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The popular website "How Stuff Work"s is doing a survey of all kinds of diseases and Cushing's is one of them!

Share your information and help get the word out to the world in general.

(I'm "Mary10790" and I shared about my pituitary surgery and its aftermath.  I hope this info helps someone else like these boards and related websites have)

The questionnaire is here:  https://stuff.health/s/u0A9djA5
Together, we’ll figure out which treatments work best for Cushing's syndrome.

Clinical trial analyses focus on the human body’s homeostatic response to potent HSD-1 inhibition by SPI-62

Results highlight that urinary free cortisol is distinct from intracellular cortisol that causes symptoms in patients with Cushing’s syndrome or autonomous cortisol secretion

May 24, 2022 07:20 AM Eastern Daylight Time



PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sparrow Pharmaceuticals, an emerging, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel, targeted therapies for disorders of glucocorticoid excess, today presented new pharmacological data during a poster session and a Rapid Communications session titled, “HPA axis modulation by a potent inhibitor indicates 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (HSD-1) is a main source of cortisol that can bind intracellular receptors” at the 24th European Congress of Endocrinology (ECE 2022). Sparrow scientists examined the steroid hormone changes after administration of its lead therapeutic candidate, SPI-62, an HSD-1 inhibitor, to healthy adults.

 

“Normalized urinary free cortisol, or UFC, is a standard therapeutic target for patients with Cushing’s syndrome,” said David A. Katz, Ph.D., CSO at Sparrow Pharmaceuticals, “But that biomarker doesn’t measure the cortisol that can access intracellular receptors and cause symptoms. UFC normalization has been shown not to correlate with clinical endpoints in patients with Cushing’s syndrome. Many patients with autonomous cortisol secretion have normal UFC, yet substantial cortisol morbidity. As we conduct clinical trials for patients with those diseases, we’re in search of better ways to measure the cortisol that makes patients ill.”

Data presented at AACE 2022 detail levoketoconazole-specific effects observed among patients with endogenous Cushing's syndrome from the phase 3 LOGICS trial.

New research presented at the American Academy of Clinical Endocrinology (AACE) annual meeting provides insight into the effects of treatment with levoketoconazole (Osilodrostat) among patients with endogenous Cushing’s syndrome.

An analysis of data from a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized withdrawal study, results of the study demonstrate levoketoconazole provided benefits across a range of etiologies and provide evidence of levoketoconazole-specific effects through the withdrawal and reintroduction of therapy during the trial.

“This LOGICS study showed that treatment with levoketoconazole benefitted patients with Cushing’s syndrome of different etiologies and a wide range in UFC elevations at baseline by frequent normalization of mUFC and concurrent improvements in serum cholesterol,” said Maria Fleseriu, MD, professor of medicine and neurological surgery and director of the Northwest Pituitary Center at Oregon Health and Science University, during her presentation. “The benefits observed were established as levoketoconazole-specific via the loss of therapeutic effect upon withdrawal to placebo and restoration upon reintroduction of levoketoconazole.”

Osilodrostat is associated with improvements in physical manifestations of hypercortisolism and reductions in mean body weight and BMI in adults with Cushing’s syndrome, according to a speaker.

As Healio previously reported, in findings from the LINC 4 phase 3 trial, osilodrostat (Isturisa, Recordati) normalized mean urinary free cortisol level at 12 weeks in more than 75% of adults with Cushing’s disease. In new findings presented at the AACE Annual Scientific and Clinical Conference, most adults with Cushing’s syndrome participating in the LINC 3 phase 3 trial had improvements in physical manifestations of hypercortisolism 72 weeks after initiating osilodrostat, with more than 50% having no dorsal fat pad, supraclavicular fat pad, facial rubor, proximal muscle atrophy, striae, ecchymoses and hirsutism for women at 72 weeks.

Crinetics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: CRNX) today announced positive results from the multiple-ascending dose (MAD) portion of a first-in-human Phase 1 clinical study of CRN04894, the company's first-in-class, investigational, oral, nonpeptide adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) antagonist that is being developed for the treatment of Cushing’s disease, congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and other conditions of excess ACTH. Following administration of CRN04894, results showed serum cortisol below normal levels and a marked reduction in 24-hour urine free cortisol excretion in the presence of sustained, disease-like ACTH concentrations.

