I was scrolling thru my Facebook tonight...cause I don't know about anybody else, but I have to check my Facebook at least 3 times a day....& I had a post from a fellow telling me he was following my blog. He went on to tell me he knew it was supposed to be for the ladies, but he wanted to read it; & then told me how his ex-wife had been suffering from some of the same stuff that I had talked about for 20 years!
He got me to thinking....how many relationships have gone down the toilet because of hormone whack-outs and women feeling like cow dung? And then....oh God....I had to look at my own relationship hurl job....it brought up a lot of crap (no pun intended!) Now granted there were other big~huge~boulder size problems that caused the demise of said relationship...but looking way back when there was peace, tranquillity & love (all that junk) in our then oh-so-perfect union, I remember when things began to change for me physically & emotionally. I had already been to the doctor..and he had finally found out I had no hormones...but I somehow didn't think it would really affect my day to day living, except I just didn't feel good. But I also had other things going on in my life: raising 3 children, taking care of Mom & Dad, working, running a business....being superwoman!!! UGH! Perfect indicators of stress...da! And when the Doc said "its stress" and put me on antidepressants....he didn't mention anything about "hey..your lack of hormones is contributing to your problems". Well double da! Nooooo....he just treated me like a whacked out female...what do we do with whacked out females?....we put them on drugs!!!! ......and I never questioned him!
Okay..okay back to the relationship reflection. Bottom line upon reflecting I remembered during this era there were many times I could not stand the sight of the man I shared my life with. I just couldn't stand him.....for no reason. I would get angry over nothing....cry over stupid junk...pick a fight just cause I could. I felt like hell, I was angry all the time, barely had energy to go from point A to B....scared to death that my mind was slowing going south. And oh heavens....lets not even go to the bedroom side of life...that was cow dung city too. Needless to say the relationship never recovered for alot of reasons (hind-sight tells me "thank God"), but I am here to tell you ~ had I been able to manage my hormone levels the folks around me & myself included would not have suffered so much.
So now to the question...How many relationships have gone down the toilet because of hormones? I will bet a butt-load!!! Not to say that hormonal imbalance was the sole reason..but I suspect it contributed greatly. See~ the deal is we women have these great coping skills. We can fix anything (or find someone who can), we have a solution for 99% of any problems or situations that come our way. This is the way we are built from the beginning of time. We are the fixers~the nurturers~the glue. OUR HORMONES DRIVE US. They keep us quick, calm, motivated, loving, focused, sexy, confident, energized, sassy, joyful and together. We grew up with them..they have always been there....we take them for granted and bitched when our periods always arrived at the most inopportune time.
....................................and then they're gone. It's like driving a car and all of a sudden someone sneaks in and rips the steering wheel outta the car....and there we are....driving with nothing but air!
So what happens when we are in a relationship with a husband, boyfriend or companion; & its just a wee bit shaky anyway....all of these things I have mentioned above have managed to keep everything in tow.......and now they are gone. All of the coping skills are gone!!! Our minds are shot...can't focus...don't have the energy to deal with any of it....see no way out...it's all such a pain in the butt.....just get me out!!! And...boom....can we spell D-i-v-o-r-c-e? Whether its a marriage or long term live together...it still is a divorce.
Now hold up....before we start beating ourselves up(which we do second nature for anything that goes wrong!) for a break up that could have been prevented had our hormones not gone south....DON'T!!!! Most of us know good & well that there were good, solid reasons why our relationship went bust....and most likely for the better. But we do have to wonder what part did not having a hormone steering wheel play in the grand demise of it all? For me.....I would have bucked it up a hell of a lot more....maybe handled it all with a little more grace...who knows.
I am so glad we have some guys along for this ride. I find it interesting it was a man who tweaked me to examine this relationship bust~hormone participation thing. I mean for years I just figured I was the whacked out female the doctors made me believe I was. But of course after several years of research & snooping...I have discovered the cause of my cow dungness in mind, body & spirit. However,until tonight for some reason unknown to me...I never had thought about the relationship collateral damage of hormone whack.
Thank you Joey for being willing to read, understand and prompt yet more enlightenment on a subject that we women folk are trying so hard to navigate thru.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
Bio-Idential Hormone consultation is complete!!
Here I am writing at 8:30am on Friday morning...when my consultation appointment for my feel good hormones was yesterday!!!! Everybody else has a Murphy's Law....I have a Maxine's Law! Which mean in simple terms I couldn't get on the computer until late last night...cause I had to wait my turn!!!! Ahhhh....a busy house..ain't it grand..tee-he.
