Living with Brain Cancer

I’m a 45 year old woman that has had a putuitary tumor for the better part of my adult life and didn’t know it until Dec. 2006. I was misdiagnosed for many years and the tumor has spread from the putuitary into my right sinus and is now around my carotid artery as well.
I had surgery in Jan. 2007 and I’m going to have the gamma knife on April 2007 to remove the tumor remaining in my right sinus.

I look back now and understand why I had problems with my hearing and vision and headaches. Also, why my menstrual cycles were off and were non-existent for as much as 5 years and my GYN said it was due to my weight gain. As well as my weight gain and my hair falling out, I had arthritis in my hands, and why my feet and hands had grown were all due to a condition called Cushing Disease.

I can’t even tell you how I was spinning out of control and my family doctors could only tell me that I was depressed and I had perimenopause. I was put on anti-depressants and pain meds. My energy levels were up and down so much that I could go without needing any sleep to sleeping too much. I found out that is was all due to the high level of cortisol in my blood from the Cushing disease. I can only tell you that after 8 weeks of a non-stop headaches and nothing helping with the pain and two rounds of a Z-pack for a sinus infection I didn’t have, I had to ASK for an MRI!! I had one on Dec. 7th and you now know the rest of the story.

Please get an MRI if you feel you are not yourself and you know something is wrong. I’m no longer on Rx meds other than over the counter Excedrin due to I’m still having the headaches, but not nearly as bad, until the rest of the tumer is removed in April. I thank God for my neurosurgeon, K. Singh Sahni, MD., F.A.C.S. with Neurosurgical Associates here in Richmond, Va. I don’t know what would have become of me.

While I was reading on pituitary gland tumors, I came across the article listed below about Cushing’s disease:
Woman’s Day magazine- March Issue- 2004
“What’s Wrong with Me? I’d never heard of Cushing’s disease, until it was revealed as the culprit behind my mysterious illness” by Sharmyn McGraw

Also, in Feb. 2007 the Discovery Health Chanel, had her on their show as mysterious diagnosis. After reading her article in Dec. 2006, while knowing I had a tumor in the pituitary gland, I diagnosed myself with Cushing’s Disease. I couldn’t get my family Dr. to run the 24 hour test to check me for it. But, my neurosurgeon told me that he thought I had it and did check me. More women then men have pituitary tumors and no one knows why. Rapid changes in their body can be misdiagnosed for many years with a laundry list of other problems due to the real problem going undetected. Please place this where it can help service the most people, as did the article by Ms McGraw.