Surgery could cure rare Cushing's disease
9:15 p.m. Saturday, July 22, 2006
Cushing’s disease brought four women together for what they fondly refer to as their “Cushie Party.”
“I don’t know about you guys, but my family didn’t even believe me,” Jaimie Augustine, Cushing’s patient, said. “You don’t gain 70 pounds in 7 months and have something not be wrong.”
Cushing’s disease is caused by a rare tumor in the pituitary gland. The tumor itself is not the problem, but it causes the body to produce too much of the hormone cortisol. It’s the excess cortisol that wreaks havoc on the body.
“I started having hair growth on my chin, and on my arms,” Augustine said. “I got purple stretch marks on my stomach.”
It didn’t matter if Augustine ate as little as a thousand calories a day, she still gained 100 pounds.
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Dr. Ludlam cautions that pituitary surgery works dramatically for some patients, but not for all. If you have Cushing’s, or think you have symptoms, you can find out more information on the disease, or find support near you.
It took five years before Jaimie’s doctors pieced together her symptoms and treated her for Cushing’s.
“Most centers that deal with this would accept that the first line of treatment is pituitary surgery, brain surgery,” Dr. William Ludlam, endocrinologist, said.
During surgery, doctors remove the tumor on the pituitary gland.
“It’s still actually a difficult surgery, because these tumors are typically very liquidy, soft tumors and can ooze and go places,” Dr. Ludlam said.
Augustine’s surgery was a success, and she began to lose weight after doctors removed the tumor. While Augustine said she can’t wait to have her body back, she admitted Cushing’s gave her a different perspective on life.
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