I've gotten several phone calls since posting my blog asking "exactly what are you doing?" So I am going to briefly write a little blurb about bio-identicals >(& from now on I am gonna call it "bios", cause I am too lazy to type out the whole word!!)
We all know that when its time for us to start going thru the Big M, (some like me start the process 10 years before it actually occurs) our hormones start whacking out. For some its hot flashes-sweats-moodiness. For others it could present its ugly self in the form of headaches-sleeplessness-heart issues-slight fatigue-extreme fatigue-lack of strength-changes in skin like acne, sagging, onset of wrinkles and (my personal favorite) brain fogginess>ie lack of concentration~tough time making decisions~air head feeling. Sound familiar to anyone!!!!!
All of these conditions can last for a short while or for some unfortunate women (once again like me) it can last for years. Mine started at 35....so I am twenty years into this. I have talked to women who have felt like cow dung for 40 years!!!!!
Tradition hormone treatment~which is frowned upon now because of side effects~ meant getting a "one size fits all" presciption of estrogen. You take it once a day for years & years and wa-la your fixed. Most of these hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drugs were derived from horse pee!!! The way it was explained to me is that horse estrogen emitted thru their tinkle is the closest form of animal estrogen to us, hence where the horse pee comes in! Then plant estrogens were introduced...which were better, but weren't as effective. The real reason so many market HRTs don't work is because we women have more than one hormone in our little bodies. So to just give us one....when another is still lacking causes problems. Enter Bios.
The treatment thought behind Bios-which are compounded (made up from scratch in your local pharmacy) are supposed to be all non-animal. No horse~funky frog or snake venom pee!!!!! The Doctor first does a minimum 6 panel hormone screen to see what you are missing....which should always include adrenals. Adrenals are those little chemicals in our body that give us the "fight or flight" ability. Its the stuff that makes you move quick when your child is in hurt & you automatically take action. Adrenals are also involved when you get stressed. Being stressed eats up your adrenals. We gals are stressed 90% of the time...so our adrenals are shot to hell!
If we have no adrenals...we have no energy. Sound familiar?!?!? So anytime you get your hormone levels...it is very important to have your adrenal levels checked too. Soooo...back to it. After hormone level testing is done and a clear picture of what is or is not there, the Doctor & pharmacist put together a prescription of various hormones that is missing~usually in the form of a cream that you rub on daily or sometimes applied vaginally. Creams are used rather than pills, because the dose is delivered directly into your blood stream, rather than going thru the body & especially directly thru the liver. In short ( I know...I don't do anything short!) the term Bio-identical means a hormone cocktail that is as close to your "identical" hormone makeup as possible. Makes sense~right.
Okay, back to yesterday. I arrived at Med Solutions Compounding for my appointment. It was a quiet, professional office. I was greeted immediately and offered a complimentary beverage. While I sipped my beverage I filled out some paperwork...which consisted of 2 pages...very easy, simple paperwork...not like the books you have to fill out on a new doctors visit. On the back were listed about 50 lines of symptoms..I was to check which ones I was experiencing. Well out of the 50-I checked at least 30!!!! I won't list all of the line items...but here are a few: Morning fatigue~evening fatigue~sleeplessness~agitation~tearfulness~thinning hair~acne~headaches~dry, brittle hair~dizziness~muscle fatigue~lack of physical stamina~heart racing~vision~brain focus~aching muscles~depression. Well slap me face & make me scream!!!!! There my physical bio was right on paper.......any of these symptoms sound familiar to anyone?!?!
We had a general conversation about Bios...since I had done my homework on the subject....he only hits the highlights of what Bio-identicals were. He explained to me that first that my hormone level must be established. He presented me with a kit which contained four baby plastic viles, and four baby straws....all were color coded. Each color represented a time of day....I would have to give four samples in a day to gage how my hormones were behaving (or not behaving) throughout the day. Now..what...you ask am I putting into this baby vile with the pretty color codes straws.......SPIT!! Not blood...nor pee....spit! Spit apparently is the absolute best indicator of hormones for the purpose of gaging your hormone activity through a day. Pee & blood will only give you an indicator for whatever time of day you gave the sample. Made sense to me.
