has revealed she’s been diagnosed with Cushing’s syndrome.
The 42-year-old revealed she has been diagnosed with the hormonal condition, ‘brought on by getting steroid injections in high doses’.
Symptoms include a red, rounded face (moon face), weight gain on chest and stomach, thin skin with easy bruising, fatigue and .
The star had recently hit back at during her press tour for season two of her show Life & Beth.
Amy in the Friday’s edition of Jessica Yellin’s News Not Noise Substack.
Despite explaining that some types of Cushing’s can ‘be fatal’, the Trainwreck actress said she felt ‘reborn’ after finally identifying the cause of her health issues.
Sharing the stress of what had been going on behind the scenes while doing promo, she said: ‘While I was doing press on camera for my Hulu show, I was also in MRI machines four hours at a time, having my veins shut down from the amount of blood drawn and thinking I may not be around to see my son grow up.’
Luckily, she added that she has since found out she has the type of Cushing’s ‘that will just work itself out’, which she called ‘the greatest news imaginable’ after a ‘crazy couple of weeks’ for her and her family.
‘Aside from fears about my health, I also had to be on camera having the internet chime in,’ the mum-of-one continued – although she then admitted she was also grateful for the feedback on her appearance.
‘But thank God for that. Because that’s how I saw something was wrong. Just like when I saw I had named my son something that didn’t sound so good. The internet is undefeated, as they say.’
What is Cushing's syndrome?
Cushing’s syndrome is an uncommon condition caused by having too much of the hormone cortisol in your body. It can be serious if it’s not treated.
It mostly affects people who have been taking steroid medicine, especially steroid tablets, for a long time as they contain a synthetic version of cortisol.
Very rarely, it can be caused by the body producing too much cortisol, which is usually the symptom of a normally benign tumour in the pituitary gland in the brain or one of the adrenal glands above the kidneys.
These are most common in young women.
Symptoms of Cushing’s syndrome can start suddenly or gradually and tend to get worse if not treated.
They include:
- increased fat on chest and stomach, but slim arms and legs
- a build-up of fat on the back of your neck and shoulders, known as a ‘buffalo hump’
- a red, puffy, rounded face
- skin that bruises easily
- large purple stretch marks
- weakness in your upper arms and thighs
- a reduced sex drive and fertility problems
- depression and mood swings
Cushing’s syndrome can also cause high blood pressure, which can be serious if not treated.
Amy revealed that she made her personal medical diagnosis public to ‘advocate for women’s health’ too.
‘The is something I have dealt with and witnessed for a long time,’ reflected Amy. ‘I want so much for women to love themselves and be relentless when fighting for their own health in a system that usually doesn’t believe them.’
She also pointed out that her diagnosis was ‘a good example of the fact that we never know what is going on with someone’, as she suggested that perhaps everyone could ‘be a little kinder to each other and ourselves’.
The Emmy winner, and 13-time nominee, had first confronted her critics via an Instagram post on February 15, where she quipped: ‘Thank you so much for everyone’s input about my face!
‘I’ve enjoyed feedback and deliberation about my appearance as all women do for almost 20 years. And you’re right it is puffier than normal right now.’
‘I have endometriosis an auto immune disease that every woman should read about,’ she added, referencing the , which sees tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows in other places in the body.
At the time she had explained that she had ‘some medical and hormonal things going on’ in the background but was doing okay.
