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No, obesity and Cushing's are like anything else in that they are considered disabilities. It was in my case. As long as it limits life activities and ability to work full time, then it's a disability. Pituitary dysfunction has a code on their list of impairments. It's what I used. You have to approach it like a lawsuit which is what it is and assemble your 'evidence' aka medical records accordingly. I'm not saying it's not difficult. Believe me, it is, but you can do it if you prepare appropriately and do your research first. The mistake a lot of people make, myself included, is not putting everything into it at the beginning or not hiring the best lawyer they can find. That's the true hard part. Most of them, IMO, see us as low hanging fruit and an easy $4-6,000. If I had it to do over, I would have done it myself and cut out the lawyer entirely. I'm going to try to use the new 'disease' status to get rid of the gut which I consider a second tumor. It's so cumbersome and makes it hard to do basic things like trim/paint toenails, tie shoes, reach things. It may be after the battle, but they're going to cover it. At my lowest weight, when I was skin and bones, I still had that roll. I've had it since I was 7 years old no matter what exercise I've done. It's so frustrating because it's the major impairment. It isn't just cosmetic. It causes most of the neck/back/foot pain and hygeine issues. It's stupid to go through the hell of trying to lose weight for months on end when a couple of sessions of lipo would take it away permanently. That's just practical and pragmatic. They push tummy tucks because they do get them paid for in some cases, but I don't want to take the risk and go through all that if Lipo can take care of it. That would solve my problem. I'm going to start the process asap, I'm sure it'll be an uphill battle but I'm determined.

OK, they finally acknowledged it's the disease, not the cause of disease, or did they? I know they said it yesterday but how does it change things for us? Does it give us disability status and protection from discrimination? Is it a good thing or will they think of another way to use it against the victim? What do ya'll think?

Well, I'd say it shouldn't be too long now before there is acknowledgement and cure, but after watching Dr. Drew and the segment on Acromegaly the other night, and the way he completely and so conspicuously avoided ANY mention of ACTH producing tumors, I don't know that there will be in our lifetime. He mentioned prolactinomas and said they were the most common, blah blah blah, talked ALLLLL around it. It couldn't have been unintentional. This is coming from high places. I guess the drug companies have more power than even we know them to.

I live east of Houston and I speak from experience when I tell you to head to California. The only doctors even remotely qualified to treat hormone disease i TX are at M.D. Anderson. I went to UTMB a few mos ago and couldn't believe, after all these years, how far into the dark ages they still are. Please, just make an appointment with Dr. Dan Kelly in Santa Monica or Dr. Theodore F.n in Beverly Hills.