“The design of our Phase 1 healthy volunteer study allowed us to demonstrate CRN04894’s potent pharmacologic activity in the presence of ACTH levels that were in similar range to those seen in CAH and Cushing’s disease patients,” said Alan Krasner, M.D., Crinetics’ chief medical officer. “The observation of dose-dependent reductions in serum cortisol levels to below the normal range even in the presence of high ACTH indicates that CRN04894 was effective in blocking the key receptor responsible for regulating cortisol secretion. We believe this is an important finding that may be predictive of CRN04894’s efficacy in patients.”

ACTH is the key regulator of the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis controlling adrenal activation. It is regulated by cortisol via a negative feedback loop that acts to inhibit ACTH secretion. This feedback loop is dysregulated in diseases of excess ACTH. In Cushing’s disease, a benign pituitary tumor drives excess ACTH secretion even in the presence of excess cortisol.

Published: May 15, 2022 (see history)

DOI: 10.7759/cureus.25015

Cite this article as: Iturregui J, Shi G (May 15, 2022) Recurrent Metatarsal Fractures in a Patient With Cushing Disease: A Case Report. Cureus 14(5): e25015. doi:10.7759/cureus.25015

Abstract

Cushing syndrome (CS) can result from excess exposure to exogenous or endogenous glucocorticoids. The most common endogenous cause of CS is an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-secreting pituitary adenoma, known as Cushing disease (CD). Patients typically present with characteristics including truncal obesity, moon facies, facial plethora, proximal muscle weakness, easy bruising, and striae. Insufficiency fractures of the metatarsals are a rare presentation for CS. A 39-year-old premenopausal woman presented to the orthopedic outpatient clinic with recurrent metatarsal fractures and no history of trauma. A metabolic bone disease was suspected, and after further evaluation by endocrinology services, the CD was diagnosed. Surgical resection was performed, and pathology confirmed the presence of a pituitary adenoma. Multiple, recurrent, non-traumatic metatarsal fractures can be the initial presentation of CD in a premenopausal woman.

— More than half of patients saw physical manifestations fully resolve by week 72

by Kristen Monaco, Staff Writer, MedPage Today May 16, 2022



SAN DIEGO -- Osilodrostat (Isturisa) improved many physical features associated with Cushing's disease, according to additional findings from the phase III LINC-3 study.

Among 137 adults with Cushing's disease, a 39.5% improvement in central obesity scores was observed from baseline to week 72 with osilodrostat, reported Alberto Pedroncelli, MD, PhD, of Recordati AG in Basel, Switzerland.

Not only was central obesity the most common physical manifestation associated with hypercortisolism among these Cushing's disease patients, but it was also more frequently rated as severe at baseline, Pedroncelli explained during the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology (AACE) annual meeting.

Osilodrostat treatment also led to a 34.9% improvement in proximal muscle atrophy at week 72, along with a 34.4% improvement in hirsutism scores.

By week 72, nearly all physical manifestations of hypercortisolism saw significant improvement -- marked by more than 50% of patients scoring these physical traits as nonexistent:

Dorsal fat pat: 50.6%


Central obesity: 30.6%


Supraclavicular fat pad: 51.8%


Facial rubor: 64.7%


Hirsutism in women: 53.1%


Proximal muscle atrophy: 61.2%


Striae: 63.5%


Ecchymoses: 87.1%


Most of these physical manifestation improvements were notable soon after treatment initiation with osilodrostat, Pedroncelli pointed out.

When stratified according to testosterone levels, hirsutism scores remained either stable or improved in the majority of patients who had normal or above normal testosterone levels. More women with normal testosterone levels over time experienced improvements in hirsutism versus those with levels above the upper limit of normal, who mostly remained stable.

