Cushing’s Syndrome: The Obesity Tumor
Pregnancy can do strange things to a woman’s body. I had my son more than 4 years ago & my body has yet to return to normal…
When my son was about one, I gave up on losing the 40+ lbs of pregnancy weight. I’m a fitness instructor & know how to eat right & lose weight, but nothing I did seemed to have an affect.
Over the next 3 years, I started experiencing symptoms related to Cushing’s syndrome. Individually, these symptoms don’t appear to be all that alarming, but collectively they can become life threatening.
All this time, I thought the symptoms I was experiencing were over exaggerated figments of my imagination…The inability to lose weight & continually gaining weight, bloating & water retention, puffiness in the face, insomnia, hot sweats, bruising, extreme fatigue and my favorite - a buffalo hump (my husband pointed this out to me about 6-8 months ago, concerned that I had poor posture spending so much time on the computer).
About 3 months ago, I decided to try to reclaim my body again and started working with a personal trainer. Two & half months passed with NO change. WFT?! I was at the end of my rope & came to the conclusion that something has to be wrong with my body. I was weight training for 40 min. 3x/wk and doing cardio 45 min 3 or 4x/wk. I had even resorted to eliminating carbs from my diet. Basically starving myself.
I went to my doctor to get a full check up. She took my blood pressure & it read 180/92! I was a stroke victim waiting to happen. I explained my exercise routine & my inability to lose weight. What’s wrong with me???
My blood work came back abnormal…Based on the initial results, she suspected it might be Cushing’s disease. She requested that I undergo more testing. Apparently Cushing’s disease is rare, affecting less than 200,000 people in the US population and is often times misdiagnosed.
After nearly a month of testing (blood work, urine collection and a MRI), it’s been officially confirmed that I have Cushing’s syndrome.
I’m bitterly conflicted. Apart of me feels relieved to have an answer as to why my body is the way it is. It validates all of the symptoms I tried so hard to brush off. For the same reasons, I’m frustrated that I lost more than 4 years with my body (Prior to getting pregnant, I was in the best shape of my life & loved to be active. I had completed my first Olympic distance triathlon in 3 hrs & 33 min and was training to climb Mt. Rainier).
There are two types of Cushing’s: Cushing’s disease which causes pituitary tumors and Cushing’s syndrome which causes adrenal tumors. Preliminary MRI results show that I have a 3 cm benign adrenal tumor.
I still have a long road ahead, with more testing, additional doctor evaluations and eventually surgery. My doctor has informed me that once the tumor is removed, my body should return to normal, what ever that means…
My greatest hope is that my body will feel good on the inside AND outside. I’m ready to conquer my next triathlon…
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12 comments
Kristin,
What a learning experience and a scary one too! I can’t imagine what relief and anxiety you must be experiencing, all at the same time. If you two need a night off sometime you can drop the lil’ monster off at my house and go catch a movie or dinner. Serious life is short and unexpected things find way to pop up no matter what. I fell cut my face open, ripped a good chuck out of my cheek and all of it was just to wake me up to all the time I had wasted on trivial things. I see you taking this and making it a positive thing. I can already see you campaigning for the cause! Let me know if I can help, my heart is with you and your family!
I’m oh so glad that you have the “good” type (not to say it’s “good” good, but one is certainly better to be diagnosed with than the other) and that it’s operable. As you already know, everyone here @ Amplify is behind you and will support you to the fullest. Plus hey, you’ll have some good opportunities for telecommuting
But seriously, glad that everything will be OK (with an operation here and some recovery there).
If anyone can weather a storm like this, it’s you Kris. And I will be with you 100% of the way! This situation is scary and challenging, but knowing what we are up against gives us a sense of direction and purpose.
I always wondered about that because I knew how fit you were before the pregnancy and that after, you were doing everything right to loose the weight! Barry’s right. If anyone can fight this, it’s you and I know that you won’t be alone. Your family members in Indiana are all here for you if you need anything…just hollar!
Know that you will get through this journey with flying colors, and that this time next year you will be celebrating the return of your old self, only a new-and-improved version, for when we navigate life’s challenges, we ultimately come out even stronger on the other side….which says a lot in your case, considering how exceptional a person you already are!
xoxo
erin
Kristin -
wow, life can be so unexpected - I’m very happy that you were able to get a definite diagnoses now, instead of living with that uncertainty any longer. My heart goes out to you girl. We’ll be in touch, I wanna know how it all goes.
blessings,
China
I have for many years, had at one point or another, most of the symptoms you just described…even the pituitary tumors…and my endo at the time completely forgot about when I found out I was pregnant with my second child.
And that’s been 14 1/2 years ago…to think that all of this time I might be suffering from the same thing. I have an appt tomorrow with my doctor…I will most definitely bring this up.
Thank you for sharing!
Kristin
What a story! Mine is so much the same…scary. I am currently under going all the testing you mentioned. I just turned in my 24 hr cortisol yesterday. My symptoms have been ongoing for almost 10 years and every dr I’ve seen has made me feel crazy until the new one I’ve found. Please email me and update me on your story. I think I’d find so much more relief during this to have someone to talk to that knows how it feels.
Shelly
I know how you feel that is is a releif to find out what the problem is. I was finally checked for the disease this morning. I insisted that I was checked for it because I am tired everyone saying exercise more and eat right. When I do that.. I exercise 4-5 days a week at the gym but I get cardio everday and my diet couldn’t get any better. I too grew up very thin 5′7″ 115lb and when I turned 24 I suddenly grew bigger and bigger. And after I had my baby I grew even bigger. I still never stopped exercising. I never even thought about cushings disease until I was in one of my nursing classes and I seen the signs and symptoms and everthing matched what I am going through. I know its bad to say but I hope its it so I can get it treated and move on with my life instead of always fighting and up hill battle. Good luck to you and I will be praying that everything goes well with you.
Hi Kristin,
I came about your website when searching for adrenal tumors. I would like to know more about your personal experience with your adrenal tumor, more like symptoms. I am trying to discover what might currently be wrong with me whether its simply an endocrine problem associated with thyroid or something else. Thanks for your blog.
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