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

Robin had Cushing's for over 20 years, at least. Of course, no one figured it out or even put two and two together until her new PCP whom she found in 2004 said "endocrine". She didn't figure it out, either, but at least Robin had a piece of the puzzle and she found cushings-help.com.

Robin immediately went into denial and left for several months until she got so sick she knew she had to have help. She had originally sought this PCP because she had been going to all sorts of doctors for all sorts of things trying to get help. She kept getting sicker and sicker, and it got harder and harder to do anything.

Eventually, after having a bad experience with UVA, she went to see Dr. F. We went through some rounds of testing, had our ups and downs, but he stuck with me, and she got some sky high test results. Robin had to learn when to test because she was cyclical. Oddly enough, Dr. Jho, when she had surgery, insisted she was "classical" Cushing's. Robin didn't care what you call it, she just wanted to get well.

Keywords: 24-hour ufc, acne, adenoma, adrenal crisis, bariatric surgeon, boils, broken bones, bruises, calcium, collapsing veins, cushing's, cyclical, diabetes, diagnosis, Dr McCutcheon, Dr. Hae-Dong Jho, Dr. Ted Friedman, fat pads, hump, hyperthyroid, kidney stones, lactation, medications, message boards, MRI, ovarian cyst, PCOS, PCP, pituitary, red face, straie, stress fractures, surgery, symptoms, testing, tired, treatment, weight

Alicia writes "Around the end of my Junior year, probably one of the worst things that could have happened during my 8 years of illness happened, I had severe psychiatric symptoms at school, including psychosis, and was put on a “students in crisisâ€? plan and sent home for a little while.  Being diagnosed as a “psych patientâ€? would delay my diagnosis for years, most doctors just considered me "crazy."

Items covered include what happened to make Alicia realize she was sick; psychiatric diagnosis; symptoms did you have; how the "psychiatric symptoms" were actually symptoms of Cushing’s, too, and how that affects those who are trying to get help with this disease; and more.

Alicia's bio can be found at http://www.cushings-help.com/alicia2.htm

Thursday January 31 at 6:30PM eastern

Jayne Kerns is a Cushing's patient who had pituitary surgery and a bilateral adrenalectomy before finding the true source of her ectopic Cushing's.

Jayne also had a miracle baby despite her illness, which usually makes women infertile. She was featured in her local paper.

Jayne has seen several potential Cushies and spoken to them. Many have contacted their doctors and turned out to have Cushing's Syndrome. She was also instrumental in setting up the first Cushing's Awareness Day and continues to provide Cushing's Awareness tables at local health fairs.

One of the patients Jayne urged to check out Cushing's is Laura Zastrow. In the article about Laura, the credit is given to Jayne.

Read Jayne's newspaper article Baby boy is miracle to mother with Cushing's disease.