Published: May 15, 2022 (see history)

DOI: 10.7759/cureus.25017

Cite this article as: Fernandez C, Bhatia S, Rucker A, et al. (May 15, 2022) Intermittent Blurry Vision: An Unexpected Presentation of Cushing’s Syndrome Due to Primary Bilateral Macronodular Adrenal Hyperplasia (PBMAH). Cureus 14(5): e25017. doi:10.7759/cureus.25017

Abstract

Cushing’s syndrome (CS) is an uncommon endocrine disorder resulting from prolonged exposure to elevated glucocorticoids, with 10-15 million annual cases per the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. Exogenous and endogenous causes can further be divided into adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) dependent (i.e Cushing’s Disease) or ACTH independent. ACTH-independent CS can be caused by primary bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia (PBMAH) representing less than 1% cases of CS. We report a case of a woman presenting with chronic resistant hypertension, episodic blurry vision, weight gain and wasting of extremities. She was diagnosed with Cushing’s syndrome due to PBMAH.

Our patient’s presentation was unusual as she presented at 40 years old, 10 years earlier than expected for PBMAH; and primarily with complaints of episodic blurry vision. Her symptoms also progressed rapidly as signs and symptoms largely presented over the course of 12 months, however responded well to surgical resection. 

Abstract

Corticotroph cells give rise to aggressive and rare pituitary neoplasms comprising ACTH-producing adenomas resulting in Cushing disease (CD), clinically silent ACTH adenomas (SCA), Crooke cell adenomas (CCA) and ACTH-producing carcinomas (CA). The molecular pathogenesis of these tumors is still poorly understood. To better understand the genomic landscape of all the lesions of the corticotroph lineage, we sequenced the whole exome of three SCA, one CCA, four ACTH-secreting PA causing CD, one corticotrophinoma occurring in a CD patient who developed Nelson syndrome after adrenalectomy and one patient with an ACTH-producing CA. The ACTH-producing CA was the lesion with the highest number of single nucleotide variants (SNV) in genes such as USP8, TP53, AURKA, EGFR, HSD3B1 and CDKN1A. The USP8 variant was found only in the ACTH-CA and in the corticotrophinoma occurring in a patient with Nelson syndrome. In CCA, SNV in TP53, EGFR, HSD3B1 and CDKN1A SNV were present. HSD3B1 and CDKN1A SNVs were present in all three SCA, whereas in two of these tumors SNV in TP53, AURKA and EGFR were found. None of the analyzed tumors showed SNV in USP48, BRAF, BRG1 or CABLES1. The amplification of 17q12 was found in all tumors, except for the ACTH-producing carcinoma. The four clinically functioning ACTH adenomas and the ACTH-CA shared the amplification of 10q11.22 and showed more copy-number variation (CNV) gains and single-nucleotide variations than the nonfunctioning tumors.



Keywords: corticotroph; Cushing disease; ACTH-secreting carcinoma; single nucleotide variation; copy number variation; exome

Abstract

Purpose:

Literature regarding endogenous Cushing syndrome (CS) largely focuses on the challenges of diagnosis, subtyping, and treatment. The enigmatic phenomenon of glucocorticoid withdrawal syndrome (GWS), due to rapid reduction in cortisol exposure following treatment of CS, is less commonly discussed but also difficult to manage. We highlight the clinical approach to navigating patients from GWS and adrenal insufficiency to full hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis recovery.

Methods:

We review the literature on the pathogenesis of GWS and its clinical presentation. We provide strategies for glucocorticoid dosing and tapering, HPA axis testing, as well as pharmacotherapy and ancillary treatments for GWS symptom management.

Results:

GWS can be difficult to differentiate from adrenal insufficiency and CS recurrence, which complicates glucocorticoid dosing and tapering regimens. Monitoring for HPA axis recovery requires both clinical and biochemical assessments. The most important intervention is reassurance to patients that GWS symptoms portend a favorable prognosis of sustained remission from CS, and GWS typically resolves as the HPA axis recovers. GWS also occurs during medical management of CS, and gradual dose titration based primarily on symptoms is essential to maintain adherence and to eventually achieve disease control. Myopathy and neurocognitive dysfunction can be chronic complications of CS that do not completely recover.

Conclusions:

Due to limited data, no guidelines have been developed for management of GWS. Nevertheless, this article provides overarching themes derived from published literature plus expert opinion and experience. Future studies are needed to better understand the pathophysiology of GWS to guide more targeted and optimal treatments.

Introduction

Compared with placebo, levoketoconazole improved cortisol control and serum cholesterol levels for adults with endogenous Cushing’s syndrome, according to results from the LOGICS study presented here.

