Two days ago on the 1st of September the traffic on the site jumped up by over 1000% and after a few hours of researching to figure out what happened, it turned out an old post I did about Tanya Angus (HERE) had gotten a lot of views because the news stations and TV stations in the US had decided to do a story on her new condition. When people decided to do a google search on her name, this website turned up on the first page of Google’s rankings. So I felt that it would be appropriate to do an update on the condition of Tanya Angus.
These are the stories I have found on her new state, which seems to be that the doctors have learned a way to stop the pituitary gland tumor in her head to stop and to halt her growth process. From the ABC website (HERE) I will post the story below….
For the first time in a decade Tanya Angus, who is fighting a life-and-death battle against gigantism, has stopped growing. At seven feet and 400 pounds, she now has some hope.
Angus, a 33-year-old from Las Vegas, was diagnosed with acromegaly, a rare pituitary disorder that causes the body to produce too much growth hormone. It affects about 20,000 Americans.
Since 2010, when ABCNews.com first told her story, Angus has grown an inch taller and gained 30 pounds. Before the disease began its destructive course, she was only 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 135 pounds.
But for the last year, she has been treated with a drug that has kept the levels of growth hormone in her blood in the normal range.
“This is such good news,” Angus told ABC’s Las Vegas affiliate KTNV.
Angus has grown so large that she can barely walk and a swimming pool is the only place where she is without pain because she can float there.
“It feels so, like, liberating,” said Angus, who is being nearly crushed by her weight. She needs constant care from he family and friends.
Angus has a tumor on her pituitary gland but radiation and three surgeries have done nothing to stop her dangerous growth. One 13-hour operation nearly killed her, and another caused a stroke that took away most of her hearing.
As her body gets larger, so do her other organs. Her heart, lungs, joints and other parts of her body have also grown under the strain of this rare disease.
Doctors say it is one of the worst cases of acromegaly that they have ever seen. Her mother, Karen Strutynski, says it is the “worst in the world.”
About 95 percent of the time, the condition is caused by a non-cancerous tumor on the pituitary gland, according to the Pituitary Network Association. Such is the case with Angus, but her tumor is wrapped around her carotid artery, and is inoperable.
Dr. Laurence Katznelson, professor of medicine and neurosurgery at Stanford University Hospital in California and medical director of its pituitary center, did not treat Angus but serves as medical advisor to the online Acromegaly Community.
“Everything gets thicker and the facial features become abnormal,” he told ABCNews.com last year when Angus was speaking at a national conference.
Fluid accumulates in the body, causing stress on multiple systems in the body. Patients are more prone to cardiac conditions, hypertension and diabetes.
“They are in a lot of pain because they get severe headaches and their joints can be swollen and develop premature osteoarthritis,” he said. “Their mortality rate is two to four times greater than the general population.”
The disease is not hereditary and happens, “sporadically,” he said.
Acromegaly Has an Insidious Pattern
“There is such a slow onset,” said Katznelson. “Patients don’t present with, ‘I am getting bigger.’ You look at photos and their history over 10 years and you see it. But when we look in the mirror every day, we don’t see the changes.”
At 21, Angus was a beautiful young woman who rode horses, danced and had a boyfriend. But one day, she noticed changes in her 5-foot-8-inch frame: Her shoes didn’t quite fit, her jeans were too tight and her hands got bigger.
“She was perfectly normal, but by age 22 she had grown three inches,” said her mother. “Nobody knew what was going on.”
Angus, who lived in Michigan and was a supervisor at a Walmart, began to worry when even her face and head got larger. Her bosses also noticed — and fired her. And her boyfriend left when his parents began to ask, “Is she a man?'”
Tanya decided to return home in 2002. When her sister picked her up at the airport, she “freaked out,” because she didn’t recognize Tanya.
The doctor took one look and diagnosed acromegaly.
But now, say Angus and her mother, new treatments are promising. “This gives us renewed hope,” said Strutynsk.
