Is Cushing's Syndrome fatal?!


Question: Is Cushing's Syndrome fatal!?
I recently went to the hospital for Cellulitis infection in my leg and the doctor there told me I should go back to my own doctor to be tested for Cushing's Disease because he said I had some symptoms!. I'm making an appointment for next week!. What kind of tests should I expect!? If I do in fact have it, will I have to undergo surgery!? What's the chance of survival!? Is it always due to a tumor on the pituitary gland!? Is the tumor cancerous!? Could this be fatal if it is not treated!? I can't even begin to describe how scared I am!. :-(Www@Answer-Health@Com


Answers:
I can understand that you are scared, but try to be calm, because Cushing's is fairly easy to treat!. I actually know several people who have had it, and all of them are fine!.

Basically, Cushing's disease is caused by too much cortisol in your body!. Often, it's caused because a person has been prescribed a long course of steroids, and they have built up in the body and aren't being cleared properly!. Other times, it's caused by a problem either in the pituitary or the adrenal glands!. (The pituitary is in your brain, and it's the gland which controls hormone release in your body--it can release hormones itself, or tell other structures, like your adrenal glands, to release hormones!.) Sometimes, the problem is a small benign tumor in your pituitary!. I want to stress benign because that means it is not cancerous!.

Generally, when they test for it, they test your cortisol levels over a set period of time (if I recall correctly, it's 24 hours)!. There are a bunch of ways that they do that, but everyone I know who has had to be screened has had it done by checking their urine periodically over the testing period!. If that shows elevated cortisol levels, they may follow up with imaging to look at your pituitary or your adrenals, to see if there is a growth!.

There's no way to know if you will need surgery or not until the doctor finds out why you have the syndrome (a syndrome is a collection of symptoms which tend to indicate an abnormality or disease process--you don't necessarily have to have all the symptoms of something to have the syndrome)!. If it's caused because of prescribed steroids (which is very possible--I am sure they are giving you steroids to help treat your cellulitis--they give them for inflammation with most serious infections), then they will probably address it by tapering you off the steroids!. If it's caused by a tumor, then they will probably want to remove the tumor!. It will all depend on what turns up in the diagnostics!.

So, to sum up:

--You should expect a test to monitor cortisol levels in your body!. That may be followed up by imaging to look for a growth in your pituitary gland!.

--You may or may not need surgery!. That will depend on what is causing the excess cortisol!.

--Chances of survival are excellent!. It's an easy thing to fix!. If it's caused by administered steroids, then they taper you off!. If it's caused by a growth, they can remove that and then give you hormone replacement to make up for the missing pituitary!.

--It's not always due to a tumor of the pituitary--it can be too many steroids for treatment of something!.

--The tumors aren't cancerous!. Any tumor which is untreated for years and years may become dangerous, but in this case, even that is rare!.

--The only way I can see it being fatal if not treated is if there is, in fact, a tumor, and you simply don't have it taken care of!. Also, leaving it untreated can cause disturbances in other areas of your body, like causing diabetes, or causing heart disease!. Those result from leaving it untreated for long periods of time, and can cause bigger problems later!.

Try not to be scared!. I know a big thing like this can be scary (trust me on that--I had a problem with my heart, and had to have my actual heart repaired--I know stuff can be very frightening), but this is something which can be treated, and which is treated successfully almost all the time!. Your doctor will run the tests, and then tell you what's going on, and you can move on from there!.

Be well, and try to relax until you know for sure what's going on :)Www@Answer-Health@Com

You shouldn't really ask this kind of question on Yahoo answers, you aren't going to find many doctor's here!.

That being said, Cushing's Disease is not generally fatal if treated!.!.!. I've included a link to a wiki article about it, read the diagnosis and treatment portion carefully!.!.!. but don't ASSUME YOU HAVE CUSHINGS!!!

Your doctor referred you for a reason, if he knew you had it, he'd have simply started treatment!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

It can be fatal, but usually isn't at any kind of a young age!. In any case, it can be treated!. My mom's dog had it and lived to be 18 which is pretty darned old!. So no worries even if you have it!.!. it would probably be a mild case and no, not due to cancer!. There is no need to be scared!. In fact I would almost lay a bet that you do NOT have it!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

it is not necessarily fatal!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

First of all, let me say that Cushing's syndrome if treated is not fatal!.
it could result from a tumor in your pituitary (a small gland at the base of the brain)!. It is generally a benign tumor, removed by surgery!.
It could also be due to a tumor of your adrenal glands (located just above your kidneys) also treatment includes surgical removal of the tumor, and also generally it is of a benign nature!. So don't worry about cancer!.
As for the test, they will dose your cortisol level, but because cortisol fluctuates through the day, what they do is give you a pill to take the night before the blood test,(8 hours before the test to be exact) and then they dose the cortisol the next morning!. This pill is supposed to suppress cortisol secretion!. but if you have cushing's syndrome, cortisol level will stay above normal!. That's how they will detect it!. It is called the dexamethasone suprression test!.Www@Answer-Health@Com





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