The Red and Black

My daughter, 15, has Cushing's. She was diagnosed at 13 and had surgery to remove the tumor on her pituitary at 14. Doctors will not check for this disease in children. They were blaming childhood obesity for the SUDDEN development and weight gain in my child. However, when hair started growing on her face and large ugly stretch marks appeared all over her body they were shocked. When I told them I thought she had Cushing's you can conceive of what they thought of me! It is rare in adults one can imagine how rare it is in children. Honestly, I do not think it is that rare in anyone. Sometimes the blood work is so hit and miss that it is not caught until someone is near death or dies. Most people who have it are being treated for high blood pressure, diabetes, or even metal illness like depression or bipolar or just being over weight and unable to lose the weight no mater how hard they try. This disease can manifest itself in many different ways that unless one sees a doctor who has the aptitude to pull it all together they continue to suffer in a living hell. From what I have found out about Cushing's it is fair to say that many very ill people can be helped if the doctors would become aware of Cushing's and throw aside what they were taught in medical school. In general, they have been taught to believe they will probably never come across a case of it during their career.
I see people that I just want to run up to say, "please see a doctor and ask them for help". You do not have to have all the symptoms to have Cushing's. Some people may not even gain much weight. Which almost the only reason a doctor will check them for the illness. I am not trying to scare everyone into thinking that this is an out of control disease, I just want it to be known that if the doctor has done all he can to find out why they feel ill and run down this one illness that is over looked more often than not. It is not a simple blood test either, so do not let the doctor blow you off with that. It is a battery of tests. One of the most important is a 24-hour urine collection. It is the one of the only ways to find out for sure and that may have to be done several different times to pin things down. Thanks for any help that will start making doctors aware that they really do have patients that are trying their best to get their health under control but an under lying problem could be defeating them.