Barbara,

Is there a reason you don't want to go back to the Cortef?  It sounds like she did well on that.  My younger daughter (just turned 9) has had trouble with the under/over suppression yo-yo.  Her endo says she is "exquisitely sensitive" to dosing.  Her blood work looks great, but she exhibits symptoms of oversuppression (moon face, weight gain).  Our solution has been to keep her a bit outside of what most endos consider optimal control.  Her last 17-OHP was in around 500 ng/dl.  She quickly lost the extra weight, no more tummy upsets, and her energy level is great.  We're keeping an eye on her bone age to make sure that doesn't start accelerating.

Gaining 80 pounds in a year for a teenage girl has had to be horrible.  My daughter was hungry all the time on the higher dose.  We tried to combat that with lots and lots of cardio type exercise.  Swimming has been wonderful for her.  Does your daughter get any sustained cardio conditioning?  That would help not only with the weight gain, but with the depression and low energy that frequently accompany weight gain.  The stronger her heart is, the better she can withstand a crisis.

I know this has to be killing you.  It is the hardest thing to watch your child suffer and not know how to help.  My endo has warned us that puberty can be a tricky time for control.  Good luck and keep us posted on her progress.