Safety and efficacy of levoketoconazole (Recorlev, Xeris Biopharma) for treatment of Cushing’s syndrome were established in the pivotal phase 3, open-label SONICS study. The phase 3, double-blind LOGICS study sought to demonstrate the drug specificity of levoketoconazole in normalizing mean urinary free cortisol (mUFC) level.

“Treatment with levoketoconazole benefited patients with Cushing’s syndrome of different etiologies and a wide range in UFC elevations at baseline by frequent normalization of UFC,” Ilan Shimon, MD, professor at the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University and associate dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Rabin Medical Center and director of the Institute of Endocrinology in Israel, told Healio. “This is a valuable Cushing’s study as it includes a placebo-controlled randomized withdrawal phase.”

LOGICS participants were drawn from a cohort of 79 adults with Cushing’s syndrome with a baseline mUFC at least 1.5 times the upper limit of normal who participated in a single-arm, open-label titration and maintenance phase of approximately 14 to 19 weeks. Researchers randomly assigned 39 of those participants plus five from SONICS who had normalized mUFC levels on stable doses of levoketoconazole for at least 4 weeks to continue to receive the medication (n = 22) or to receive placebo with withdrawal of the medication (n = 22) for 8 weeks. At the end of the withdrawal period, all participants received levoketoconazole for 8 more weeks. Primary endpoint was proportion of participants who lost mUFC normalization during the randomized withdrawal period, and secondary endpoints included proportion with normalized mUFC and changes in total and LDL cholesterol at the end of the restoration period.

A worldwide, observational study of adults and adolescents with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) found long-term GH replacement was safe. These findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Data for this long-term follow-up study were sourced from the KIMS Pfizer International Metabolic Database cohort. Patients (N=15,809) with confirmed GHD were prescribed GH by their primary care physician. Adverse events were evaluated at up to 18 years (mean, 5.3 years).

The median age of study participants was 44.8 (range, 5.6-91.2) years, 50.5% were girls or women, 94.4% were White, 57.6% were true-naive to treatment at baseline, 59.7% had pituitary or hypothalamic tumor, 21.6% had idiopathic or congenital GHD, and 67.8% had at least 2 pituitary deficiencies.

Patients were administered a mean GH dosage of 0.30±0.30 mg/d.

At year 15, patients (n=593) had a 1.7-kg/m2 increase in body mass index (BMI), a 4.3-kg increase in weight, a 0.4-cm decrease in height, a 6.2-cm increase in waist circumference, a 0.03 increase in waist to hip ratio, a 6.3-mm Hg increase in systolic blood pressure, a 1.0-mm Hg increase in diastolic blood pressure, and a 0.5-bpm decrease in heart rate.

Approximately one-half of the patients (51.2%) experienced at least 1 adverse event, but few patients (18.8%) reported treatment-related adverse events.

The most common all-cause adverse events included arthralgia (4.6%), peripheral edema (3.9%), headache (3.6%), influenza (2.8%), depression (2.8%), and recurrence of pituitary tumor (2.7%). The most common treatment-related adverse events were peripheral edema (3.1%) and arthralgia (2.6%).

Research opportunity for Human Growth Hormone Deficiency caregivers of adolescent patients.

This is a 75 min web-assisted phone interview, and the compensation is $125.

 

Please sign up at the link below to receive an email invite to the survey. 

https://rarepatientvoice.com/CushingsHelp/

@sharm is a long-time board member and good friend.

 

Sharmyn McGraw knows as much about pituitary disease as some doctors.

She learned about it after struggling for years with a medical mystery that began in 1993. First, she began to feel anxious. Then, she began to gain weight, and she developed a rash. Much of her hair fell out. Her eyes began to yellow and her face puffed up. Different doctors gave her different explanations. They told her she was allergic to caffeine. That she was just retaining water. That she was beginning menopause. In the end, none of those things turned out to be true.

She finally figured out that she had Cushing’s Disease, which is caused by excess production of the hormone cortisol, which, in her case, was caused by a tumor on her pituitary gland.

Listen to this episode to find out how Sharmyn got to the bottom of her medical mystery with the help of Dr. Dan Kelly, and how she uses years of knowledge to help others suffering from pituitary diseases through the support group she founded at the Pacific Neuroscience Institute. 

 

 

Abstract

Objective



We aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of all-cause and cause-specific mortality of patients with benign endogenous Cushing's syndrome (CS).

