I did, I had a very tolerance when I had Cushing's and I'm not at all a big drinker. I go years without alcohol. It's not too surprising considering how alcohol affects the HPA axis.

Hi Shaw: Thanks for replying. How does alcohol affect the HPA axis and what is the HPA axis? Did you have your gallbladder out?

I still have my gallbladder. The HPA axis is the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. It can get a little complicated so you might just want to google it for a better understanding but basically the organs that make that up the HPA axis (hypothalamu,  pituitary gland and adrenal glands) interact and provide feedback which regulate a lot of body processes such as immunity, mood, energy, emotions and most importantly stress response. For example, when someone gets stressed the hypothalmus produces corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) which then signals the pituitary gland to produce adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) which then signals the adrenal glands to produce cortisol. Alcohol can trigger the HPA axis and over time, disrupt it which can cause higher cortisol levels. Most of the research out there is based on continuous consumption of alcohol over an extended period of time so you shouldn't t see high cortisol numbers (like Cushing's high) in someone drinking responsibly and abstaining from drinking during testing.

Really informative. Thanks. Where are you in this cycle? I read you had unsuccessful pit surgery but are now getting better after last surgery.  That's great. Are you still making the dolls? When you are up to it I'd love to buy one. I had successful pit surgery, uterine cancer, and adrenal insufficiency. Recovering from an adrenal crisis  from Sept. 2016. Have learned eating starchy foods gives me all my cushing's symptoms back again. After eating something I shouldn't, I get the cushing's symptoms then I figure out what it was I ate that made me sick, take it out of my diet, then after a month I'm better again. At least I can control this. But I have to be strict with this life style, but it is worth it when I feel great again. By doing this diet, I know I am preventing cushing's from coming back again. If you are interested in trying this, I want to help you. I know in my heart starchy foods give us Cushings but no one will believe me or listen to me. This is the answer to cushings but no one cares. Desperately wanting to help people to get better like me. I feel like I am saving myself from the agony of cushings and want to do the same for you and others.

I had a unsuccessful pituitary surgery then a BLA years ago. I think you might have mixed me up with someone else. I don't make dolls, it's a success if I can sew a button back on. I love that you're using nutrition to help you but that's not a cure by any means for someone who is actively producing too much cortisol from a pituitary, adrenal or ectopic tumour. Yes you can mitigate some of the symptoms (sometimes) with diet but it's not a cure and pushing that belief into a support group for a disease that many have tried to heal through diet can be damaging even though it's with best intentions so I just want to make sure others reading this know that diet alone is not a cure for pituitary, adrenal or ectopic Cushing's. It does however, play a huge role in Food-Dependent Cushing's Syndrome.

Sorry, I did get  you mixed up with someone else. Love the "success if I can sew a button  back on. " too funny. I love your frankness and appreciate the discussion. I should have made my point clearer and am glad you pointed it out to me. When one gets the tumor, no diet will cure it, but I think when one has cushings  on this diet one will not gain near as much weight and will have more energy than if they continue on with their usual eating habits. It may even make living with the brain fog easier. My brain fog actually went away. These were my experiences when I had cushing symptoms again from being given too much prednisone in the hospital during my adrenal crises. This diet is bringing me back to normal, but then this time I didn't get a tumor. So this cushings episode was not like the other with the pit tumor.  I wish when I had the pit tumor, I knew about the diet. Then I would have followed it strictly recording any results.  There can be no down side to this starch free diet. And if it helps in stabilizing the weight gain, giving more energy and lessening the brain fog I still say its worth promoting, but in a responsible way by saying up front when someone has a tumor this diet is NOT a cure only an experiment to see if it helps the way I say it can. Thanks for the insight Shaw. Great talking to you. Best wishes for you always.

I absolutely agree with you that diet can help tremendously, especially a low starch one when dealing with Cushing's. I was very strict about my diet and thankfully I didn't have a lot of weight to lose after surgery. My pituitary tumour actually hemorrhaged before surgery so I knew before having the surgery that I wouldn't get a cure from it and would need a BLA  so I tweaked my diet a bit more which wasn't difficult, I was in the midst of training for marathons shorty before I was diagnosed and already followed a really healthy diet. I absolutely believe that having good nutrition before and during Cushing's helped my body recover after surgery. I, like many people with Cushing's, are overly sensitive to the idea that a proper diet will fix us as so many doctors initially just say go eat properly and lose weight so I'm glad you clarified that the diet that worked for you is not a cure.  I think that anything that can help even one person with Cushing's feel better is worth talking about and trying. There's actually a diet that Dr. F recommends to people or he used to that might be similar to what worked for you. He calls it 3V3NSSF. Here's the link

http://www.goodhormonehealth.com/Dr. F.3V3NSSF Diet.pdf

Take care!

Thanks for the link. Really interesting. We are on the same page. Dr. F. even says it can help with brain fog. I'm doing a lot of what he suggests only even stricter. The vegetables are the trickiest but I eat all vegetables on his acceptable list  except parsnips, peas, winter and butternut squash and cooked carrots because all of these are starchy according to google. However raw carrots are not starchy and are allowed. I eat all fruit except bananas. All meats and fish, but no dairy of any kind and no nuts. My niece is having dietary problems too. I live in Canada, she in Australia. I am going to make videos of some of my recipes for her. I make toast from cauliflower and add flavor with curry, coriander and fresh rosemary and other flavor filled versions. This discussion gave me an idea. Since I am making this video for my niece maybe I could share it with the other cushies. When I had cushings my sister would play Gloria Gaynor's, "I Will Survive" and dance for me because I couldn't. She made me sing the chorus until I was screaming I Will Survive. While I'm cooking, I can play Gloria's song and dance in the kitchen. Give to others the hope my sister gave to me. Like you, I feel if I can help even one person feel better while coping with cushings it is worth my time. And I can end each video with my motto that kept me going. Shit happens. It is what it is. Keep putting one foot in front of the other. Stay calm and carry on. Thanks Shaw. You inspired me.       

I used to eat cauliflower toast, it's fantastic! Do people actually enjoy cooked carrots? Yuck.. raw all the way! Where in Canada are you? I'm Canadian!

I'm in St. Catharines, Ontario. I just hosted a dinner party for 10 people using only the food I can eat. Before all my recipes were heavy with cream sauces, cheeses, bacon, fatty fatty and more fat. They were my guinea pigs. They liked it. Even had them sample some toast flavoured with poultry seasoning because I like stuffing. They liked the idea of trying food they had never prepared like mine before. I replace pasta noodles with spiralized zucchini, rice in stuffed peppers with cauliflower florets, have a great blueberry and raspberry balsamic sauce for my salmon, etc. Just getting started with my new recipes. Am embracing this new life style to make it work for life. Where are you from?

I'm in Northern Ontario and damn it's cold here. How nice of you to throw a dinner party with such great tasting food. Real food is so much more delicious than anything that comes from a package.

Where in Northern Ont. I lived in Bancroft for 20 years, just 75 minutes from Algonquin Park. Know that cold that makes the inside of your nose stick together when you breath in through your nose.