On the 11th of December Brent and I made the hour and half trip to Oklahoma City to see a specialist. The Dr. was certain that I am insulin resistant at best. I had lots of blood work done and we talked briefly about me coming in every two weeks to visit with his nurse. Some of the blood work was to test hormones that will either confirm or discount PCOS. This Dr. feels that I do not have PCOS, but rather diabetes that is causing the hormone problems. The physical signs that he pointed out to me I have had since I was a teenager and couple of my teenage daughters have the same physical signs one daughter has them worse than I do. I go back in to see him the end of January and I will talk to him about having my 15 year old tested for diabetes, unfortunately my 18 year old is married so I am no longer responsible for making sure she gets tested.
I am anxious to get the results of the tests, as well as apprenhensive about the results. In the meantime I have found a chiropractor that works on structural problems that may possibly be related to hormone problems. This has been big, because the xrays that he did showed that my neck is started to hunch forward and I have a couple of vertebraes that are rotated forward. There is hope her in correcting my headaches and possibly help with some of the hormone issues.
My hormones have affected so many aspects of my life in the last year or so. I have become much more of a recluse and have realized that friendships are sometimes not as deep as they seem and some are deeper than we know. My marriage has suffered greatly because of the lack of sex drive and because of my reclusiveness. My kids have had to take up alot of slack around the house and in some respects have also become my best friends as I deal with fatigue and not feeling well. We have watched movies together, made crafts, and worked on the kids talents. I can't say that this experience has been all bad, I just wish that it wasn't so difficult. My husband has been sooo frustrated with the lack of intamacy and the pain that I have associated with it that our relationship has been rocky at best. Niether of us really know how to make it better, but I have come to realize that a husband and wife need first to be friends then lovers when that gets reversed and illness strikes there becomes hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and very little to work with. Husbands take time to have an interest in what your wives do and know enough to talk to them about it, wives do the same--it may save your marriage one day. A recent highlight in our marriage was the birth of our granddaughter. I was the midwife for the birth and my husband was my assistant. It was a wonderful experience and there are thoughts and talk now of him getting certified as a childbirth educator so that we can work side by side. (We will see how that goes!) He would be good at teaching I am not sure how well he will like the midwifery part.
I think it could be a fun experience to work together with moms, dads and babies!! Talk about a family business!!
Well that is the update for now. Hopefully there will be good news to tell in a few weeks!!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The story of my hormones the last couple years
In 2005 our family went to a family reunion in Missourri. I was due to get my period and didn't, but I did start feeling pregnant the pregnancy test was negative. I missed three periods and then had a really heavy one in August. On Friday I bled very heavy all day, but just figured I was having a miscarriage and dealt with it. On Saturday my husband Brent had to work by the time he got home I was lying on the couch and feeling extremely disconnected from my body. He said I was as white as a ghost and debated on taking me to the ER. He asked our daughters if they knew what I would do for someone that was sick like me and they said probably green drink. So he told them to make me one ASAP. I drank that and took chlorophyl and was feeling better in no time. The bleeding had stopped by the time he found me, but I was still suffering from the effects of a heavy cycle.
After that incident I went another 3 months without a period, once again all the pregnancy tests were negative. I December 2005 I had another period that lasted 5 weeks, this time I went to the Dr. in Jan 2006 and was diagnosed with PCOS. I was given the option of birth control pills and didn't feel right about doing that. I talked to a man at church that was a Chinese Medicine Dr. and got a perscription from him and had pretty good success with it. In Aug 2007 My oldest started dated a wonderful young man and during that fall I had two episodes of fainting while on my period and really bad cramping. I had run out of my chinese herbs and decided not to order any more. My daughter was married on Nov. 28 and on Dec 1 I collapsed with ovarian pain. It didn't make sense because I just finished a normal period. My husband took me to urgent med, because it was Sunday and they said yep you have ovarian pain and gave me pain meds, on Monday he took me to the ER where they did an unltra sound and said that I had no cysts left except for one large one on my right ovary. Brent then called an OB-GYN in town and they aggreed to see my the next day. The Dr. felt like the cyst needed to be removed immediately so I went in for surgery the following morning. After surgery I was told that it wasn't a cyst afterall but a tumor. We waited 2 weeks to get pathology reports saying it was not cancerous.
Three months later I was in the Dr office with lack of a cycle. He put me progesterone, which caused really long cyles that were heavy and painful. After 3 months of that I went back and was told to be patient it should get better. The PMS grew so severe that I became somewhat suicidal and my family said that I was unbearable to be around. I called and talked to my Drs nurse numerous times and finally went back in to see the Dr. this time I was put on Meteformin which made me extremly ill, so I only took it for about a week and went back to see the Dr. This time I told him that if it is neccessary for me to take progesterone and the metformin that he would also have to put me on an antidepressant. He said that if I wanted to get pregnant that I would probably need to see an infertility specialist at this point. I was really only interested in being a normal 38 year old woman and having my energy back. We decided that I wasn't going to take the progesterone or the metformin anymore and the Dr. announced to me that I was in the beginning stages of menopause. I AM 38 YEARS OLD HOW CAN THAT BE?!?!?!?
