Tuesday, November 12, 2013
back on a high fiber
lots of veggie diet. i actually ate a lime because i read it would help lower estrogen. JOY!
Friday, November 8, 2013
It happened again
My nightmare with estrogen dominance appeared to end a little less than 2 years ago and here I am again. I am bleeding every 14-20 days. My last period was seriously heavy. I soaked a tampon every hour in day 3 for the entire day. Now when I have sex, I bleed, but I am 3 days past my period. I am still spotting randomly daily. It is so frustrating. Why is this happening again? I know that I have some what fallen off my diet from before, but I still eat better than most. What did I do to cause this? Yes, I know that I was seriously stressed for weeks, but now that I am no longer so stressed how do I fix this? I hate this estrogen dominance. It sucks. I am 5 pounds up and I am afraid to have sex. I don't want this again. It took 9 months to fix last time. I cannot wait that long this time.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Normal
Blood test came back "normal." My doc does not see the relation between my leg pain and my hormones, but I do. I actually ran today. I will get to see how normal my results were Monday when I can log into their website and see my diagnostic results. My doc wants me to keep my saline infused ultrasound. I am going to, but I think if that does not show anything, I am going to just go on the pill for 3 months and see what that does. I am seriously over this.
The good news is that this episode with my back has made realized how much more I need to take care of my body. I am certainly going to do better with that starting now.
The good news is that this episode with my back has made realized how much more I need to take care of my body. I am certainly going to do better with that starting now.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Wish my title did justice to my problem...
Let me start out by saying that this is long but worth it if you are having the same issues I am.
First of all, I am 35 years old and too young to feel the age I feel. I feel 65, and it is not in my head. My body is aging me. I keep trying to remember where it all started. I think it started back in May of 2010. Prior to that May, I had nice normal periods. They were 29 days in length. I always ovulated on day 14. I had a fair amount of ovulation pain, but that helped me conceive. That May I took Next Step. I know. At 34, the age I was then, I knew better. I knew how children were conceived. Call it a moment of weakness. My husband was 7 weeks post vasectomy, but we still were not in the clear. I figured that there was a good chance he was not fertile, but did I really want to chance a pregnancy on that? Not at all. After those pills, my cycle changed. I went from those great 29 day cycles to 24-26 day cycles with "flooding" on day 2. Now if you ask what "flooding" is, you have never had it happen to you. Flooding is when you soak a tampon or pad in an hour every hour for 12-24 hours. It is miserable. The cycle change was enough of a concern that I went to my OB/gyn. She said that things looked ok and that there was some erosion in my cervix, but she would know more when she did my pap smear in Aug. She suggested progesterone cream. I bought some, but the idea of hormones scares me. (And I now know with good reason.) I stopped ovulating when the short cycles started too. Because of that, I became obsessed with ovulating. I temped, I took ovulation tests, and I showed nothing. I went to a new gyn that August. He did a pap smear which came back normal and suggested prometrium. I took the RX but did not take it. I finally had one ovulation cycle in October of that year, but that was it and it remains the last time I have ovulated. I learned to live with the short cycles and the flooding. It was not ideal but it was consistent.
Fast forward to April 2011. I somehow managed to get a scorching case of poison ivy. I am highly allergic. It remained not properly treated until May when I finally went to my dermatologist. The first thing my dermatologist (who I love) did was give me a kenalog shot. Let me say that it did not help the poison ivy at all. What it did do, though, was keep me from getting a period for another 3.5 weeks which put me at 7 week by the time I got it. I went to my gyn right before I got my period. He did a uterine biopsy (came back clear) and prescribed prometrium again. Once again, I did not take it. I started to bleed on May 27. I bled for 9 days. I figured that I went a while without a period for a while so it should be longer, right. About this time I also started to experience what I thought was sciatic nerve pain in my right leg. It was mild and manageable so I did not worry about it. I am very active so I figured it was just my body reacting to my level of activity.
