Well, as promised here are my three month follow-up hormone levels.  The red boxes are from my original test results before I started bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, the green boxes are my most recent test results.

Yeah!  I have progesterone, I know it’s a bit high, but Dr. Lee assures me not to worry, “Just cut back your dose, we will achieve that hormone harmony yet!” he says.  And my estrogen is still high as well.  We have reduced my dose, so no worries there either.  The reason I feel so good (as per Dr. Lee) is because I finally have some balance between my estrogen and progesterone even though it is not perfect.  I can’t wait to see how good I’ll feel when they’re balanced!

I must tell you I am worried about all the news lately regarding breast cancer and synthetic hormones.  My goodness, I was on ‘synthetic estrogen’ for eight years- if only I had known about all natural bioidenticals back then!  Yikes, I’m overdue for my mammogram as it is, so I see an x-ray in my near future.

It’s nice to be treated as an individual with specific needs, oh wait, aren’t we all individuals?  I guess someone forgot to tell the traditional doctors that we need individualized care and they cannot PRESCRIBE the exact same does of any drug to every single patient!  That felt good to say!

Happy Hormones,

Judyb

Merry Christmas!!!

Santa was good to me!  I found lots of progesterone, estrogen, and even better, shoes under the tree this year!

I hope all of you find what you want under the tree too!  Have a great day!

Judyb

Hello friends!

For almost 2 months now I have been going on and on about getting “tested” and it occurred to me that I have never shared my results with you.  Well, here they are.

Let me explain as best I can.

These are the results of my saliva tests.  Yes I know it sounds gross, but I HAD to do it (and it wasn’t really that bad at all)!  There were 4 separate samples taken throughout the day.  This is because our hormone levels naturally fluctuate from morning to night so multiple tests are necessary to get the most accurate results.  The hormone testing measured my cortisol, progesterone, testosterone, and estrogen levels. 

Remember way back, when I confessed that I was doubling my dose of estrogen in an attempt to stop my hot flashes, look at my level 29. YIKES!  WAY too high!  No wonder I was the queen of puke.  And look at my progesterone, it’s virtually nonexistent.  I remember stopping Dr. Lee and asking him why my progesterone was so low, he gazed at me almost puzzled and said “Judy, you are in menopause.”   My only response was “oh.”  I knew it, but no one, not any of my past ‘doctors,’ had ever said the word. 

Anyways, this is what I have been talking about when I said that it is so important to know your actual hormone levels, so your bioidentical hormone doctor can treat you properly.  It’s that simple, you’ll get immediate relief from those horrible menopause symptoms.  That’s right, no more hot flashes, insomnia, mood swings, and low sex drive (*wink wink*)!  Those ‘one size fits all’ medications just don’t work; you need to know where your hormones are before you can start balancing them- it seems pretty logical to me!  So, I cut back my estrogen and started taking natural progesterone; you know the hormone every Doc said I DID NOT need.  It seems it is the one I needed most. 

So pucker up ladies and get spitting.

JudyB

If I ever get to meet Suzanne Somers, I may bow down and kiss her on her red-carpet-walking, more expensive than my weekly salary, probably-Italian shoes.

I’ve been spraying myself with estrogen spray pretty much every hour on the hour for the past week or so. I am getting extensively paranoid about the whole blood-clot thing, despite my baby-aspirin routine. Last night I decided to get on the Internet and do some research on menopause and hormones. Everywhere I clicked, there was Suzanne, talking about how awesome her life is and how great she feels. Yeah, yeah, yeah… *Sigh* My life blows in comparison. I get it Suzanne.

I have become obsessed with this smiling, 60-ish woman who looks and feels better than I do and I’m sure-as-hell-not 60 years old.

After prodigious Googling, I had watched essentially every video clip of her available on the Internet, with some old “Three’s Company” clips thrown in to satisfy my nostalgia. God, even then she was perfect wasn’t she. Bitch.

Can’t wait to pick up her books to see what other kind of advice she has and if it might help.

Xoxo
Judy

Lady-doc and I had a nice long chat about my assault on the pharmacist, and she suggested I try this “brand-new-really-effective” estrogen spray. I was confused. A spray?

I said, “What am I supposed to do, spray this in my vagina?” I didn’t get it.

Apparently, this spray works through the skin and you can spray it anywhere you like, externally speaking, so no vagina spray required.  Thank god. *Wipes sweat from brow*

So in addition to my self-administered estrogen therapy, I am now using the spray. All the time. I woke up last night at 2am and sprayed myself six times, about three times the recommended amount. Now I’m paranoid that I am going to get a blood clot, so I have added baby aspirin to my pill-taking regime. If I have to choke down one more pill, I’ll scream.

Excuse me while I go have a hot flash.

Xoxo
Judy

The estrogen replacement therapy that lady-doc prescribed me is having literally, NO effect. I have even taken it upon myself to increase my dosage. Now, as a nurse I must add DO NOT TRY THAT AT HOME.

So, I have now become convinced that the pharmacist is giving me old estrogen that doesn’t work and I am now fixated on plotting his demise.

Yesterday, I went to Walgreens, and flipped out full-throttle on the pharmacist. The menopause maniac came out in full force, and I demanded to see the estrogen supply so I could check the expiration date myself.

It was not expired, or even remotely near expiration.

Must be the hormones.

xoxo
Judy