--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: ‘Advocate for Yourself’: Savannah's journey with excess cortisol image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta27e214d2463e7df/6a4b522860118cbad389fc01/68677777C3E547C6AB0090BD6E681785.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- # ‘Advocate for Yourself’: Savannah's journey with excess cortisol  _One woman’s determination and persistence to get to the right diagnosis_ Savannah was recruited to pitch on her college softball team and dreamed of a career in veterinary medicine when her health began to deteriorate. Even though she was in top athletic shape, she felt a fatigue she’d never experienced before, rapidly gained weight, and her joints ached. It would take more than five years, as her symptoms worsened and her dreams unraveled, before she would be diagnosed with Cushing’s syndrome, a disorder that doctors sometimes miss. Savannah, now 27, might still be suffering today if it hadn’t been for her own dogged determination and an actual dog that led her to discover what was wrong. When she suggested her symptoms could be an indication of Cushing’s syndrome, her medical team initially doubted her. “I thought, ‘what if I do have it?’” says Savannah, a thought she would not let go of until she was finally diagnosed and treated. “I want to tell people, don't stop fighting. Advocate for yourself. Teach yourself about what you believe you have,” says Savannah. “And then fight harder for yourself.” It takes a certain amount of inner strength to challenge doctors, and Savannah believes her mental strength comes from her athletic training. She started playing softball when she was seven years old, and by age eleven, decided the pitcher’s mound was where she wanted to be – at the center of the field and the game. She loved the challenge, knowing that she was responsible for game-winning moments. “It’s that seventh inning and you have people cheering for you, or the other team yelling. I love the pressure,” says Savannah. On the field, she also learned how hard she could push her body and how to persevere through pain and fatigue, to “rub some dirt on it,” in baseball parlance. She’d have to lean on those lessons as she contended with her own body failing her. Savannah started college in peak condition. “I was lifting weights and running every morning and had practice every single day. And if I didn’t have practice, I had a game,” says Savannah. When fatigue hit, she attributed it to her intense schedule – waking for 5 a.m. workouts, softball practice after classes, and finally homework. “I thought, okay, I’m just getting used to going 24-7,” she says. But her symptoms seemed extreme, even with her demanding schedule. By the time she entered her sophomore year, Savannah had gained 75 pounds, well beyond the freshman 15\. “When you've been collegiate athlete status most of your life, gaining this much weight will do some things mentally to you,” she says. “I’m still running and I’m still lifting weights and I’m still trying to maintain that status, but I’m not able to.” This was when she knew something was wrong and decided to see a doctor. **Her health began to plummet** Along with the severe fatigue, joint pain, and weight gain, Savannah experienced insomnia, incessant hunger and thirst, brain fog, excessive body hair, and purple lines – called striae – on her abdomen. “I just felt miserable all the time,” she says. When she went to the doctor, she was incorrectly diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). She was told to diet harder and prescribed a common weight loss drug, which made her feel worse and did not impact her weight. Exhausted and unable to focus, Savannah could no longer participate in the same activities as her friends. “Being so young and not being able to pursue my dreams or feeling like I couldn’t do what everybody around me was doing – like going hiking or going on trips – was devastating. I was exhausted. I didn't want to go on a trip. I wanted to lay in my bed,” says Savannah. The scariest symptom, and one that sent her to the ER a number of times, was that her heart rate would jump to 180 beats (the same rate as a high-intensity workout) while she was simply lying in bed. “I had three dogs, and they were in bed with me all the time,” she says. A bright spot during this time was marrying her fiancé, Steel. Steel’s goal was to maintain a sense of normalcy in their life while his wife’s health continued to spiral. “Just seeing the person I love not being able to move forward was very hard,” says Steel. “I tried to do everything within my power to help her through it. But I also knew she was a great advocate for herself,” he says. **The dachshund that saved her life** Savannah began working as a veterinary technician at an animal urgent care center. One day, a particularly plump