I did not figure that I would start bleeding again on June 13. Doing that math, I stopped bleeding on June 5 and started again 8 days later. What the heck. This period was super heavy. I bled for 7 days until June 20th. 18 days later, on July 8th, I start bleeding again. This period was super weird. It started with 6 days of light bleeding, 7-8 days of normal bleeding, days 9-12 was light spotting, days 13-14 was normal again, and days 15-16 consisted of the heaviest flooding I have ever had. I was bleeding so much that my underwear and pads (I was wearing both tampons and pads) were actually clotting to my skin. Day 17 was normal bleeding and days 18 had light bleeding that tapered on and off. Yes, I bled for 18 days straight.
On August 11th, I started bleeding again. I had a day of flooding and the bleeding itself was weird. It would only happen after 1:30 pm on all of my days that I did not flood. It ended August 18. By this point, I was tired all of the time. There were days that I could not fold laundry because I was so tired and exhausted all of the time. I was running twice a week with my best friend and there were days that I felt like I would pass out after our usual 4 mile runs. Keep in mind that in the spring I was regularly running 6-7 miles every weekend. 4 miles should have been easy. I was lightheaded all of the time. I felt old.
By that point, I was freaking out. I made an appt with my regular GP on Aug 17. He listened and did some hormone tests. My progesterone was very low--.4 and my estrogen was 473.7. I already knew I was estrogen dominant, but 473 is really high. My white blood cell count was high too which concerned him. He did, however, explain to me why docs keep prescribing prometrium. He said that progesterone is kind of a "reset button" for most OB's. I took that to heart. He repeated my hormone tests because they were "goofy." The tests were done on 8/25. My white blood cell count was better and my estrogen was down to 225 which is still considered high. He told me I needed to see an endocrinologist because we are past his area of expertise. I understood. In the meantime, I started bleeding on August 24th. That continued until August 28th when it abruptly stopped.
I had my annual with my gyn on August 30 so I waited to see him. He did the normal pap smear which came back normal and explained to me the thing with the prometrium. I asked if I was menopausal. He said based on my LH and FSH, I was not. I took his advice on the prometrium to heart and started taking it that day. I spotted throughout my course of it. He told me to double it if that happened. I did and the spotting still did not stop. The day I ended the prometrium, the spotting stopped and I have had no period to speak of since. That was September 12th. The only nice thing was that my sciatic nerve pain went away. It came back, though about two weeks after I went off of the prometrium.
I called my gyn early October to ask about the lack of bleeding. They suggested I take a pregnancy test. I did and not surprisingly, I was not pregnant. I finally made an appt with my gyn so he would have to look me in the face to talk about this growing problem. He did an ultrasound and told me I was hyper ovulating based on the follicles seen on the ultrasound (keep in mind I did not actually ovulate) and he did hormone testing. This was October 12. He told me he would contact me once the results came in. He did not. I had to call several times before I spoke with his nurse 2 weeks later who told me my results were "normal." My progesterone once again was low--.5. My estrogen was 725.9. Yes, 725.9. High enough that only pregnant women have levels that high. When I saw that, I freaked and promptly made an appt with a new gyn who I saw on November 11. She told me that she has never seen estrogen that high so she wanted to do a second round of tests. I am currently waiting on those results. She said that she had one patient who did not get withdrawal bleeding after prometrium ended and that person responded to provera so she prescribed it but told me to wait until she called to take it. That was not going to happen.
I went to the gym on November 14 and got on the elliptical machine. As I started to move my sciatic pain caught on fire and I felt the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life. It radiated down my right leg. It hurt so much that I could not think about telling my friends I needed to leave. I got to my car and started sobbing as I drove home. For the next 6 hours I was in the most excruciating pain of my life. It was worse than child birth and I know because I had one child without an epidural. I actually considered cutting my left off. If I did not love running so much and have two small kids, I might have considered it. I went to my regular GP who diagnosed me with a slipped disk. I asked about sciatic endometriosis. He said endometriosis usually stays in the abdomen so probably not, but could be. He gave me pain meds that he admitted would not completely help and suggested and MRI. I did my best to get by.
