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cushiemom

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About cushiemom

  • Birthday 06/10/1971

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    Stoneville, NC

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  1. It's not everyday that one admits that one has "problems"....but when problems arise in my life, they all come at once. I stopped taking my anti-depression med. because my PCP thought it would interfere with my potential Cushing's diagnosis...BIG MISTAKE! I found out the hard way what happens when you stop taking a medication that keeps you "even keel" as far as emotional stability goes. I had a meltdown....and it was the worst one I've ever experienced. But prior to stopping this medication, my PCP evaluated me and determined that I am not depressed as he originally thought......I'm "rapid cycle bipolar"....No wonder I have "Highs" and "Lows".....but instead of treating the "bipolar issue"...he left me "medless"...it didn't take long for the results to manifest. So....I went to see a Psychiatrist who decieded that I needed not one, not two, or three, but 4 different types of meds....After consulting with my PCP, it was determined that if I took all four meds like the "Shrink" had advised, I would be in a perpetual Coma....Great, Just what I need....Well...at least I'm back to taking only one type of med....Lets hope it works.
  2. This was me at the end of my appt. with the "Pre-tendo" Endo. Good Ole' Dr. Ellison....Graduate of UCLA School Of Medicine...What a SCHMUCK! So..why was I flaming mad? Because even after the good ole' Doc. took a looky-look at my first round of labs, he had the BALLS to ask me "Exactly how long have you been an alcoholic?" Excuse me???? Come Again???? MOI??? A Lush? I don't think so....Well, Dr. Ellison.....I don't drink.......and by the way, I have a wine intollorance. Dr. Ellison then preceeded to ask me... "But, are you SURE you don't drink?" Well....I'm sure that if you know me at all, you'll know that I can be the BIGGEST SMART ASS on the planet....My Reply to the good Ole' Doc?....."Are you sure you're a doctor????" He didn't like that answer at all....and he reluctantly agreed to have me do another round of the same tests I had already done, except that this time I was to do the Dexamethasone Suppression Test as well. Ohhhh Goody for me....I get to pee in a jug for 24 hours again!!! And I get to take a synthetic steroid and have my blood drawn again!!! Well....that was 2 weeks ago.....and today I got my results back. My cortisol level was within "Normal" range..... And my Dex. Suppression Test..... I had Suppressed. So Doc. Ellison....What does this mean? His reply.... "There's nothing wrong with you....come back and see me in 4 months." So....what do you think I did? I ranted and raved for a while..... Why? Because Doc. Ellison didn't remember that 90% of all Cushing's Patients are "CYCLIC" Patients, which means that we have periods of days where we have more cortisol in our system and there are days when we have hardly any.. He must of been ABSENT the day they taught that in MED SCHOOL. Dr. Ellison......You're Fired! Then I scheduled an appt. with Dr. F.. The Leading Expert in Cushing's. I see a trip to SoCal in April.... My Quest Continues.
  3. Dr. "Mc.G" sat in his round little "Doctor's" Chair and listened to me prattle on and on about this documentary that I had seen on the National Geographic Channel with the most comical look on his face.....I'm willing to bet he thought I was a hypochondriac at that moment.....or that maybe I was ready to head on out to Butner.....(Mental health hospital in Durham, NC) But, boy was I wrong...he actually was listening to me.....Good God.....I had my foot in the door. He had my blood drawn ...(For what seemed to be the 5th hundred time), and had it checked for a hormone called ACTH.....he also had me do a 24 hour Urine collection to determine what my Cortisol level was....Here's where this whole Cushing's thing gets complicated.... SO,my first round of test came back....and they were a doozy... My ACTH was sky high....and my 24 hour Urine Free Cortisol test came back at 68.5 The normal reference range by the way is <45.0..... Dr. McG. scheduled an appt. for me with a new specialist....an Endocrinologist. What did Dr. Ellison (the Endo) have to say? Stay tuned...
  4. So for the last 14 years or so I've been dealing with health issues that I've had no idea where they came from or what was causing them. It started out when I was around 22 with mild headaches which really didn't bother me at the time because I could pop a few Tylenol and take care of it. Then, by the time I was 30 it slowly progressed into mild depression and anxiety....Now, I had never been depressed as a teen or in my early 20's so this was new to me....I attributed this "new issue" as a symptom of the bad relationship I had just gotten out of . (Thank You Mitch!!!) But no, it was not Mitch's fault....well, at least the depression and the anxiety was not his DIRECT fault. Right around this time I also started to develope strange dizzy spells....when I got up, when I sat down, when I walked....it was just very strange. So I went to my doctor and asked for an explanation on just what the hell was wrong with me. Bless her cotton pick'n heart....she had no idea either...But she was also quick to blame Mitch....So, she did what every good Primary Care Physician would do and gave me a prescription for anti-depressants and sent me on my merry way. Well, The dizzy spells got worse.....the depression went away...(Actually, it was just masked by the Paxil I was on.) and then one day, I just blacked out while getting ready for work....That scared the living bee-jesus out of me. So I went to see a bevy of specialists....a cardiologist....(could find nothing wrong with my ticker)....a neurologist.....(could find nothing wrong with the electrical make-up in my brain).....a pulmonologist.....(could find nothing wrong with my lungs).....a hematologist.....(could find nothing wrong with my blood except that I was a little anemic....so he gave me some iron pills)...by this time I was going crazy. I really started to think that I was just plain ole' nuts. But, the one specialist I never went to see was an Endocrinologist. Well, as it turned out, my strange symptoms kept on developing. (By this time I was in my early 30's)....the funny "hump" on the base of my neck.....the chronic fatigue....the joint pain....the god awful bruises I would get from the kids when they gave me hugs....I became borderline diabetic.....the depression got worse....(And Mitch had not been in my life for a good 3 years now so I couldn't blame it on him)...WTF... What the hell is wrong with me??? Again, I dragged my happy A$$ to the doctor and this time he ordered another slew of tests....they came back with the same results....THERE'S NOTHIING WRONG WITH YOU.....except you do have fibromyalgia (GREAT).....I'm becoming arthritic at an early age. I had an existential melt-down...Well...here's more Paxil for you....and by the way, try some yoja. Well....Let me tell you, Paxil can only do so much...and then you basically become imune to it......I was a watering pot one day, or a raving lunatic the next.....Well, why don't you try some Lexapro...okay....that didn't work either....it just made me gain weight.....Jesus, Joseph & Mary....just what I need....another "Issue" Okay God....what is wrong with me? I asked one day this past October....and his answer came in the way of a TV Documentary on the National Geographic Channel....(The Science of Obesity)....I was bored....and depressed...so I watched what I thought was a show on Sumo Wrestlers until.....The final segment of the show talked about a disease called Cushing's....and God Almighty.....it mentioned EVERY SYMPTOM I had been dealing with for the past 14 years!!! BLOODY HELL! I now have a name for what's wrong with me! And its CUSHING'S Disease. So...what happened next? You'll have to read the next blog entry.
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