Complications Of Cushing's Syndrome

Issues With Memory And Concentration

Issues with memory and concentration have been reported in a large number of Cushing's syndrome patients. The mechanism behind this complication has to do with the effects of high cortisol levels on certain parts of the brain over an extended durations. Cortisol can cause the individual to overproduce the cells that make myelin and underproduce the actual neurons in the brain. While myelin around the nerves is important, an excess of it is essentially non-beneficial. The reason behind such myelin buildup is the effect cortisol has on the stem cells meant to mature into neurons. Cortisol reduces the number of these cells that actually reach maturity by causing them to mature into a different type of cell that produces myelin sheathing. The result is a reduction in neurons in the patient's hippocampus. The hippocampus is the part of the brain that regulates an individual's emotions, learning, memory, and part of their concentration. Decreased numbers of neurons cause the function of the hippocampus to become compromised.

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