My hormone results were supposed to have been back on the 15th. Not sure why they were not, but since the prometrium helped the last time with the sciatic pain, I figured maybe my hormone problem and my leg pain problem were related so I started the provera on Thursday, the 17th. I either had the quickest recovery from a slipped disk ever or my hormone and leg pain problem are related. By Saturday most of my pain was gone and by Sunday, I had tightness in my right calf, and that calf was numb for 3 days. I still have tightness and believe it is due to the numbness during the very painful episode. It is tightness, though, not pain. I run. I know the difference.
I keep thinking that there has to be someone else out there like me. Someone who is not getting treated properly or who had the same issues and has found the cause. Please help.
I should know my hormone results tomorrow. My doc will be surprised to know that I have started the provera. I am thankful that I did. The recovery has been miraculous to the point where I am going to the gym tomorrow.
First of all, I am 35 years old and too young to feel the age I feel. I feel 65, and it is not in my head. My body is aging me. I keep trying to remember where it all started. I think it started back in May of 2010. Prior to that May, I had nice normal periods. They were 29 days in length. I always ovulated on day 14. I had a fair amount of ovulation pain, but that helped me conceive. That May I took Next Step. I know. At 34, the age I was then, I knew better. I knew how children were conceived. Call it a moment of weakness. My husband was 7 weeks post vasectomy, but we still were not in the clear. I figured that there was a good chance he was not fertile, but did I really want to chance a pregnancy on that? Not at all. After those pills, my cycle changed. I went from those great 29 day cycles to 24-26 day cycles with "flooding" on day 2. Now if you ask what "flooding" is, you have never had it happen to you. Flooding is when you soak a tampon or pad in an hour every hour for 12-24 hours. It is miserable. The cycle change was enough of a concern that I went to my OB/gyn. She said that things looked ok and that there was some erosion in my cervix, but she would know more when she did my pap smear in Aug. She suggested progesterone cream. I bought some, but the idea of hormones scares me. (And I now know with good reason.) I stopped ovulating when the short cycles started too. Because of that, I became obsessed with ovulating. I temped, I took ovulation tests, and I showed nothing. I went to a new gyn that August. He did a pap smear which came back normal and suggested prometrium. I took the RX but did not take it. I finally had one ovulation cycle in October of that year, but that was it and it remains the last time I have ovulated. I learned to live with the short cycles and the flooding. It was not ideal but it was consistent.
Fast forward to April 2011. I somehow managed to get a scorching case of poison ivy. I am highly allergic. It remained not properly treated until May when I finally went to my dermatologist. The first thing my dermatologist (who I love) did was give me a kenalog shot. Let me say that it did not help the poison ivy at all. What it did do, though, was keep me from getting a period for another 3.5 weeks which put me at 7 week by the time I got it. I went to my gyn right before I got my period. He did a uterine biopsy (came back clear) and prescribed prometrium again. Once again, I did not take it. I started to bleed on May 27. I bled for 9 days. I figured that I went a while without a period for a while so it should be longer, right. About this time I also started to experience what I thought was sciatic nerve pain in my right leg. It was mild and manageable so I did not worry about it. I am very active so I figured it was just my body reacting to my level of activity.
I did not figure that I would start bleeding again on June 13. Doing that math, I stopped bleeding on June 5 and started again 8 days later. What the heck. This period was super heavy. I bled for 7 days until June 20th. 18 days later, on July 8th, I start bleeding again. This period was super weird. It started with 6 days of light bleeding, 7-8 days of normal bleeding, days 9-12 was light spotting, days 13-14 was normal again, and days 15-16 consisted of the heaviest flooding I have ever had. I was bleeding so much that my underwear and pads (I was wearing both tampons and pads) were actually clotting to my skin. Day 17 was normal bleeding and days 18 had light bleeding that tapered on and off. Yes, I bled for 18 days straight.
On August 11th, I started bleeding again. I had a day of flooding and the bleeding itself was weird. It would only happen after 1:30 pm on all of my days that I did not flood. It ended August 18. By this point, I was tired all of the time. There were days that I could not fold laundry because I was so tired and exhausted all of the time. I was running twice a week with my best friend and there were days that I felt like I would pass out after our usual 4 mile runs. Keep in mind that in the spring I was regularly running 6-7 miles every weekend. 4 miles should have been easy. I was lightheaded all of the time. I felt old.
