Actress and comedian Amy Schumer has said that online bullying about her face led to her being diagnosed with a rare medical condition.
In a January 22 episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, Schumer told host Alex Cooper that many people on the internet were commenting on her face, noting how "swollen" it looked.
"A year ago, the Internet really came for me," Schumer said. "I was like, 'Okay, everybody, like, relax'"
Initially, Schumer said that she ignored the comments, writing them off as mean-spirited, but eventually, medical professionals started commenting too, saying that something may actually have something called Cushing's (or Cushing) syndrome.
"Doctors were chiming in in the comments and they were, like, 'No, no ... something's really up. Your face looks so crazy.'"
Cushing's syndrome is a hormonal disorder caused by the body having too-high levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, for a long time. This can result from the body's adrenal glands producing too much cortisol, but may also be an effect of taking steroid medicines over an extended period of time.
Schumer had been getting steroids injected to help heal scars from her C-section and breast reduction around the same time, which
"At first, I was like, 'F**k off,' " Schumer said, but eventually realized: "Wait, I have been getting steroid injections for my scars."
Symptoms of Cushing's syndrome include weight gain, a round "moon" face, easy bruising, fat around the base of the neck and the shoulders, stretch marks around the abdomen, hips, breasts and underarms, and weak muscles, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
This condition is most common in adults between 30 and 50, and three times more common in women than men.
"So I got these was getting these steroid injections and so it gave me this thing called Cushing syndrome—which I wouldn't have known if the internet hadn't come for me so hard," said Schumer.
Cushing's syndrome caused by steroid injections can be fairly easily treated by reducing your intake of steroids.
"It just has to work itself out," Schumer said.
However, for those who have "endogenous" Cushing's syndrome, where the body itself produces too much cortisol—sometimes due to benign or cancerous tumors on the pituitary or adrenal glands—treatment is a bit more complicated, and may involve surgery, radiation or chemotherapy.
Schumer said that she was concerned about how her symptoms would look while on camera, as she was filming the comedy Kinda Pregnant at the time.
"I learned I had this condition, and that I had something called moon face, and I'm starring in a movie—and there's a camera right in my face."
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