And Angus, who has agreed to be part of a documentary on acromegaly, says she too feels optimistic, and encouraged by others.
“I read emails that people send in saying, ‘You’re my inspiration,’ or, ‘You are so strong.’ If I am helping other people, I feel I can do anything.”
From the Daily Mail UK…
Woman fighting one of world’s worst cases of gigantism finally stops growing at nearly 7ft and 400lbs
- Tanya Angus, 33, from Las Vegas, suffers from the rare pituitary disorder acromegaly, which is life-threatening if not treated
- She was just 5ft 8in and 130lbs at the age of 21, before her diagnosis
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER PUBLISHED: 15:42 GMT, 31 August 2012 | UPDATED: 18:29 GMT, 31 August 2012
A woman who suffers from one of the world’s worst cases of gigantism has finally stopped growing thanks to aggressive new treatment.
Tanya Angus, 33, from Las Vegas, stands at nearly 7ft tall and weighs 400lbs having suffered from the rare pituitary disorder acromegaly for over a decade.
Efforts to treat the condition, that causes the body to produce too much growth hormone, remained unsuccessful until now, and Ms Angus, who was a slender 5ft 8 and 130lbs at the age of 21, continued to grow.
Over the past year, however, Ms Angus has been treated with a new drug, that has finally helped regulate her growth hormone levels.
Acromegaly, which affects 20,000 people in the U.S., is usually caused by a non-cancerous tumour on the pituitary gland. Ms Angus has undergone radiation and surgery three times in an effort to have hers removed, but, as it is wrapped around her carotid artery, it has proved too difficult.
If left untreated, acromegaly can be life-threatening, as it causes organs such as the heart and lungs to grow along with height and weight.
Sufferers are at higher risk of developing diabetes and high blood pressure, while the pressure on their joints causes swelling and early onset of osteoarthritis.
New treatment: The 33-year-old, from Las Vegas, has finally stopped growing at nearly 7ft tall, having struggled to find a way to halt the effects of her acromegaly for over a decade
Dr. Laurence Katznelson, professor of medicine and neurosurgery at Stanford University Hospital in California, told ABC: ‘Their mortality rate is two to four times greater than the general population.’
Describing the symptoms of acromegaly, which is not hereditary, Dr Katznelson said: ‘Everything gets thicker and the facial features become abnormal.’
Ms Angus, for now, is thrilled by the improvement in her condition.
She told KTNV: ‘This is such good news.’
Her mother, Karen Strutynski added: ‘This gives us renewed hope.’
Despite the improvement in her condition, Ms Angus’s acromegaly has taken a serious toll on her health.
She can barely walk and is in constant pain when she does – the only place she feels relief is a swimming pool, where the pressure on her joints is eased.
One surgery caused a stroke that severely damaged her hearing, another 13-hour procedure nearly killed her.
Helping hands: Ms Angus pictured with her medical team and her mother (in white) in 2010
It is a far cry from Ms Angus as a energetic 21-year-old, a keen horse-rider who loved dancing. Then 5ft 8in and 130lbs, she began to notice that her clothes no longer fit her, and her hands had become enlarged.
‘She was perfectly normal, but by age 22 she had grown three inches,’ her mother revealed. ‘Nobody knew what was going on.’
Ms Angus, who had been working as a supervisor at a Walmart in Michigan, was fired from her post when her head grew larger, and was dumped by her boyfriend when his parents questioned whether she was a man.
Not long afterwards, in 2002, she moved home to Las Vegas where a doctor quickly diagnosed her acromegaly.
Though she admits her appearance upsets her, Ms Angus hopes to inspire others with the same condition – indeed, she already receives many messages of support.
‘I read emails that people send in saying, “You’re my inspiration,” or, “You are so strong,”‘ she told ABC.
‘If I am helping other people, I feel I can do anything.’
Me: So the doctors managed to finally stop her from growing any bigger. Her life is saved. I really hope Ms. Angus can finally get back to living a more ordinary life and that she finds love again.
