Wednesday, June 16, 2010
You might not see me....but here I am.
I am very quiet, in fact I don't even have a sound. You cannot smell me, I have no scent. I seem to blend in with your everyday life and you may notice me for a moment. But I am usually shrugged off. You cannot see me, I have no form. In fact, you can't even touch me. I live in many of you and yet no one can see me, hell most people I live with, do not even recognize me. Well , at least until I am ready to show them. When I am ready to make their acquaintance, and I always come as such a surprise. Sure, you think back at the signs and realize I was lurking all along. Maybe you found yourself thirsty a lot, hmmm must be hot. Or maybe you would wake up with night sweats, oh must of been a bad dream. After a very heavy carb loaded dinner, you were ready to nap, Must be tired. Never once did you think it was me, you just didn't pay attention. I feel like that person screaming for attention in a sound proof room. I tried to warn you that I was here. Sometimes I feel like the red headed step child of diseases. Heart Attacks, everyone knows them, yeah I probably had a hand in it. Sometimes, I feel bad for the people I "infect", so I do things to let them know I am here. Maybe you lose your sight, or even your foot. How about kidney failure. Seems like this world just doesn't know much about me. I laugh when people say, "oh you can't eat sugar then". What! Seriously people, I destroy your pancreas( heck if you are my cousin by the same name, you attack your own beta cells), I make your insulin useless, I can make your kidneys fail, your liver overload with glucose, your toes tingle, your vision blur, your teeth rot, your mood swing. I can keep you obese, maybe claim your toe or even your leg. Don't forget about a stroke, I can bring that on or how about a heart attack. And if you try to treat me, you can over do it and I can make you sick, cold sweat, and drop your glucose low, dangerously low. Or if you want to play the " I don't have you" game, I can run rampant in your body and rise your blood sugar and even put you in a coma. YES I can do all that and yet to this day, I still here people say " oh you JUST have diabetes, you take a shot and don't eat sugar".... Pfft, if only it was that easy to control me or get rid of me. So until people start to listen to the signs there body is telling them, I am here to stay. I may be quiet and not many notice me until I have turn their life upside down.... Hello, my name is Diabetes....and I've been her for a while...
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Addison's disease and Cushing's syndrome
I wanted to educate you on these two diseases. I think it is just as important that you know about these two autoimmune disorders as it is diabetes.
First I want to introduce you to Cushing's syndrome. Cushing's syndrome is an autoimmune disorder just like diabetes. This disorder effects the endocrine system. View picture to see what your endocrine system includes.
Inside your endocine system are glands that produce hormones. Your Adrenal glad which is the small gland that sits on top on your kidneys produces a number of hormones including cortisol. Cortisol helps regulate your blood pressure and keeps your cardiovascular system in order. It also helps your body respond to stress and it helps the way your body metabolizes protein, carbohydrates and fats in your diet. When your body has to much cortisol is typically develops Cushing's syndrome.
Your body can be over producing cortisol. If it is, it is usually due to one of these three things:
1. A pituitary gland tumor
2.An ectopic ACTH-secreting tumor
3.A primary adrenal glad disease
Symptoms include:
Excess weight gain usually around the mid section and back
Fatigue
Muscle weakness
Rounding of the face
Facial flushing
Pink or purple stretch marks
Darkening on the skin in certain areas like the knees and elbows
Thin and fragile skin
Bruising and cuts that take a really long time to heal
Headache
Bone loss
The list goes on and on...
Now I'm not saying if you have a headache you have Cushing's syndrom but I would say that if you have two or three of these symptoms you may want to be tested.
Next I want to tell you about Addison's disease. Addison's disease develops when the adrenal glands can no longer produce cortisol and aldosterone. The hormone aldosterone helps your body hold on to the salt that it needs, and keeps your blood pressure steady. Your brain believe it or not plays a very important role with Addison's disease. The brain’s hypothalamus and the pituitary gland control the adrenal glands, which in turn make cortisol. The hypothalamus tells your pituitary gland to make a hormone called ACTH. This hormone then goes and tells your adrenal glands to make cortisol. When your adrenal gland can not make enough cortisol, you then have Addison's disease. Sounds complicated right? I mean if your body would just work together and be one happy family we wouldn't have these kind of problems in the world!
