What is Cushing's?

Now I'm no medical expert but I'm going to attempt to explain in a black and white simple way so that non-medics are able to understand... here's what I've gathered:

Hypercortisolism, also known as Cushing's Syndrome is when your body has too much cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that affects basically every part of your body and is responsible for handling stress. Being exposed to too much cortisol is what causes you to develop and suffer from all the annoying and inconvenient symptoms.

Hypercortisolism is a result of either (in order of how common they are):

• Long-term use of corticosteroids- a non-natural, induced cause
• Cushing's Disease- a benign (non-cancerous) tumour in your pituitary gland (located just below the brain) causing it to produce too much ACTH (adrenocorticotropin). ACTH is the hormone that in turn instructs your adrenal glands on how much cortisol to produce. (excessive ACTH = excessive cortisol)
• Adrenal Cushing's Syndrome- a benign tumour in your adrenal gland(s) causing them to produce too much cortisol
• Ectopic Cushing's Syndrome- a tumour (likely to be malignant) somewhere else that is excreting too much ACTH.

 

A few facts and figures:

• most common amongst 20-50 year olds
• about 5 times more common in women than men
• only about 1 in every 500,000 people suffer from it (about 5 people diagnosed a year in the UK)
• often goes undetected for years (or entirely)
• the symptoms can vary from person to person

...I think that explains it... I'll put my explanation to the ultimate test by reading it to my Dad and see if he understands.