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Home » Medical Causes Of Obesity » Cushing's Disease

Cushing's Disease
Obesity has become one of the major threats for the health conscious people all over the world. People now like to have slim and fit body that helps them to do all kinds of work. They regularly go the gym and do exercises to stay away from obesity, but as five fingers are not the same, there are few people who do not like to physical activities and have the habit of overeating. They often become victim of obesity which leads to different types of diseases. However, apart from overeating and inactivity, obesity also creeps in people's body and Cushing's disease is considered as one of the major reasons behind the occurrence of obesity.
Speaking about Cushing's disease first of all we need to define what it is. Cushing disease or Cushing's syndrome or hypercortisolism or hyperadrenocorticism refers to an endocrine disorder which is caused by the rise in the level of cortisol in the blood. Rise in cortisol level in blood occurs for various reasons which include primary adrenal hyperplasia, neoplasia, primary pituitary adenoma ectopic ACTH production and iatrogenic, which occurs due to use of steroid. It must be mentioned here that primary pituitary adenoma is the most important reason behind the occurrence of Cushing's disease.

Cushing's disease is one of the most deadly consequence of obesity as in this case the rise in the level of cortisol in the blood leads to the growth of a tumor in the pituitary gland. As an effect of the growth of this tumor in th pituitary gland the rate of release of cortisol from the pituitary gland increases rapidly and at one stage it also leads to excessive release of ACTH from the gland. This do not only leads to excessive weight gain for a person but also leads to deformation of some of the body parts. Besides the color of the skin turns pink and purple stretch marks are noticed. This is where Cushing's disease is a little different from Cushing's syndrome. In case of the syndrome the rate of release of ACTH goes down.

Speaking about Cushing's disease or Cusjing's syndrome we should look at its history for a while. This disease was first described by a physician, endocrinologist and surgeon Harvey Cushing in the year 1932 in United States of America and the disease was named after him.

However, apart from weight gain and pink skin with purple stretch marks there are several other symptoms of Cushing's disease and Cushing's syndrome. Excessive sweating, a round face, increase in the size of the vtrunk and face, sparing of the limbs, thinning of layer of skin and mucous membrane, telangiestasia and hirstutism are major symptoms of Cushing's disease. Growth of fat along the trunk is a clear indication of the disease. However apart from all these, rise in the level of cortisol in the blood might also lead to symptoms like insomnia, infertility, amenorrhoea and impotence. Some patients also suffer from different kinds of psychological disturbances like depression and anxiety.

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