Posts by James Harris9

Just got my MRI results back, and it looks like they found a hypophyseal adenoma that seems to be behaving itself—size looks totally normal.
I’ve been tapering off the Hydrocortisone gradually, dropping 5mg every two weeks. Right now, I’m on a 5-5-5 split (taking doses at 8, 12, and 15). I also did a daily cortisol profile the other day, so here we go
just waiting to see if I can finally kick this stuff for good, fingers crossed 🙂

Hmm. That’s a pretty wild take... Honestly, though, all this talk about Osteoporosis is starting to freak me out a little. I don't really deal with much pain, except maybe some stiffness in my joints when I first roll out of bed in the morning. But that usually goes away once I
get moving and wake up properly. What kind of tests should I actually get done to check if I'm dealing with Osteoporosis?

Thanks. I’m definitely going to hold off a little longer before I go in for those hormone panels and my follow-up MRI. But I did have another question for you. What was your appetite like before versus after the surgery? Also, did you deal with any skin peeling?

Thanks for all the input, everyone. Everything seems fine so far, so I’m just playing the waiting game until my next round of tests comes back. Hopefully, the results look good. Thanks!

Hey, if you don't mind, could you tell me how it all went down for you and how things are looking now? Feel free to just shoot me a DM if that's easier.

Thanks,

So, look. After my surgery, the doctor told me the tumor was massive and
they couldn't actually find the pituitary gland, but they managed to peel the tumor away successfully, which I guess means
they got it out pretty smoothly. He said the tumor either ate through or pushed the pituitary somewhere else
but they didn't see it during the procedure. However, about 20 days post-op, I went in for
blood work and hormone testing. My blood counts are totally fine, and weirdly enough, all my hormone levels look great.
My blood sugar dropped, my high blood pressure vanished completely, and even my cholesterol looks good now. My GH went up, testosterone too, and everything else is right within the normal range. Cortisol crashed from 1500 down to 60. The only outlier is prolactin, which is still a little high, and ACTH was found and dropped from 120 to 20. This still suggests there might be some part of the pituitary left somewhere. My sleep has improved, and I’m feeling stronger and just... good. Haven't done an osteoporosis test yet. My appetite is finally back to normal, so now I actually know when I'm hungry or not. The only medication I'm on is hydrocortisone, and I'm already
tapering down the dose. I have one more hormone checkup coming up soon and
an MRI scheduled for April so we can see what's actually going on in there.

So... here's how it started. My symptoms pretty much lined up with everything going on in my life at the time,
so I didn't catch on right away. First it was insomnia, then my
vision got blurry, I noticed stretch marks, my libido tanked, and I started gaining weight. Since all that seemed to fit with my
daily routine, I never even considered it might be an illness, let alone some kind of
tumor. It only really hit me when I started losing strength despite training hard and eating clean (I'm actually a kinesiology major, so I know my stuff). One time hanging out at a buddy's place, they caught my high blood pressure. That’s when I finally quit
training and started diving deep into medical research to figure out what the hell
was actually wrong. A friend helped me stumble upon Cushing, and man, everything clicked. After pushing my doctors and everyone around me for a while, we found high ACTH and cortisol levels, and eventually discovered a tumor that had spread into three areas (the sellar, parasellar, and cavernous sinuses). I went through with the surgery, and thankfully, it went well.
@Kimberly Sanders4/">@@Kimberly Sanders4. Haha... Yeah, it feels like you're carrying a watermelon on your shoulders instead of a head... haha... but honestly, you get used to it... the swelling goes down eventually...
Right now, my hormone levels are back within the normal range. I'm currently on hydrocortisone
and slowly tapering off just like my endocrinologist told me to. I feel okay, and my blood pressure has stabilized. On paper, I look perfectly healthy 🙂

@James Roberts5/">@@James Roberts5
I'm doing alright, but these massive stretch marks are still there (seriously, looks like I birthed a mammoth), my stomach has this extra fat like I'm prepping for hibernation, and I feel about 90 years old physically. I wanted to ask if you dealt with similar issues and how you handled them. Do you think
I'll ever get back to working out like I used to?

I'll keep this brief. I'm 23 and just got diagnosed with Cushing's because of a tiny pituitary tumor. I went ahead and had it surgically removed. Thank God everything went well, and my hormone levels are finally back within the normal range. I'm wondering if anyone else here has gone through something similar? What was the recovery like for you? I’ve definitely hit a rough patch physically—I feel pretty weak and have put on a decent amount of weight.