That brings me to today! Here I sit typing all of this still waiting to have a period after 3 months. I actually didn't have one the last two months I was on the progesterone. I have an appointment to see a specialist in Dec. to get another opinion of what is going on with my body. I am hoping for some answers even if they aren't exactly what I want to hear.
After that incident I went another 3 months without a period, once again all the pregnancy tests were negative. I December 2005 I had another period that lasted 5 weeks, this time I went to the Dr. in Jan 2006 and was diagnosed with PCOS. I was given the option of birth control pills and didn't feel right about doing that. I talked to a man at church that was a Chinese Medicine Dr. and got a perscription from him and had pretty good success with it. In Aug 2007 My oldest started dated a wonderful young man and during that fall I had two episodes of fainting while on my period and really bad cramping. I had run out of my chinese herbs and decided not to order any more. My daughter was married on Nov. 28 and on Dec 1 I collapsed with ovarian pain. It didn't make sense because I just finished a normal period. My husband took me to urgent med, because it was Sunday and they said yep you have ovarian pain and gave me pain meds, on Monday he took me to the ER where they did an unltra sound and said that I had no cysts left except for one large one on my right ovary. Brent then called an OB-GYN in town and they aggreed to see my the next day. The Dr. felt like the cyst needed to be removed immediately so I went in for surgery the following morning. After surgery I was told that it wasn't a cyst afterall but a tumor. We waited 2 weeks to get pathology reports saying it was not cancerous.
Three months later I was in the Dr office with lack of a cycle. He put me progesterone, which caused really long cyles that were heavy and painful. After 3 months of that I went back and was told to be patient it should get better. The PMS grew so severe that I became somewhat suicidal and my family said that I was unbearable to be around. I called and talked to my Drs nurse numerous times and finally went back in to see the Dr. this time I was put on Meteformin which made me extremly ill, so I only took it for about a week and went back to see the Dr. This time I told him that if it is neccessary for me to take progesterone and the metformin that he would also have to put me on an antidepressant. He said that if I wanted to get pregnant that I would probably need to see an infertility specialist at this point. I was really only interested in being a normal 38 year old woman and having my energy back. We decided that I wasn't going to take the progesterone or the metformin anymore and the Dr. announced to me that I was in the beginning stages of menopause. I AM 38 YEARS OLD HOW CAN THAT BE?!?!?!?
That brings me to today! Here I sit typing all of this still waiting to have a period after 3 months. I actually didn't have one the last two months I was on the progesterone. I have an appointment to see a specialist in Dec. to get another opinion of what is going on with my body. I am hoping for some answers even if they aren't exactly what I want to hear.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Oct 7, 2008 A place to share and vent
This is the first of what I hope to be many entries. I created this blog to be a place to document the difficulties, triumphs, and frustrations of being a 30 something woman who has been told that she is menopausal. My hope is to relieve my own stress and let other women going through premature menopause know that they aren't alone as well as documenting this journey for my daughters.
The last two years have found me skipping periods for long periods of time and having a period that lasted 5 weeks. I have been diagnosed with PCOS, had an ovary removed because of a beneign tumor, and then been diagnosed with menopause after being on progesterone for several months and having severe PMS and depression with the hormones. I was also on metformin for a few days, but got so sick from it that I quit taking it.
I recently started reading a book that suggests that testosterone with estrogen is the best therapy for menopausal women. I looked up the suggested website for finding a Dr. that specializes in the care of menopausal women. I will be traveling about an hour and a half to go see a Dr. in Dec.
That is a brief outline of what is going on. Later I will go into more detail (not too much), on how my health problems have affected my marriage and what we are doing to try to fix the problem. I have been dealing with symptoms for years and didn't realize it until they were so severe and obvious that I had to do something about it.
The last two years have found me skipping periods for long periods of time and having a period that lasted 5 weeks. I have been diagnosed with PCOS, had an ovary removed because of a beneign tumor, and then been diagnosed with menopause after being on progesterone for several months and having severe PMS and depression with the hormones. I was also on metformin for a few days, but got so sick from it that I quit taking it.
I recently started reading a book that suggests that testosterone with estrogen is the best therapy for menopausal women. I looked up the suggested website for finding a Dr. that specializes in the care of menopausal women. I will be traveling about an hour and a half to go see a Dr. in Dec.
That is a brief outline of what is going on. Later I will go into more detail (not too much), on how my health problems have affected my marriage and what we are doing to try to fix the problem. I have been dealing with symptoms for years and didn't realize it until they were so severe and obvious that I had to do something about it.
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