It's an Essential Part of Your Body. It's Also Health TikTokkers' Worst Nightmare. How Did We Get Here?

"Shana used to love training for triathlons. As a nurse working in the ICU of the University of Chicago Medical Center, she'd often finish a night shift at 7 a.m. and then squeeze in a run on the lake before heading to bed. She even completed the infamous Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon-a 1.5-mile swim from Alcatraz Island to the shoreline, an 18-mile hilly bike ride, and an 8-mile run. She'd had asthma since she was a child, but it rarely interfered with her training, usually only flaring up once a year when she had a cold."

"As a nurse, she understood the physiology behind what was happening to her. She knew her throbbing knees and elbows meant fluid was leaking out of her joints. She understood that the pain in her chest was her diaphragm muscle being stretched away from the bone underneath as fluid filled her abdominal wall. And as her face started to swell, she looked in the mirror and recognized the moon face that is a hallmark of Cushing's syndrome."

"She finally found relief, but it was short-lived. She gained so much weight from the steroids so rapidly-almost 60 pounds in a month-that she had a hard time moving. "Imagine going to the gym, picking up a barbell, and stacking on 60 pounds of plates, then carrying that around with you all day. In the shower, walking down the street, lying in bed. It was horrible," she says."

Shana was an avid triathlon trainer and an ICU nurse who managed childhood asthma with infrequent flares. Her asthma abruptly worsened with consecutive severe attacks that required continuous nebulizing and heavy steroid treatment. Steroid therapy produced nearly 60 pounds of rapid weight gain in about a month, widespread swelling, joint fluid, and severe chest pain from diaphragm stretching, producing the moon face of Cushing's syndrome. The physical changes made basic movements and daily activities extremely difficult. She connected with another person in an online support group. Severe asthma affects about 8 to 10 percent of asthmatics and can suddenly worsen.

Read at Slate Magazine