Joanne Morgan was initially diagnosed with post-natal depression following the birth of her first child Thomas. But tests later revealed she had a rare pituitary gland disorder called Cushing’s disease.
I tucked my baby Thomas into his cot and dabbed my eyes – maybe I was being weak, but I’d been feeling so bad lately that I could hardly cope.
“I had no strength in my legs, no energy to carry my baby upstairs or to even bend down for anything.
“By 11am I was ready to go back to sleep, I couldn’t keep my eyes open.”
Joanne Morgan had started to feel exhausted halfway through her pregnancy with Thomas. Her blood pressure had risen and she was advised by doctors to rest.
In her 20th week she was told that she may have pre-eclampsia.
She said: “I was a first-time mum – it was no beautiful experience, but I was sure that I’d pick up after the birth.
“But after Thomas was born I wasn’t feeling any better – worse if anything. I felt totally washed out.
“Some days I was so tired that I’d fall into a deep sleep, not even waking when Thomas cried.
“And there were some odd changes in me too. I had acquired a lot of facial hair and a ‘buffalo hump’ at the top of my spine. I’d shot up from a size 12 to 20.
“The weight had settled around my middle, face and shoulders. I looked flushed and had big red stretch marks. I felt a mess.”
After seeing her GP, who took blood tests, Joanne, who lived in Llandrindod Wells, was told that she was probably suffering from post-natal depression and was given a prescription for the anti-depressant Prozac.
“I wasn’t convinced, but I had been feeling very down for quite a while,” Joanne, now 39, said.
“I didn’t know what was wrong with me.
“I couldn’t cope with Thomas and I felt that my life was falling apart.”
The turning point for Joanne came when her mother suggested she speak to her former employer Kate who worked as a doctor in London – Joanne had previously worked as a nanny for her family.
She was referred to see a private gynaecologist who asked whether she had pronounced stretch marks and said he was certain Joanne had Cushing’s disease, which is caused by a tumour on the pituitary gland.
The disease can cause increased weight gain, heavy stretch marks, fatigue, anxiety and depression. In people with Cushing’s disease, the pituitary gland, which is situated at the base of the brain, produces excessive and often dangerous amounts of the hormone cortisol, which regulates metabolism.
The pituitary gland is about the size of a pea and is situated behind the nose.
Joanne, who now has a daughter Cerys after undergoing IVF treatment, said: “I was so relieved that someone believed I was ill, I wasn’t upset about the illness.
“Tests found 10 times the normal amount of cortisol in my system. If the condition had been left unchecked. I could have had a stroke or a heart attack.”
Joanne was later admitted to the University Hospital of Wales, in Cardiff, for further tests to determine whether the excess cortisol was being caused by a tumour on the pituitary gland. They revealed a non-cancerous tumour and decided to operate.
The mother-of-two, who now lives near Newark, in Nottinghamshire, was in theatre for three hours and was kept in hospital for three weeks. Despite feeling “very poorly” for the first week after surgery, her flushed face began to calm down and steadily she recovered.
“Three months later I was feeling far more lively. I went back to work part-time and I could at least give Thomas the attention he needed.
“Part of my pituitary gland had been cut away so I then had to take replacement hormones.
“If only someone had recognised the symptoms earlier before my self-confidence took such a battering.”
Pituitary gland The pituitary gland is in the bony hollow beneath the brain and behind the bridge of the nose.
The pea-sized gland is also known as the master gland as it controls all the body’s hormones.
The world’s tallest man, Ukrainian vet Leonid Stadnik who is 2.57m tall, reportedly started growing at the age of 14, after undergoing brain surgery, which stimulated his pituitary gland.
But most pituitary disorders are caused by a benign tumour on the gland and can cause a vast range of symptoms, including infertility, raging thirst, growth of hands, feet and facial bones, abnormal weight gain and even fragile skin and visual problems.
But because pituitary disorders are relatively rare and many of their symptoms are non-specific, such as constant headaches and weight gain, diagnosis can be slow and many patients can find themselves isolated and distressed as their quality of life diminishes.
Once diagnosed, treatment often involves surgery and radiotherapy and patients may have to take hormone replacement drugs for the rest of their lives.
The Pituitary Foundation has found that the hormonal changes can also cause psychological and psychiatric problems.
And because many patients know no one else with the same problem, it can be traumatic to cope with.
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