By that point, I was freaking out. I made an appt with my regular GP on Aug 17. He listened and did some hormone tests. My progesterone was very low--.4 and my estrogen was 473.7. I already knew I was estrogen dominant, but 473 is really high. My white blood cell count was high too which concerned him. He did, however, explain to me why docs keep prescribing prometrium. He said that progesterone is kind of a "reset button" for most OB's. I took that to heart. He repeated my hormone tests because they were "goofy." The tests were done on 8/25. My white blood cell count was better and my estrogen was down to 225 which is still considered high. He told me I needed to see an endocrinologist because we are past his area of expertise. I understood. In the meantime, I started bleeding on August 24th. That continued until August 28th when it abruptly stopped.
I had my annual with my gyn on August 30 so I waited to see him. He did the normal pap smear which came back normal and explained to me the thing with the prometrium. I asked if I was menopausal. He said based on my LH and FSH, I was not. I took his advice on the prometrium to heart and started taking it that day. I spotted throughout my course of it. He told me to double it if that happened. I did and the spotting still did not stop. The day I ended the prometrium, the spotting stopped and I have had no period to speak of since. That was September 12th. The only nice thing was that my sciatic nerve pain went away. It came back, though about two weeks after I went off of the prometrium.
I called my gyn early October to ask about the lack of bleeding. They suggested I take a pregnancy test. I did and not surprisingly, I was not pregnant. I finally made an appt with my gyn so he would have to look me in the face to talk about this growing problem. He did an ultrasound and told me I was hyper ovulating based on the follicles seen on the ultrasound (keep in mind I did not actually ovulate) and he did hormone testing. This was October 12. He told me he would contact me once the results came in. He did not. I had to call several times before I spoke with his nurse 2 weeks later who told me my results were "normal." My progesterone once again was low--.5. My estrogen was 725.9. Yes, 725.9. High enough that only pregnant women have levels that high. When I saw that, I freaked and promptly made an appt with a new gyn who I saw on November 11. She told me that she has never seen estrogen that high so she wanted to do a second round of tests. I am currently waiting on those results. She said that she had one patient who did not get withdrawal bleeding after prometrium ended and that person responded to provera so she prescribed it but told me to wait until she called to take it. That was not going to happen.
I went to the gym on November 14 and got on the elliptical machine. As I started to move my sciatic pain caught on fire and I felt the worst pain I have ever felt in my entire life. It radiated down my right leg. It hurt so much that I could not think about telling my friends I needed to leave. I got to my car and started sobbing as I drove home. For the next 6 hours I was in the most excruciating pain of my life. It was worse than child birth and I know because I had one child without an epidural. I actually considered cutting my left off. If I did not love running so much and have two small kids, I might have considered it. I went to my regular GP who diagnosed me with a slipped disk. I asked about sciatic endometriosis. He said endometriosis usually stays in the abdomen so probably not, but could be. He gave me pain meds that he admitted would not completely help and suggested and MRI. I did my best to get by.
My hormone results were supposed to have been back on the 15th. Not sure why they were not, but since the prometrium helped the last time with the sciatic pain, I figured maybe my hormone problem and my leg pain problem were related so I started the provera on Thursday, the 17th. I either had the quickest recovery from a slipped disk ever or my hormone and leg pain problem are related. By Saturday most of my pain was gone and by Sunday, I had tightness in my right calf, and that calf was numb for 3 days. I still have tightness and believe it is due to the numbness during the very painful episode. It is tightness, though, not pain. I run. I know the difference.
I keep thinking that there has to be someone else out there like me. Someone who is not getting treated properly or who had the same issues and has found the cause. Please help.
I should know my hormone results tomorrow. My doc will be surprised to know that I have started the provera. I am thankful that I did. The recovery has been miraculous to the point where I am going to the gym tomorrow.
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