Join us as Mary O'Connor (MaryO) interviews Gracie again. Gracie (fatnsassy) has been dealing with Cushing's symptoms for about 14 years.

She began testing in California with Dr. Ted Friedman June, 2007 and she was diagnosed in May, 2008 with cyclical Cushing's disease. She saw Dr. Hae-Dong Jho and arranged for her pituitary surgery in Philadelphia, Pa, in August, 2008. This is her first post-op interview.

Keywords: pituitary, cyclical, Cushing's, Dr. Ted Friedman, Dr. Hae-Dong Jho, surgery, pituitary, wean, cortisol, adrenal crisis

Join us as Mary O'Connor (MaryO) and Robin Smith (staticnrg) interview Stacey.  Stacey will be one year post-op at the time of the interview.  She will have been to her 1 year appointment and will give a full update of her recovery.

Join us as Mary O'Connor (MaryO) and Robin Smith (staticnrg) interview long time Cushing's patient Susan (SusanM).

Susan writes: Susan writes: As you may have read in my other post, I retired from a 28-year career at a major health insurance company (one of the big five) on March 31. 2008. I am happy with this achievement, however, much more proud of the actions I took to reach that achievement. Why so? For 27 of those 28 years, I had faced Cushings and we all know what difficulty that may bring.

In 2003, I had the pit surgery and became quite ill in 2004. It wasn't until November, of 2005 that I had the BLA which brought about some relief. During all of this, I worked full time consistently until 2004 when I had to take some time off of work. I was GH deficient and had the episode of congestive heart failure.

Once back at work, I applied for a work accommodation to work at home on Monday and Friday under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It was granted and I was provided with a full computer set up at home as well as the one at work. This made a great difference in my being able to work or not. Not driving the 26 miles each way to work as well as being at home continued my work.

Another thing I did was to work with my PCP to be accepted into the Physical Rehab at the local hospital. It provided medically-monitored exercise (up to 5 days a week) and my muscles recovered well during this time. I had difficulty with shortness of breath due to the weak muscles around my lungs and this was a positive step to correct that situation.

What else did I do to keep myself working during this timeframe? I worked incredibly hard on achieving a positive mental attitude! I meditated, performed self-hypnosis, and found a support system that worked for me. This foundation made the better days better and difficult days a bit less difficult.

Can someone with Cushings continue working? In my opinion, YES.

Interview with "Dr. Rob".

Listen as Robin Smith (staticnrg) interviews "Dr. Rob". Mary O'Connor (MaryO) cohosts

Dr Rob writes in his very popular blog: "I am a practicing primary care physician in the Southeastern US, caring for patients of all ages (Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics). This blog covers a wide variety of issues, including the following: What it is like to be a physician, dogs driving cars, what troubles are in our system, toddlers with flame-throwers, what would it take to fix that system, llamas, death and dying issues, mutants, and accordions. Maybe I need to write about mutant dying accordions with flame-throwers. Hmmm....I feel a post coming. Anyhow, I like variety. Life is always lived with both laughter and tears. If you are a regular reader of this blog, it is also filled with nausea and nightmares. Thanks for stopping by. -Dr. Rob"

Listen to this archived Interview with "Dr. Rob" October 2, 2008

Keywords: blog, Cushing's, diagnosis, doctors, hormones, insurance, specialist, tumor

Spreading the Word about Cushing's Listen as Mary O'Connor (MaryO) and Robin Smith (staticnrg) Discuss Spreading the Word about Cushing's

Robin and MaryO discussed the role of blogs in helping to spread the word about Cushing's. They also discussed popular doctor blogs and other topics of interest to Cushing's Patients.

Listen to this archived chat with Robin and Mary on September 25, 2008
Listen to an archived chat with Robin and Mary on August 21, 2008
Listen to Robin's Archived Interview
Listen to MaryO's Archived Interview

Keywords: adenoma, adrenal, awareness, blog, cortisol, Cushing's, diagnosis, doctors, hormones, meds, pituitary, specialist, tumor

Interview with Joselle Listen as Mary O'Connor (MaryO) and Robin Smith (staticnrg) Interview Joselle

Joselle writes in her bio: "I am a 48 year old female recently diagnosed with Cushing's Disease caused by a pituitary adenoma. It's taken a few years to finally come to this diagnosis. I had a series of symptoms which were indicative of a variety of disorders. However, I don't present as the "typical" Cushing's patient as I don't have the "moon face" or "buffalo hump". Fortunately, I have a primary doctor who didn't give up and ultimately orderd the cortisol suppression test. He then referred me to an endocrinologist. I had an MRI this past week. I have an appointment with a neurosurgeon in a week. It's a bittersweet diagnosis; I am a little scared about the surgery, but THRILLED that I am not crazy.....and maybe I'll actually be able to stop SHAVING my face !!!!!!"

Listen to this archived Interview with Joselle on September 11, 2008
Read Joselle's bio

Keywords: adenoma, awareness, cortisol, Cushing's, diagnosis, hormones, meds, MRI, neurosurgeon, pituitary, specialist, tumor, weight

Spreading the Word about Cushing's Listen as Mary O'Connor (MaryO) and Robin Smith (staticnrg) Discuss Spreading the Word about Cushing's

This chat depended on Joselle's surgery and recovery. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to make it so her interview will be rescheduled. Robin and MaryO discussed the role of blogs in helping to spread the word about Cushing's. They also discussed popular doctor blogs and other topics of interest to Cushing's Patients.

