Disease causes Joliet woman’s body to keep growing

Five years ago, former Joliet resident Sherry Colstock noticed her jaw was growing.

Three times she asked her doctor about it and three times he told her he didn’t notice a difference. Finally, she researched her symptoms online and asked her doctor to measure her growth hormone. Colstock, now of Arizona, learned on her 37th birthday she had acromegaly.

She now is working tirelessly to make others aware of this rare, but serious disease and to help raise money so sufferers may attend Acromegaly Community’s 2012 Conference in Nevada.

“There are people who have it that are undiagnosed or who are diagnosed too late,” said Colstock, a single mother and former caregiver. “People will see their feet growing or their ring sizes changing and think they are getting old and gaining weight. They don’t realize you’re not supposed to grow anymore after puberty.”

According to the Mayo Clinic, acromegaly is a serious rare disorder caused by increased hormone production from the pituitary gland. A benign pituitary gland tumor is often, but not always, responsible for the increase.

Acromegaly most often occurs in middle age. When it begins in childhood, it is known as gigantism because it can lead to excessive height and bone growth. Some individuals with acromegaly may experience a deepening of the voice and hypertension, but fortunately, those are two symptoms Colstock does not have.

“My jaw’s wider and I’ve taken on more manly features,” Colstock said. “When I go out, eventually someone refers to me as a man. I’ll be standing next to my child and someone will say, ‘Go ask your dad.’ In the past, people used to call us monsters.”

Although Colstock’s symptoms vary due to fluctuating hormone levels, which she keeps in check with injections of lanreotide, they include hyperhidrosis (excess sweating), type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, joint pain, degenerative disc disease, degenerative bone disease, osteopenia, hyperinsulimia, temporomandibular joint disorder and asthma.

Colstock is losing her vision and hearing; she struggles with recall and concentration. She also battles depression. She avoids mirrors because she no longer recognizes the face that looks back. The worst part of the disease is that it requires her daughters, ages 13 and 15, to be part-time caregivers.

“I want to be normal,” Colstock said. “I used to work two jobs, go on vacation, swim, dance and bowl. The kids and I went to the park and on hikes. I just want my life back.”

That’s why the first acromegaly conference Colstock attended last year was so important to her. Everyone in the room — all 23 of them — fight identical hormonal battles every day.

“Everyone was looking at me and saying they understood and they truly did,” Colstock said. “It was the most comfortable I ever felt in my life.”

To donate toward sending Colstock to Acromegaly Community’s 2012 Conference in Nevada, visit www.stayclassy.org/fundraise?fcid=159298.

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