You spit at very specific times of the day: 1st spit-very first thing when you get up in the morning; before you brush your teeth or drink anything. 2nd-around noon. 3rd-later part of the day, 6ish or so. 4th-before you go to bed; once again before you brush your teeth. Once I have all four of my samples...I stick samples (of which a mailing box is conveniently provided) and box in the freezer. The next morning I will drop it off to the post office (postage paid) to be mailed to a lab. The purpose of freezing is to keep the sample as fresh as possible...if you do your spit samples on a Friday...you have to freeze & wait until Monday to mail; they don't want it sitting in some hot mail room for days. Once the sample is received at the lab....it is analyzed & within 48 hours results are faxed back to my Dr. Mouna at the pharmacy. During this whole process, I have been advised of a list of Doctors that I get to pick one out of that specialize in Bios. The results are sent to my choice Doctor...he calls me...we set up an appointment...have convo....he & Dr. Mouna decided on the best prescription cream containing my specific hormones and how it is to be applied (either rub it on & vaginally~I already voted for rub on~~). And wa-la we begin the journey feeling better....tweaking along the way as needed....once a month prescription....at an average cost of $40-$60 dollars, depending on how many hormones I have in my little wonder cream. Dr. Mouna already told me I will have alot because I have had a hysterectomy....& I have not a hormone anywhere to be found!!!
Here's the only down side. The hormone testing costs $270.00 which has to be paid of course up front before the color coded samples go anywhere. That's to be expected. Then there is the doctors fee...some docs charge less than others....one was really expensive....like $300 for the initial visit!!!! So I am going to have to come up with a minimum of $500 bucks to get myself started. Insurance may cover the doc visit...but will not cover the testing....insurance companies frown highly on bio-identicals.
So....my first step is complete and I am pleased so far. The first step is my most important because I am finally moving forward instead of just "dealing with it". I figure after all this time of researching and looking, the powers that be has landed me in the right place. Even though Maxine's Law has struck where the money is concerned...that too will be okay....cause I am where I am supposed to be. Yee-ha.....I'm gonna get this done...and by August I am gonna be feeling like a new woman!!!! Hot-damn.
I've gotten several phone calls since posting my blog asking "exactly what are you doing?" So I am going to briefly write a little blurb about bio-identicals >(& from now on I am gonna call it "bios", cause I am too lazy to type out the whole word!!)
We all know that when its time for us to start going thru the Big M, (some like me start the process 10 years before it actually occurs) our hormones start whacking out. For some its hot flashes-sweats-moodiness. For others it could present its ugly self in the form of headaches-sleeplessness-heart issues-slight fatigue-extreme fatigue-lack of strength-changes in skin like acne, sagging, onset of wrinkles and (my personal favorite) brain fogginess>ie lack of concentration~tough time making decisions~air head feeling. Sound familiar to anyone!!!!!
All of these conditions can last for a short while or for some unfortunate women (once again like me) it can last for years. Mine started at 35....so I am twenty years into this. I have talked to women who have felt like cow dung for 40 years!!!!!
Tradition hormone treatment~which is frowned upon now because of side effects~ meant getting a "one size fits all" presciption of estrogen. You take it once a day for years & years and wa-la your fixed. Most of these hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drugs were derived from horse pee!!! The way it was explained to me is that horse estrogen emitted thru their tinkle is the closest form of animal estrogen to us, hence where the horse pee comes in! Then plant estrogens were introduced...which were better, but weren't as effective. The real reason so many market HRTs don't work is because we women have more than one hormone in our little bodies. So to just give us one....when another is still lacking causes problems. Enter Bios.
The treatment thought behind Bios-which are compounded (made up from scratch in your local pharmacy) are supposed to be all non-animal. No horse~funky frog or snake venom pee!!!!! The Doctor first does a minimum 6 panel hormone screen to see what you are missing....which should always include adrenals. Adrenals are those little chemicals in our body that give us the "fight or flight" ability. Its the stuff that makes you move quick when your child is in hurt & you automatically take action. Adrenals are also involved when you get stressed. Being stressed eats up your adrenals. We gals are stressed 90% of the time...so our adrenals are shot to hell!
If we have no adrenals...we have no energy. Sound familiar?!?!? So anytime you get your hormone levels...it is very important to have your adrenal levels checked too. Soooo...back to it. After hormone level testing is done and a clear picture of what is or is not there, the Doctor & pharmacist put together a prescription of various hormones that is missing~usually in the form of a cream that you rub on daily or sometimes applied vaginally. Creams are used rather than pills, because the dose is delivered directly into your blood stream, rather than going thru the body & especially directly thru the liver. In short ( I know...I don't do anything short!) the term Bio-identical means a hormone cocktail that is as close to your "identical" hormone makeup as possible. Makes sense~right.
