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Cushing's Awareness Challenge - Day 3 - How I found out I had Cushing's Disease

Cushing's Awareness Challenge - Day 3

How I found out that I had Cushing's Disease

When I was 18, a freshman at UVM, I realized how sick I could get so easily.  The second week of school I was taken in an ambulance to the hospital with pneumonia, that year the weight starting to pile on, fast.  The next year I had two kidney stones and waiting months for an incision to heal from a mole removal.  This is when I started researching online.  Why was I, a previously healthy and active 19 year old, dealing with these issues that usually plague much older people and with kidney stones, mostly men?

I found my answer on Cushings-help.com.  I DEFINITELY had this rare disease.  It described my life - depression, trouble focusing on school work, weight gain, kidney stones, poor healing, etc. I told my friends I knew what was wrong and I immediately made appointments with my primary care doctor as well as an endocrinologist.

After 2 years of getting "nothing is wrong, just continue to diet and exercise", my ob/gyn decided to order a brain MRI because of more health issues.  Hello pituitary tumor!  I decided I wanted to go to Mass General's Neuro-Endocrine department, the best of the best.   Two long years later, endless tests and MRIs, I finally had my diagnosis from a doctor who never gave up on me.  On November 9th, 2009, I finally had an official diagnosis of Cushing's Disease.

You might think it's crazy to search so long for such a devastating diagnosis, but I was ready to fix this and move on with my life.  It took over more years, 3 surgeries, and a few risky decisions of my ownn to finally feel better.

Comments

  1. I'm glad you finally got your diagnosis and that www.Cushings-help.com was able to help.

    Continued good health!

    ReplyDelete

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