OET Listening Part A: Possible Cushing's Syndrome Symptoms

Good morning, Mrs Croft.

I see your GP has referred you to me...

Yes.

Okay...

I've got some notes here with his referral letter,

but it'd be helpful if you could tell me in your own words the sort of problems you've been experiencing?

Okay, well, I've had high blood pressure for several years,

but these last few months... that's tending to get worse.

I've been on corticosteroids too these last three years or so,

and that's a result of the fact that I've suffered from asthma since my teens.

I see.

But I understand you've developed several other problems recently?

Oh yeah, as you can see, my stomach is huge.

I've put on a lot of weight and it seems to be concentrated there.

And, oh dear, I don't know what's happened to my face!

All this hair which has appeared, it's... so embarrassing.

And something else which I didn't notice at first, but which other people have pointed out to me.

Here, see?

In between my shoulders, is this... well, I can only describe it as a hump.

That really bothers me too.

Yes, I can see...

And look at my ankles... you know, they're swollen too.

Something else which has got really bad is that I'm also sweating so much, even in cold weather.

No amount of anti-perspirant seems to help.

Yeah, that must be difficult...

And any aches or pains?

Well, my back tends to ache a bit,

but I take ibuprofen which helps.

My periods used to be painful in the past, but...

to be honest, they're so infrequent now that the pain really isn't a problem anymore.

I often feel tired though, in fact... like really tired.

And what about your skin?

Oh yeah... it seems to bruise at the slightest thing.

And I've noticed that if I get a cut or a scratch or something, it takes ages to heal.

And something else I've spotted on my thighs,

see here... is these stretch marks.

They're quite noticeable because they're a real purple colour.

My face has changed too.

I used to have quite pale skin, but, as you can see it's quite red now.

And it looks, well... puffy.

I mean it never used to look like that.

Okay... so there's been quite a change.

Definitely.

And if you look, here, on my neck, the skin's gone dark, really odd.

I don't know what's happening.

And, though I never really had it before, I've now got acne into the bargain!

That must all be distressing.

I can appreciate that this is having an effect on you...

Have you noticed your general mood changing at all?

Well, it's enough to get anyone down really...

and, yes, I do feel a bit depressed.

But the frightening thing is that I've started getting mood swings.

I've never had them before.

I mean, one minute I'm laughing and the next I'm crying and I don't know why.

It's quite alarming.

Anything else?

Well I confess I feel, well... irritable all the time.

Everything seems to get on my nerves!

And I can't seem to concentrate like I used to,

you know, I find it hard sometimes to do stuff in my head

like working out a sum, or remembering names and things.

I just hope that you can help find out what's wrong with me.

Well, I'm sure we will...

Now, I see you've already had some blood tests, but I'll need to do one or two more.

You've had a urine test to look at your blood sugar,

so I probably won't need to repeat that.

We may do a saliva test, depending on the bloods.

Okay, I see.

And how long will everything take, I mean before we know what's causing the problems?

Well, I'm afraid it can all take some time as diagnosis can be quite complicated...