Cushing Syndrome Case Study - Causes, Symptoms and Pathophysiology

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Running head: CUSHING SYNDROME CASE STUDY
Cushing Syndrome Case Study
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CUSHING SYNDROME CASE STUDY
Question One
Causative Factors and Pathophysiology of Cushing Syndrome
Cushing syndrome refers to an abnormal ailment instigated by a high level of
corticosteroids in the body either due to continued use of corticosteroid medication or
hyperfunction of the adrenal gland (Bornstein et la., 2016). Typically, the illness is characterized
by some changes in the body appearance, for example, muscle weakness, fatigue, moon face,
hypertension and truncal obesity. Recent studies have shown that Cushing Syndrome condition
occurs more often among women between age 22 to 50 years (Lacroix, Feelders, Stratakis, &
Nieman, 2015). Cortisol is a hormone in the body responsible for stress response. In a healthy
human being the anterior pituitary gland reevaluates adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)
which stimulates the release and production of cortisol hormone (Sharma, Nieman, & Feelders,
2015). However, there are cases where the body is unbaled to regulate the release of the hormone
thus, overproduction. For instance, when an individual encounter a stressful situation the body
releases additional cortisol hormone to respond to the situation.
Cortisol hormone plays a critical in a person’s body as it keeps cardiovascular system to
function normally and it helps to regulate a person’s blood pressure (Bornstein et la., 2016). One
of the causative factors of the ailment is the prolonged use of corticosteroid medication like Oral
corticosteroid. Also, the illness can be caused by an individual body’s overproduction of cortisol
hormone. In the case of Sara, it is clear that Cushing Syndrome occurred because of prolonged
use of betamethasone for her asthma. Sara’s medication is Oral corticosteroid in nature. Usually,
the doses required to treat asthma are higher than the amount of cortisol a person body uses each
day. Therefore, Sara developed Cushing Syndrome.