Methods



The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42017067530). PubMed, EMBASE, CINHAL, Web of Science and Cochrane Central searches were undertaken from inception to January 2021. Outcomes were the standardized mortality ratio (SMR), proportion and cause of deaths. The I 2 test, subgroup analysis and meta-regression were used to assess heterogeneity across studies.

Results



SMR was reported in 14 articles including 3,691 patients (13 Cushing's disease (CD) and 7 adrenal CS (ACS) cohorts). Overall SMR was 3.0 (95%CI 2.3-3.9; I 2=80.5%) for all CS, 2.8 (95%CI 2.1-3.7 I 2=81.2%) for CD and 3.3 (95%CI 0.5-6.6; I 2=77.9%) for ACS. Proportion of deaths, reported in 87 articles including 19,181 CS patients (53 CD, 24 ACS, and 20 combined CS cohorts) was 0.05 (95%CI 0.03, 0.06) for all CS subtypes with meta-regression analysis revealing no differences between CS subtypes (P=0.052). The proportion of deaths was 0.1 (10%) in articles published before 2000 and 0.03 (3%) in 2000 until the last search for CS (P<0.001), CD (p<0.001), and ACS (P=0.01). The causes of death were atherosclerotic diseases and thromboembolism (43.4%), infection (12.7%), malignancy (10.6%), active disease (3.5%), adrenal insufficiency (3.0%), and suicide (2.2%).

Despite improved outcomes in recent years, increased mortality from CS persists. The causes of death highlight the need to prevent and manage co-morbidities in addition to treating hypercortisolism.

Cushing's syndrome, mortality, meta-analysis, causes of death, meta-regression analysis




Issue Section:

 META-ANALYSIS

Osilodrostat is associated with rapid normalization of mean urinary free cortisol (mUFC) excretion in patients with Cushing disease and has a favorable safety profile, according to the results of a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

The phase 3 LINC-4 study (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02697734) evaluated the safety and efficacy of osilodrostat, a potent, orally available 11β­-hydroxylase inhibitor, compared with placebo in patients with Cushing disease.

The trial, which was conducted at 40 centers in 14 countries, included a 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled period that was followed by a 36-week, open-label osilodrostat treatment period with an optional extension.

Abstract

Background

Neuroendocrine tumors can cause ectopic Cushing syndrome, and most patients have metastatic disease at diagnosis. We identified risk factors for outcome, evaluated ectopic Cushing syndrome management, and explored the role of bilateral adrenalectomy in this population.



Methods

This was a retrospective study including patients with diagnosis of ectopic Cushing Syndrome secondary to neuroendocrine tumors with adrenocorticotropic hormone secretion treated at our quaternary referral center over a 40-year period (1980–2020).



Results

Seventy-six patients were included. Mean age at diagnosis was 46.3 ± 15.8 years. Most patients (N = 61, 80%) had metastases at ectopic Cushing syndrome diagnosis. Average follow-up was 2.9 ± 3.7 years (range, 4 months–17.2 years). Patients with neuroendocrine tumors before ectopic Cushing syndrome had more frequent metastatic disease and resistant ectopic Cushing syndrome. Patients with de novo hyperglycemia, poor neuroendocrine tumor differentiation, and metastatic disease had worse survival. Of those with nonmetastatic disease, 8 (53%) had ectopic Cushing syndrome resolution after neuroendocrine tumor resection, 3 (20%) were medically controlled, and 4 (27%) underwent bilateral adrenalectomy. In patients with metastatic neuroendocrine tumors, hypercortisolism was initially medically managed in 92%, 3% underwent immediate bilateral adrenalectomy, 2% had control after primary neuroendocrine tumor debulking, and 2% were lost to follow-up. Medical treatment resulted in hormonal control in 7 (13%) patients. Of the 49 patients with metastatic disease and medically resistant ectopic Cushing syndrome, 23 ultimately had bilateral adrenalectomy with ectopic Cushing syndrome cure in all.



Conclusion

Patients with neuroendocrine tumors before ectopic Cushing syndrome

Today is the final day of the Cushing’s Awareness Challenge and I wanted to leave you with this word of advice…


To that end, I’m saving some of what I know for future blog posts, maybe even another Cushing’s Awareness Challenge next year.  Possibly this has become a tradition.

