High Cortisol and ACTH levels

[kimandkathess]

I am looking to see if anyone else has any experience or knowledge on whats going on with me.

For a while a lot of different things have been going on with me and a lot of specialists have each decided to diagnose me with something different or tie it into what is already wrong with me.

I have been diagnosed with:
FLD (Fatty Liver Disease)
Anxiety/Depresion/panic disorder
Heartburn -said to be due to stress
Ovarian cysts
knee problems
numbess in my back, leg/feet, arms/ hands - 2 differnt dr's said this was due to cubic tunnel syndrome (not carpel tunnel) and the other dr said it was due to me hyperventalating internally...
And the latest thing to happen is a nodule being found on my thyroid. I know nodule can be fairly commen.


I feel tired a lot, nauseated, headaches and just don't plain feel good. I want to feel better.

Well i went to a knew specialist. An endocrinologist. She asked me a lot of questions. She did some more blook work.

The bloodwork showed HIGH LEVELS of ACTH and CORTISOL.
This is not the first time I had high cortisol levels. They were high once before and they couldnt figure out why.

Now I have a brain mri scheduled to check my brain and patuitary gland.
I dont know what to expect to find or what to expect at all. I just want to figure out what is going on with me.

Has anyone else gone through something similer?

[rbunnymom]

Did they check your TSH (what was it?),thyroid antibodies, B12 and Vitamin D?

I just googled the cortisol and ACTH high levels and what I found is scary. Try not to get worried without knowing more. Did he mention cushings syndrome or other causes of the highs?

I have many of the symptoms you mentioned but have not had my cortisol or acth levels checked since it was figured out for me that I had a B12 deficiency, hypothyroid (autoimmune thyroiditis or hashimotos) with goiter(nodules) and I did have Carpal tunnel.

The numbness and tingling was worse prior to treating the B12 deficiency. I was told several odd reasons and figured it out by getting a second opinion.

[kimandkathess]

i had my vitamin levels checked a little while ago and they were normal. not sure about the tsh levels though

[rbunnymom]

I would guess your tsh was normal since you saw an Endocrinologist and he didn't decide to treat you for it. It sounds like he is looking for an adenoma on the pituitary gland as the cause.

[kimandkathess]

I googled he high cortisol and high acth levels and didn't like what I found either. Thats why i thought I would post and see what others thought or had gone through.

I was looking at the cushing synrome but I noticed that one of the tests was the 24hr urine test and I did that once and it was normal, so I dont know now what to expect. I guess I should just think positive and wait for this mri and the results.

[rbunnymom]

<<HUGS>> It is always scary waiting. Try to stay positive. Did you get a chance to ask about your GI symptoms?

[saving-n-va]

The MRI is probably to check you pituitary gland as that can cause thyroid issues if it is not functioning properly for various reasons. I don't want to scare you by what we have been through, because what my dh had/has is extremely rare in adults, so no need to scare you with that. Just let them check anything they can. Endocrine doctors are good at finding the CAUSE and not just treating the symptoms.

[tinkinpink84]

stay away from google! that stuff will scare ya! No sense in freaking yourself out over googling things! Hopefully the drs can get to the root of it and get ya feeling better! I have numbness tingling occasionally but im pretty sure its a vitamin deficiency based on my eating habits or lack there of. There are other phsyical problems such as things like gerd that can present themselves like a panic or anxiety attack as well. saw something on dr oz about it a while back. so some things can be corrolated into another thing as well. but it just takes the right dr to actually figure it out in the end.

[434Teresa]

patuitary gland problems are not easy fixed,so I hope all truns out good on that.

[kimandkathess]

Thanks for all of your responses everyone. I just want to get this all over with so we can figure out what is going on with me.