Screen Time
I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set,
I go into the other room and read a book.
GROUCHO MARXSomething’s wrong with my television set. I was getting C-Span and the
Home Shopping Network on the same station. I actually bought a congressman.
BRUCE BAUM, COMEDIANproduces hormones, so Bakowsky
ordered blood work to check Jeff ’s
levels. Finally, he made an important
discovery: “His cortisol level was van-
ishingly low. When that came back
I thought, ‘We’ve got the answer!’”Cortisol is a hormone made by the
adrenal gland to respond to stress. With-
out it, the body struggles to manage
infections or illnesses—it can’t control
inflammation, for instance. (It’s not
known why its absence can also turn
ear cartilage to bone.)
Further tests revealed the cause to
be a disorder in Jeff ’s hypothalamus,
the part of the brain that stimulates the
adrenal gland. It’s such a rare cause of
low cortisol that none of the doctorsJeff saw considered it. “He flew under
the radar,” says Bakowsky.
The lack of cortisol explained every
symptom. Furthermore, whenever Jeff
was exposed to a germ that most people
could have handled easily, he became
severely ill because his body couldn’t
manage the additional stress.
Jeff was able to replace his cortisol
with an inexpensive pill, which he
started taking immediately. “Within a
day, I felt like a million bucks,” he says.
“I’ve been healthy ever since.”
After his recovery, Jeff was inspired
to help out the hospital that turned his
life around. Whenever he was visiting
for a follow-up, he’d set aside time for
medical students to examine his ears
(the bony changes are permanent).
And about three years ago, Bakow-
sky selected Jeff ’s case for discussion
at a conference at Halifax’s Dalhousie
University. Often, the patients whose
cases are analyzed at these events are
no longer alive—but on this occasion,
Jeff was in the audience, and even
stood up to say a few words. “His was
a happy ending,” says Bakowsky.THE CAUSE OF JEFF’S
LOW CORTISOL WAS
VERY RARE. “HE FLEW
UNDER THE RADAR,”
SAYS HIS DOCTOR.reader’s digest
28 may 2020