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The Girl Who Broke Hormones: How an Epilepsy Drug Became Cancer's Key

The Girl Who Broke Hormones: How an Epilepsy Drug Became Cancer's Key

Aminoglutethimide silenced seizures - and within weeks it nearly silenced a young girl's adrenal glands, producing a clinical picture indistinguishable from Addison's disease. What began as an anticonvulsant trial turned into the first hint that a brain drug could dismantle the body's hormonal architecture; how did a molecule meant for neurons stop hormone production at its source?

In this episode, we tell how clinicians in 1963 documented a patient whose adrenal function collapsed after taking aminoglutethimide, and how…

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