Listen to this archived chat with Robin and Mary on August 21, 2008
Listen to Robin's Archived Interview
Listen to MaryO's Archived Interview

Keywords: adenoma, blog, breathing, cortisol, Cushing's, diagnosis, hormones, incidentaloma, meds, MRI, neurosurgeon, pituitary, specialist, thyroid, tumor, weight

Mar Listen as Mary O'Connor (MaryO) hosted an interview with Mar

Mar (mrsb91986)'s signature:
6/04 DVT Deep Vein Thrombosis -diagnosed with Antiphospholipid syndrome & Lupus Anticoagulant
6/05 Rhuemy told me I "most likelly" have Sjogren's Syndrome
7/06 All normal Endo tests, except for the Saliva which was lost but a low IGF-1 at 77
4/9/07 Tests in Seattle 2 relatively high Midnight serums 7.2 & 8.8 IGF-1 86 + 7 x 6 mm tumor
4/07 to present Still testing
9/07 Phone consult with Dr. L semi-high saliva's 4.7, 4.9 and 36.1 !!! He said to continue testing selectively and will go to Camp Cushie 11/12/07
11/07 Camp Cushie
11/13 12:15 a.m. ACTH 10 Cortisol 11.1, 12:30 a.m. ACTH 10 Cortisol 8.5, 4:00 a.m. ACTH 45 Cortisol 22.2, 8:00 a.m. ACTH 8 Cortisol 9.3, 12:00 p.m. ACTH 11 Cortisol 13.3, 4:00 p.m. ACTH 8 Cortisol 5.8, 8:00 p.m. ACTH 11 Cortisol 6.9
11/14 12:15 a.m. ACTH 15 Cortisol 12.5, 12:30 a.m. ACTH 10 Cortisol 8.3, 4:00 a.m. ACTH 26 Cortisol 17.2, 8:00 a.m. ACTH 15 Cortisol 16.5
Random IGF-1 70 Final result of stim test: 71 L (101-267) Two midnight (11:59 p.m.) saliva's 7.4 & 4.9

Read Mar's blog
Listen to Archived Interview from August 14, 2008

Keywords: ACTH, adenoma, adrenal, blood pressure, buffalo hump, Camp Cushie, concentration, dystonia, endocrinologist, fatigue, fibromyalgia, growth hormone, memory, MRI, pituitary adenoma, salivary, stretchmarks, tremors, UFC, Weight Watchers

Sheryl Listen as Mary O'Connor (MaryO) hosted an interview with Sheryl. Robin Smith (staticnrg) cohosted.

Sheryl (sherylr) talked about what it's been like living with Addison's after a BLA - for over 30 years.

Sheryl writes in part:

"I was diagnosed with Cushings Syndrome of the adrenal glands in September, 1973. I underwent a bi-lateral adrenalectomy in January, 1974, 30 years ago.

"I'm sure some things have changed since then; I was in the hospital for 3 weeks post-op. I had all of the symptoms listed on this site. I originally was in the ER for what turned out to be a kidney stone. While there the doctors noticed a few oddities. For me the symptoms had been coming along so gradual that no one really noticed. The kidney stone was one result of Cushings. From the ER I was sent for many tests. MRI was not available then, and a test was done by threading a catheter into the groin area artery and shooting dye into it in order for the doc. to see the tumor(s). I tried to find it interesting and it was except every time they pushed more dye into me it was painful and eventually passed out.

"By that time I had entered the hospital knowing surgery would happen and that was the final test to make sure exactly where the tumors were. The surgeon told me afterwards that each adrenal had a huge tumor-benign-fortunately-each one the size of a grapefruit. The surgical incisions were made in my back, one on each side of the spine, in a sort of half moon shape. They are quite large because the tumors were so large. The replacement therapies required are hydro-cortisone and florinef. Because everyone is different you may have a different dose than I do. It took quite some time for my body to really become adjusted to the replacements. At least 5 years for me. I would hope for you newcomers that medical progress has considerably lessened that time!

Read Sheryl's bio
Listen to Archived Interview from August 7, 2008

Keywords: Addison's, adenoma, adrenal, adrenal insufficiency, anger, anxiety attacks, bilateral adrenalectomy, BLA, blood pressure, calcium, cortef, cortisol, cortisone, Cushing's, endocrinologist, energy, ER, florinef, grief, hair, heat stroke, joint pain, kidney stone, meds, memory, moonface, MRI, pain, PCOS, pregnant, sodium, steroids, stress, surgery, symptoms, testing, tumor, UFC, urologist, weight

Gracie

Listen as Mary O'Connor (MaryO) hosted an interview with Gracie

Gracie (fatnsassy) has been dealing with Cushing's symptoms for about 14 years.

She began testing in California with Dr. Ted Friedman June, 2007 and she was diagnosed in May, 2008 with cyclical Cushing's disease. She saw Dr. Hae-Dong Jho just before this chat and arranged for her pituitary surgery in Philadelphia, Pa, in August, 2008.

Read Gracie's bio
Listen to Archived Interview from July 31, 2008

Keywords: adenoma, adrenal, anemic, anxiety attacks, arthritis, blood pressure, cortisol, Cushing's, cyclical hormones, diabetic, Dr. Ted Friedman, endocrinologist, energy, heart palpitations, hysterectomy, IPSS, iron, joint pain, meds, MRI, neuropathy, neurosurgeon, pituitary, stamina, stretchmarks, surgery, symptoms, tumor, UFC, weight