I am amazed at how well this Challenge went this year, giving that we’re all Cushies who are dealing with so much.   I hope that some folks outside the Cushing’s community read these posts and learned a little more about us and what we go through.

So, tomorrow, I’ll go back to posting the regular Cushing’s stuff on this blog – after all, it does have Cushing’s in its name!

I am trying to get away from always reading, writing, breathing Cushing’s, and trying to celebrate the good things in my life, not just the testing, the surgery, the endless doctors.

If you’re interested, I have other blogs about traveling, friends, fun stuff and trying to live a good life, finally.  Those are listed in the right sidebar of this blog, past the Categories and before the Tags.

Meanwhile…

http://maryoblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/time-for-me-scaled500.jpg?w=314&h=283&resize=314%2C283


 



 



Choose wisely…

http://cushieblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/maryo-colorful-zebra1.gif?resize=199%2C172

Abstract

Cushing’s syndrome (CS) secondary to ectopic adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH)-producing prostate cancer is rare with less than 50 cases reported. The diagnosis can be challenging due to atypical and variable clinical presentations of this uncommon source of ectopic ACTH secretion. We report a case of Cushing’s syndrome secondary to prostate adenocarcinoma who presented with symptoms of severe hypercortisolism with recurrent hypokalaemia, limb oedema, limb weakness, and sepsis. He presented with severe hypokalaemia and metabolic alkalosis (potassium 2.5 mmol/L and bicarbonate 36 mmol/L), with elevated 8 am cortisol 1229 nmol/L. ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome was diagnosed with inappropriately normal ACTH 57.4 ng/L, significantly elevated 24-hour urine free cortisol and unsuppressed cortisol after 1 mg low-dose, 2-day low-dose, and 8 mg high-dose dexamethasone suppression tests. 68Ga-DOTANOC PET/CT showed an increase in DOTANOC avidity in the prostate gland, and his prostate biopsy specimen was stained positive for ACTH and markers for neuroendocrine differentiation. He was started on ketoconazole, which was switched to IV octreotide in view of liver dysfunction from hepatic metastases. He eventually succumbed to the disease after 3 months of his diagnosis. It is imperative to recognize prostate carcinoma as a source of ectopic ACTH secretion as it is associated with poor clinical outcomes, and the diagnosis can be missed due to atypical clinical presentations.

People sometimes ask me how I found out I had Cushing’s Disease.  Theoretically, it was easy.  In practice, it was very difficult.


In 1983 I came across a little article in the Ladies Home Journal which said: “If you have these symptoms…”

I found the row with my symptoms and the answer read “…ask your doctor about Cushing’s”.

After that article, I started reading everything I could on Cushing’s, I bought books that mentioned Cushing’s. I asked and asked my doctors for many years and all of them said that I couldn’t have it.  It was too rare.  I was rejected each time.

Due to all my reading at the library, I was sure I had Cushing’s but no one would believe me. My doctors would say that Cushing’s Disease is too rare, that I was making this up and that I couldn’t have it.

In med school, student doctors are told “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras“.

So, doctors typically go for the easily diagnosed, common diseases.  Just because something is rare doesn’t mean that no one gets it.  We shouldn’t be dismissed because we’re too hard to diagnose.

When I was finally diagnosed in 1987, 4 years later, it was only because I started bleeding under the skin. My husband made circles around the outside perimeter each hour with a marker so my leg looked like a cut log with rings.

When I went to my Internist the next day he was shocked at the size of the rings. He now thought I had a blood disorder so he sent me to a Hematologist/Oncologist.

Fortunately, that new doctor ran a twenty-four-hour urine test and really looked at me and listened to me.  Both he and his partner recognized that I had Cushing’s but, of course, couldn’t do anything further with me.  They packed me off to an endo where the process started again.

My final diagnosis was in October 1987.  Quite a long time to simply  “…ask your doctor about Cushing’s”.

Looking back, I can see Cushing’s symptoms much earlier than 1983.  But, that ‘s for a different post.

She experienced extreme weight gain, thin skin and a racing heart. It took years to finally solve the medical mystery.







 



Angela Yawn went to a dozen doctors before finally getting a diagnosis for her life-disrupting symptoms.

