Today, April 8, has been named Cushing’s Awareness Day in honor of Harvey Cushing’s birthday. It seems like a good day to talk about symptoms.

Above is a diagram of a Cushing’s patient. From what I understand in talking with a lot of Cushies, is that many doctors believe that this is what a Cushing’s patient will look like. They don’t understand that these are symptoms that a patient may have. The diagram also can’t show the aches, pains & mental symptoms.

    Having three Cushies in my family showed me that symptoms can vary widely from patient to patient. I’ll make a list of symptoms (if I can remember them all) that my family had but won’t say who had what symptoms.

One had very thin legs, two didn’t

Extreme rage

Reversed sleep pattern

GI problems

Weight gain

Red cheeks

High blood pressure

Hallucinations

Suicidal

Depression

Self mutilation

Extreme hunger when cortisol levels were high

No appetite when cortisol levels were low

Heartburn

Excess hair growth

Hair changed from straight to curly

Body odor that could not be washed away

Alcohol breath (when none had been drank)

Vision problems

Irritability

Memory loss

Lack of concentration

Inability to solve problems

Stretch marks-stomach, arms, legs, shoulders

Moon face

Back aches

Muscle aches

Lost strength

I know there are more symptoms that I just can’t think of now. Tomorrow I’ll talk about what it was like to live with these patients.