Symptoms of Cushing's Disease

The classic symptoms of Cushing’s disease are a rounded face (often called a “moon face”) and fatty deposits that cause upper body obesity or a hump between the shoulders. Other symptoms and consequences may include:

• Weight gain, especially in the upper body
• Disruptions in the menstrual cycle
• Excess body hair, acne
• Thinning skin, frequent bruising
• Headache or backache
• Fatigue and muscle weakness
• Mood changes
• High blood pressure
• Weakened bones that can lead to easy fractures
• Frequent infections
• Blood clots
• Depression/irritability/psychosis
• Elevated sugars
• Elevated blood pressure

 
Many of these symptoms are highly suggestive of a hormonal disorder, but patients don’t always report all their symptoms — for example, a woman may talk to her gynecologist about menstrual changes without mentioning her headaches or bruising. When taken together, however, these symptoms point strongly in the direction of a hormone problem and the individual should be referred for blood tests to look at hormone levels. (See Diagnosing and Treating Cushing’s Disease.)

Patients diagnosed with a pituitary tumor should be referred to a major medical center with an expert team of pituitary specialists. At the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center, patients will be evaluated by a multi-disciplinary team that includes neurosurgeons, otolaryngologists, endocrinologists, and neuroradiologists. If surgery is recommended, it will be performed by a neurosurgeon with advanced skills in minimally invasive procedures to remove pituitary tumors. (See Surgery for a Pituitary Tumor.)

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