and doctors not being able to figure out what was wrong with her she decided to get on the internet and Google her symptoms. After weeks and months of surfing the internet she was able to diagnose herself. She found she had Cushing’s and began to start looking for a doctor that specialized in Cushing’s.

Cushing’s
Cushing’s syndrome is a rare syndrome where the adrenal cortex gives off a massive amount of corticosteroids which leads to a plethora of symptoms. The secretion of this substance leads to tumors that are found in the adrenal glands or in the pituitary gland. When I say rare I mean RARE! The stats say that only 10-15 people per million develop this disease per year. This syndrome can be found in men or women normally between the ages of 20 and 50. Cushing’s is found more often in women than men.

Symptoms
The symptoms for adolescent Cushing’s are as follows:
· Extreme weight gain
· Growth retardation
· Missed periods - in teenage girls
· Excess hair growth
· Body hair growth
· Facial hair growth
· Acne
· Reddish-blue streaks on the skin
· High blood pressure
· Tiredness
· Muscle weakness
· Very early puberty
· Very late puberty

The symptoms for adults:
· Extreme weight gain
o Upper body obesity
o Rounded face
o Increased neck fat
· Excess hair growth
· High blood pressure
· Sleep disturbances
· High blood sugar
· Diabetes-like symptoms
· Hyperadrenocorticism
· Bruising easily
· Skin problems
· Thin skin
· Fragile skin
· Poor healing
· Stretch marks
· Abdominal stretch marks
· Mood changes
o Irritability
o Anxiety
o Depression
o Moodiness
o Fatigue
o Mental disturbances
· Weak muscles
o Backaches
o Thinning arms
o Thinning legs
· Weak bones
o Rib fractures
o Spinal column fractures
· Sexual and fertility problems
o Irregular menstrual periods
o Absent menstrual periods
o Reduced libido
o Reduced male fertility
o Virilisation
o Deepening voice
o Balding
o Loss of scalp hair
o Hirsutism
o Increased facial hair
o Increased body hair
· Increased weight
· Rounded face
· Obesity around trunk
· Slender limbs
· Red face
· Thin skin
· Fragile skin
· Slow-healing skin
· Weakened connective tissue
· Reddish-blue stretch marks
· Excessive hair thickness in women
· Menstrual disorders
· Impaired male fertility
· Reduced male sex drive
· Absent male sex drive
· Hypertension
· Brittle bones
· Fractures
· Osteoporosis
· Hyperglycemia
· Severe weakness
· Fatigue
· Psychiatric disturbances

Diagnosis
The best thing to do as an adult is to get tested. You can go to your doctor and ask to have your adrenal glands and pituitary glands x-rayed. You can also get a CT scan, MRI and/or ultrasound to make sure that you don’t have any tumors or early symptoms of Cushing’s.

Available Treatment
To be treated for Cushing’s your body must first get back to its normal balance of hormones. Depending on where the tumor is will depend greatly on what is to be done. If the tumor is on the adrenal glands the doctors can either perform surgery and remove the tumor or in very bad cases remove both adrenal glands. If the tumor is in the pituitary gland then the doctor can again try to remove the tumor or in bad cases remove the entire gland. If this is done the patient will have to take hormone medications for the rest of their life to keep their hormones in balance. In both cases chemotherapy is normally tried first to see if they can weaken it and lower its ACTH output.

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