Surviving Cushing's syndrome
Always slim and fit, Londoner Bev Green doubled her weight for no apparent reason. Unbeknownst to her, Ms Green had developed a condition which causes patients to gain weight suddenly.
Ms Green says she went from a size 10 to 12 to a size 30 within two to three years.
"I didn't want to go out anywhere, I didn't want to see people, because I was putting on so much weight and kind of bloated and I just felt so self-conscious all the time - just so uncomfortable," she said.
"To go from being so thin to so huge was just gutting, really - really upsetting and horrible."
Apart from massive weight gain, Ms Green was constantly sweating and started to grow facial hair.
"I felt like a man," she said.
"To be constantly looking hot and sweaty and horrible, with all this facial hair and a hump back - I just felt abnormal."
On the other side of the world, in Australia, Colleen Nolan's body also was going haywire.
"I was putting on weight all the time. Year after year I'd seem to gain more weight," she said.
"It must have been about eight stone I think - I doubled my weight."
Ms Nolan says the weight gain damaged her self-esteem.
"You just don't feel nice about yourself at all," she said.
"And you can't understand why this is happening."
For years both women struggled with their condition through one diet after another and one doctor after another, trying to find out what was wrong.
Ms Nolan suffered for 20 years before she discovered the cause of her weight gain - Cushing's syndrome.
Even though it's a disease you can find in most medical books, Cushing's syndrome is hard to diagnose because the symptoms are similar to many other problems.
Doctor David Torpey is world expert on Cushing's and he has seen the terrible toll it takes.
"Some people have ended up in mental institutions because of the severity of their depression, which can even lead to such disturbed thinking that they could be described as having a psychosis," he said.
Like most sufferers, Ms Nolan's and Ms Green's conditions resulted from a tumour on their pituitary gland and both required surgery to bring their bodies back to normal - but at least the diagnosis was a relief.
"It was definitely a relief, even though I didn't like what it was but it was definitely a relief to know, because I knew there was something wrong," Ms Nolan said.
Within weeks of undergoing surgery in London to remove the tumour from her pituitary gland, Ms Green started to feel normal again.
She stopped sweating profusely, she lost the facial hair, she lost her huge appetite and she started to lose weight.
In fact, in the next 12 months Ms Green lost an amazing 40kg.
"I felt like I'd got my life back again," she said.
"I felt like I wanted to go out, I wanted to see people. Instead of just hiding all the time I wanted to, if you like, start a new life again."
For more information about Cushing's syndrome visit: www.disability.vic.gov.au/dsonline/dsarticles.nsf/pages/Cushing's_syndrome''Disclaimer
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