So what causes Addison's disease? Addison's disease usually occurs when your body's immune system starts to attack your adrenal glands and kills off the part of the gland that makes the hormones. It can also be caused from trauma to the glands from childbirth, tumors, or cancer.
People can get Addison's disease at any age. When it is caused by the immune system killing off the glands the disease is more common in women. Not fair right?
Like Cushing's syndrom Addison's disease has a list of symptoms. They include:
Fatigue
Weakness
Losing weight without trying
Loss of appetite
Feeling lightheaded
Feeling sick to your stomach and sometimes vomiting
Craving salt
And if you have diabetes, you may have low blood sugar more often then normal and it may be more severe than normal
The thing with Addison's disease is that your body can actually go into an Addison's disease crisis. When your body experiences this it is usually accompanied by severe vomiting, sudden pain in the belly, lower back and sometimes legs, a high fever, feeling restless, confused, or fearful, and having trouble staying awake.
Call your doctor right away if you have any of these symptoms because you will need medical attention immediately. You can actually die from shock because your body can not produce cortisol and in return your blood pressure goes way too low.
Both Addison's disease and Cushing's syndrom is a life long disease that will need life long treatment. Luckily though with proper medication and special care from your doctor you can live a long life. This is just a little bit of information on both diseases and if you have any questions please email me and I can go into more detail about the two. There is also a lot of useful information on the web but you have to be careful with some of the stuff you read because a lot of it can be misleading.
These two diseases are pretty rare and you may or may not know someone with one of them. Either way it's good to know how to spot the two in case you are ever in a situation where you can save yourself or someone else. Like always, thank you for letting me share this information with you. I will keep you all updated on my results and I pray that I will hear something back on Monday. I know I am in God's hands and I lay all my fears upon him tonight as I write this.
Happy weekend everyone!
Kimberlee
First I want to introduce you to Cushing's syndrome. Cushing's syndrome is an autoimmune disorder just like diabetes. This disorder effects the endocrine system. View picture to see what your endocrine system includes.
Inside your endocine system are glands that produce hormones. Your Adrenal glad which is the small gland that sits on top on your kidneys produces a number of hormones including cortisol. Cortisol helps regulate your blood pressure and keeps your cardiovascular system in order. It also helps your body respond to stress and it helps the way your body metabolizes protein, carbohydrates and fats in your diet. When your body has to much cortisol is typically develops Cushing's syndrome.
Your body can be over producing cortisol. If it is, it is usually due to one of these three things:
1. A pituitary gland tumor
2.An ectopic ACTH-secreting tumor
3.A primary adrenal glad disease
Symptoms include:
Excess weight gain usually around the mid section and back
Fatigue
Muscle weakness
Rounding of the face
Facial flushing
Pink or purple stretch marks
Darkening on the skin in certain areas like the knees and elbows
Thin and fragile skin
Bruising and cuts that take a really long time to heal
Headache
Bone loss
The list goes on and on...
Now I'm not saying if you have a headache you have Cushing's syndrom but I would say that if you have two or three of these symptoms you may want to be tested.
Next I want to tell you about Addison's disease. Addison's disease develops when the adrenal glands can no longer produce cortisol and aldosterone. The hormone aldosterone helps your body hold on to the salt that it needs, and keeps your blood pressure steady. Your brain believe it or not plays a very important role with Addison's disease. The brain’s hypothalamus and the pituitary gland control the adrenal glands, which in turn make cortisol. The hypothalamus tells your pituitary gland to make a hormone called ACTH. This hormone then goes and tells your adrenal glands to make cortisol. When your adrenal gland can not make enough cortisol, you then have Addison's disease. Sounds complicated right? I mean if your body would just work together and be one happy family we wouldn't have these kind of problems in the world!