When a swarm of seemingly unrelated symptoms disrupted Angela Yawn’s life, she thought she was going crazy.

She gained weight — 115 pounds over six years — even as she tried to eat less. Her skin tore easily and bruises would stay on her body for months. Her face would suddenly turn blood red and hot to the touch as if she had a severe sunburn. She suffered from joint swelling and headaches. She felt tired, anxious and depressed. Her hair was falling out.

Then, there was the racing heart.

“I would put my hand on my chest because it made me feel like that’s what I needed to do to hold my heart in,” Yawn, 49, who lives in Griffin, Georgia, told TODAY.

“I noticed it during the day, but at night when I was trying to lie down and sleep, it was worse because I could do nothing but hear it beat, feel it thump.


Yawn, seen here before the symptoms began, had no problems with weight before.

Yawn was especially frustrated by the weight gain. Even when she ate just 600 calories a day — consuming mostly lettuce leaves — she was still gaining about 2 pounds a day, she recalled. A doctor told her to exercise more.

 

Yawn gained 115 pounds over six years. "When the weight really started to pile on, I stayed away from cameras as I felt horrible about myself and looking back at this picture is still very embarrassing for me but I wanted (people) to see what this disease has the potential to do if not diagnosed," she said.

In all, Yawn went to a dozen doctors and was treated for high blood pressure and congestive heart failure, but nothing helped. As a last resort, she sought out an endocrinologist in February of 2021 and broke down in her office.

I don't know if there's anything of interest here - or the cost - but possibly useful to someone.

 

Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Market research report is the new statistical data source added by Research Cognizance.

“Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Market is growing at a High CAGR during the forecast period 2022-2029. The increasing interest of the individuals in this industry is that the major reason for the expansion of this market”.

Cushing’s Syndrome Diagnostic and Treatment Market research is an intelligence report with meticulous efforts undertaken to study the right and valuable information. The data which has been looked upon is done considering both, the existing top players and the upcoming competitors. Business strategies of the key players and the new entering market industries are studied in detail. Well explained SWOT analysis, revenue share, and contact information are shared in this report analysis.

Get the PDF Sample Copy (Including FULL TOC, Graphs, and Tables) of this report @:

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Top Key Players Profiled in this report are:

Novartis, Orphagen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Corcept Therapeutics

We have an opportunity for you to take part in a Acromegaly and Human Growth Hormone Deficiency (GHD) Study for patients and caregivers. Our project number for this study is IQV_6382.

Project Details:

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If you are interested in this study, please sign up for Rare Patient Voice here: https://rarepatientvoice.com/CushingsHelp/

 

Thanks as always for your participation! Please be aware that by entering this information you are not guaranteed that you will be selected to participate. As always, we do not share any of your contact information without your permission.

This is another semi-religious post so feel free to skip it 🙂

I’m sure that many would think that Abide With Me is a pretty strange choice for my all-time favorite hymn.

My dad was a Congregational (now United Church of Christ) minister so I was pretty regular in church attendance in my younger years.

Some Sunday evenings, he would preach on a circuit and I’d go with him to some of these tiny churches.  The people there, mostly older folks, liked the old hymns best – Fanny Crosby and so on.

So, some of my “favorite hymns” are those that I sang when I was out with my Dad.  Fond memories from long ago.

In 1986 I was finally diagnosed with Cushing’s after struggling with doctors and trying to get them to test for about 5 years.  I was going to go into the NIH (National Institutes of Health) in Bethesda, MD for final testing and then-experimental pituitary surgery.

I was terrified and sure that I wouldn’t survive the surgery.

I wrote parts of this in 2008, so all the “yesterdays” and “last weeks” are a little off. 

Wow.  That’s about all I can say.  Yesterday was possibly the best day of my life since I started getting Cushing’s symptoms, and that was over 30 years ago.  More than a quarter of a century of feeling exhausted, fatigued.  A quarter of my life spent taking naps and sleeping.

Last week  in this post I wrote in part:

So, yesterday I was supposed to go to a conference on web design for churches.  My church sent me because they want me to spiff up their site and make them a new one for Christmas.  I wanted to go because, well, I like learning new stuff about the web.  I figured that I would learn stuff that would also be useful to me in others of my sites.

And I did!

But the amazing thing is this.