dachshund was brought in. The doctor asked Savannah to run some tests for Cushing’s syndrome, a diagnosis she had never heard of. Savannah had asked what was wrong with the dog and the doctor told her it was experiencing weight gain, excessive thirst, and excessive hunger. “I said, ‘oh, that kind of sounds like me’,” Savannah recalls. When she got home that night, she found herself once again at the computer looking for clues to her own diagnosis, something she had done countless evenings for years. This time, she searched for “Cushing’s.” “I'm looking at this entire list of symptoms, and I said, ‘holy moly, I'm like a poster child for this disease’.” Cushing’s, also called endogenous hypercortisolism, occurs when the body’s adrenal glands produce high levels of the hormone cortisol for long periods of time. It’s often caused by a benign tumor in the pituitary or adrenal gland. Symptoms vary, but most patients experience one or more of the following: hypertension, central obesity, elevated blood sugar and difficult-to-control type 2 diabetes, severe fatigue and weak muscles. Irritability, anxiety, depression and cognitive disturbances are also common with Cushing’s. [Recent research](https://jadserve.postrelease.com/trk?ntv%5Fat=4&ntv%5Fui=740635b5-d8a4-4e66-8dc2-5f7d8d5735d8&ntv%5Fa=Ej4KAVI52A7icRA&ntv%5Ffl=H0ixjAus8AO5eN-B2Ob48XUOZZU9hg6AN8M8JQqi5r4tA5zr%5FaxERE7zljntZlTpLfyyzdg5nyFpQxiImrV0Yp8dnAEx27cFN%5FGo1NGCLziYWvmeZ1gW0dt36mJhLwoWDC2VNYD8E23OPi2Ui%5FSIiXt6FHb7Lwagk%5FKmM6H5P5Si4h0agK62VyC%5FjAw0OBmn-xZPyYqUed7pzF%5F2sTSfgqJvX0wWjhay8Gx6jhjX-K%5FfTSqibd%5Fjwj-NeyNjOO06z2mqWpJQtwIuuzMTQfAFA7MqIcO6T5RmGhDy2vYM%5FXY3xumkm1bpedfhm0hT%5FaL7A--BhCa3g0JDqkBQtv0WTukXNpZG7HXZxoz4USvo5IOUh-qWoTgfjl26PbYS4BTAXckzfZTVpX97NCcvmhmv%5F2-i3zJXhA3PNrE-0mDg3Wl7-s58cn7AxbYiacMqORSq&ord=-34711580&ntv%5Fht=tXcIagA&prx%5Fr=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40249765/ "undefined") shows that hypercortisolism is more prevalent than previously believed. Most people with Cushing’s go four to five years and see an average of five physicians before getting the right diagnosis, though many people wait as long as a decade or more to be diagnosed. Often, symptoms like weight gain and fatigue are dismissed – especially in women – and are instead blamed on diet, stress, or sleep issues or attributed to a range of other conditions. Untreated Cushing’s can lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, and mental health disorders. **Facing the Doubt of her Doctors** Because Savannah’s cortisol levels and other markers for Cushing’s were at first not steadily high, her doctors – her primary care physician, an endocrinologist, and even a Cushing’s specialist – would not diagnose or treat her. She had been searching for answers for years when a specialist that she had driven four hours to see told her, once again, she just needed to try harder to lose weight and that she likely had PCOS. “At this point, I'm just kind of feeling defeated. I am exhausted and tired of fighting,” says Savannah. Pulling herself together, Savannah returned to her endocrinologist, feeling worse than ever, with what she had learned at the veterinary clinic about Cushing’s syndrome. “I said to the doctor, I need you to listen to me and I'm asking you to run this test, so please run this test,” she says. He did run the test and ultimately told her, “‘no, I don't think it's PCOS. I believe you have Cushing’s.” Hearing a doctor say, “You have Cushing’s” felt like reclaiming her life. “When I finally got diagnosed and I had a path forward, I was ecstatic. I had been fighting for so long,” says Savannah. And that’s a message she wants others to hear: “Always fight for yourself as a patient. If you know something isn’t right, keep pushing. You know your body better than anyone.” If you suspect you may have hypercortisolism or Cushing’s syndrome, talk to your doctor. For more information or to find a specialist near you, visit [cortisolincontrol.com](https://jadserve.postrelease.com/trk?ntv%5Fat=4&ntv%5Fui=740635b5-d8a4-4e66-8dc2-5f7d8d5735d8&ntv%5Fa=Ej4KAVI52A7icRA&ntv%5Ffl=H0ixjAus8AO5eN-B2Ob48XUOZZU9hg6AN8M8JQqi5r4tA5zr%5FaxERE7zljntZlTpLfyyzdg5nyFpQxiImrV0Yp8dnAEx27cFN%5FGo1NGCLziYWvmeZ1gW0dt36mJhLwoWDC2VNYD8E23OPi2Ui%5FSIiXt6FHb7Lwagk%5FKmM6H5P5Si4h0agK62VyC%5FjAw0OBmn-xZPyYqUed7pzF%5F2sTSfgqJvX0wWjhay8Gx6jhjX-K%5FfTSqibd%5Fjwj-NeyNjOO06z2mqWpJQtwIuuzMTQfAFA7MqIcO6T5RmGhDy2vYM%5FXY3xumkm1bpedfhm0hT%5FaL7A--BhCa3g0JDqkBQtv0WTukXNpZG7HXZxoz4USvo5IOUh-qWoTgfjl26PbYS4BTAXckzfZTVpX97NCcvmhmv%5F2-i3zJXhA3PNrE-0mDg3Wl7-s58cn7AxbYiacMqORSq&ord=-34711580&ntv%5Fht=tXcIagA&prx%5Fr=https://www.cortisolincontrol.com/find-a-specialist?utm%5Fmedium=affiliate&utm%5Fsource=Time&utm%5Fid=MC251222122001 "undefined"). _This article is the experience of one person and is not medical advice. 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