Comedian Amy Schumer has opened up about how abuse from trolls mocking her “moon face” led to her diagnosis with a hormone disorder.
Cushing’s Syndrome is a condition caused by the body having too much of a hormone called cortisol over a long time. Among other symptoms, it can cause weight gain and roundness in the face, according to Mayo Clinic.
Schumer first revealed her diagnosis in a February interview with journalist Jessica Yellin. More recently, on Wednesday’s episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast, Schumer said it was her critics that first led her to believe something was wrong.
About a year ago, “the internet really came for me,” Schumer told host Alex Cooper. At first, “I was like, OK, everybody like relax. But then, like, doctors were chiming in in the comments and they were like: ‘No, no … something’s really up. Like, your face looks so crazy that we think something’s up.’”
“I wouldn’t have known if the internet hadn’t come for me so hard,” she said.
What is Cushing’s syndrome?
Also known as hypercortisolism, Cushing syndrome comes in two varieties: Exogenous, when the body is exposed to medicinal steroids which act like cortisol; and endogenous, a rarer variety where the body produces the excess cortisol on its own, which can be caused by some tumours.
Schumer told Yellin her condition was exogenous, brought on by taking “steroid injections in high doses.” She’d been getting the injections following her breast reduction and C-section surgeries, she told Cooper.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, aside from a round face, the disorder can also lead to weight gain in the upper body while one’s legs and arms stay thin; increased fat around the neck or a “fatty hump between the shoulders”; red, fragile skin that’s slow to heal; and reddish-blue stretch marks on areas including the underarms, belly, thighs and buttocks.
It can also cause bone and muscle weakness, fatigue, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and psychological changes including irritability, anxiety and depression.
In women, it can cause irregular or stopped menstrual cycles, and lead to extra facial and body hair growth.
In men, it can reduce sex drive and fertility.
Cushing’s syndrome can be diagnosed using urine and other lab tests, as well as through imaging via MRI or CT scan.
Schumer recounted her ordeal in getting diagnosed while also juggling a press tour for the second season of her Hulu series, “Life & Beth”: “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,” she told Yellin.
If one’s Cushing’s syndrome was caused by a tumour, the patient may need to undergo surgery, radiation or chemotherapy to get it treated.
But if it’s caused by external hormone injections, the disorder can often resolve itself by slowly cutting back on one’s steroid usage, according to the Mayo Clinic. Fortunately, Schumer fell into this latter category.
“Finding out I have the kind of Cushing that will just work itself out and I’m healthy was the greatest news imaginable,” she told Yellin.