So what causes Addison's disease? Addison's disease usually occurs when your body's immune system starts to attack your adrenal glands and kills off the part of the gland that makes the hormones. It can also be caused from trauma to the glands from childbirth, tumors, or cancer.
People can get Addison's disease at any age. When it is caused by the immune system killing off the glands the disease is more common in women. Not fair right?
Like Cushing's syndrom Addison's disease has a list of symptoms. They include:
Fatigue
Weakness
Losing weight without trying
Loss of appetite
Feeling lightheaded
Feeling sick to your stomach and sometimes vomiting
Craving salt
And if you have diabetes, you may have low blood sugar more often then normal and it may be more severe than normal
The thing with Addison's disease is that your body can actually go into an Addison's disease crisis. When your body experiences this it is usually accompanied by severe vomiting, sudden pain in the belly, lower back and sometimes legs, a high fever, feeling restless, confused, or fearful, and having trouble staying awake.
Call your doctor right away if you have any of these symptoms because you will need medical attention immediately. You can actually die from shock because your body can not produce cortisol and in return your blood pressure goes way too low.
Both Addison's disease and Cushing's syndrom is a life long disease that will need life long treatment. Luckily though with proper medication and special care from your doctor you can live a long life. This is just a little bit of information on both diseases and if you have any questions please email me and I can go into more detail about the two. There is also a lot of useful information on the web but you have to be careful with some of the stuff you read because a lot of it can be misleading.
These two diseases are pretty rare and you may or may not know someone with one of them. Either way it's good to know how to spot the two in case you are ever in a situation where you can save yourself or someone else. Like always, thank you for letting me share this information with you. I will keep you all updated on my results and I pray that I will hear something back on Monday. I know I am in God's hands and I lay all my fears upon him tonight as I write this.
Happy weekend everyone!
Kimberlee
Dear Dr. Ramharrak...well there are no words to describe you!
Hey everyone! I know it has been a while since my last blog post. I started back school and I have been suffering from allergies so I haven't really been up to posting lately. I do want to thank everyone for their kind words and warm thoughts. You really don't know how much they mean to me.
To give you all an update I guess I should tell you that I had an appointment this morning with my endocrinologist, Dr. Ramharrak. I have been dreading this appointment for some time now but I had to have the test done.
My appointment started off on the wrong foot (as usual). My Dr. always has something smart to say so he started in on me as soon as he walked in the door about me not coming in when I was originally supposed to. He was the one who administered the cortisol and I know how much he doesn't like me so I knew it was going to hurt. I was so right! It really hurt. He ended up having to stick me with the needle twice and dig around for my vein. Once the cortisol was administered I had the pleasure (extreme sarcasm) of sitting in his office for a hour until they could draw blood. I was lucky enough that his nurse drew it and not him!
He is testing me for both Addisions disease and Cushing Syndrome. Supposedly a lot of my symptoms are those of Addisions disease. I should know my test results Monday but if you have read my past post you should know how that usually works out for me.
I am going to post some information on Addisions disease tomorrow so keep a look out for that blog post because it will be full of a lot of interesting information.
Bruised,
Kimberlee
To give you all an update I guess I should tell you that I had an appointment this morning with my endocrinologist, Dr. Ramharrak. I have been dreading this appointment for some time now but I had to have the test done.
My appointment started off on the wrong foot (as usual). My Dr. always has something smart to say so he started in on me as soon as he walked in the door about me not coming in when I was originally supposed to. He was the one who administered the cortisol and I know how much he doesn't like me so I knew it was going to hurt. I was so right! It really hurt. He ended up having to stick me with the needle twice and dig around for my vein. Once the cortisol was administered I had the pleasure (extreme sarcasm) of sitting in his office for a hour until they could draw blood. I was lucky enough that his nurse drew it and not him!
He is testing me for both Addisions disease and Cushing Syndrome. Supposedly a lot of my symptoms are those of Addisions disease. I should know my test results Monday but if you have read my past post you should know how that usually works out for me.
I am going to post some information on Addisions disease tomorrow so keep a look out for that blog post because it will be full of a lot of interesting information.
Bruised,
Kimberlee
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