Okay, back to yesterday. I arrived at Med Solutions Compounding for my appointment. It was a quiet, professional office. I was greeted immediately and offered a complimentary beverage. While I sipped my beverage I filled out some paperwork...which consisted of 2 pages...very easy, simple paperwork...not like the books you have to fill out on a new doctors visit. On the back were listed about 50 lines of symptoms..I was to check which ones I was experiencing. Well out of the 50-I checked at least 30!!!! I won't list all of the line items...but here are a few: Morning fatigue~evening fatigue~sleeplessness~agitation~tearfulness~thinning hair~acne~headaches~dry, brittle hair~dizziness~muscle fatigue~lack of physical stamina~heart racing~vision~brain focus~aching muscles~depression. Well slap me face & make me scream!!!!! There my physical bio was right on paper.......any of these symptoms sound familiar to anyone?!?!
We had a general conversation about Bios...since I had done my homework on the subject....he only hits the highlights of what Bio-identicals were. He explained to me that first that my hormone level must be established. He presented me with a kit which contained four baby plastic viles, and four baby straws....all were color coded. Each color represented a time of day....I would have to give four samples in a day to gage how my hormones were behaving (or not behaving) throughout the day. Now..what...you ask am I putting into this baby vile with the pretty color codes straws.......SPIT!! Not blood...nor pee....spit! Spit apparently is the absolute best indicator of hormones for the purpose of gaging your hormone activity through a day. Pee & blood will only give you an indicator for whatever time of day you gave the sample. Made sense to me.
You spit at very specific times of the day: 1st spit-very first thing when you get up in the morning; before you brush your teeth or drink anything. 2nd-around noon. 3rd-later part of the day, 6ish or so. 4th-before you go to bed; once again before you brush your teeth. Once I have all four of my samples...I stick samples (of which a mailing box is conveniently provided) and box in the freezer. The next morning I will drop it off to the post office (postage paid) to be mailed to a lab. The purpose of freezing is to keep the sample as fresh as possible...if you do your spit samples on a Friday...you have to freeze & wait until Monday to mail; they don't want it sitting in some hot mail room for days. Once the sample is received at the lab....it is analyzed & within 48 hours results are faxed back to my Dr. Mouna at the pharmacy. During this whole process, I have been advised of a list of Doctors that I get to pick one out of that specialize in Bios. The results are sent to my choice Doctor...he calls me...we set up an appointment...have convo....he & Dr. Mouna decided on the best prescription cream containing my specific hormones and how it is to be applied (either rub it on & vaginally~I already voted for rub on~~). And wa-la we begin the journey feeling better....tweaking along the way as needed....once a month prescription....at an average cost of $40-$60 dollars, depending on how many hormones I have in my little wonder cream. Dr. Mouna already told me I will have alot because I have had a hysterectomy....& I have not a hormone anywhere to be found!!!
Here's the only down side. The hormone testing costs $270.00 which has to be paid of course up front before the color coded samples go anywhere. That's to be expected. Then there is the doctors fee...some docs charge less than others....one was really expensive....like $300 for the initial visit!!!! So I am going to have to come up with a minimum of $500 bucks to get myself started. Insurance may cover the doc visit...but will not cover the testing....insurance companies frown highly on bio-identicals.
So....my first step is complete and I am pleased so far. The first step is my most important because I am finally moving forward instead of just "dealing with it". I figure after all this time of researching and looking, the powers that be has landed me in the right place. Even though Maxine's Law has struck where the money is concerned...that too will be okay....cause I am where I am supposed to be. Yee-ha.....I'm gonna get this done...and by August I am gonna be feeling like a new woman!!!! Hot-damn.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
A Brand New Journey Starts Tomorrow
OMG...I'm blogging. Beats the hell out of writing in a journal...especially when you want to share some stuff & really don't want to post it on Facebook! Point being since I have never done this...be patient with me~I write like I talk & sometimes that bounces from here to there.
We will talk about all the ups & downs of being over 50 as we progress thru the journey. But now, today I want to start with a brand new journey that I begin tomorrow......BIO~IDENTICAL hormone replacement therapy. Yes-sir-ree I have my first appointment tomorrow @ 1:00 with Med Solutions Compounding Pharmacy. A Pharmacy?!?!? Wait a minute...don't we do the Doctor first & then go to the compounding pharmacy for the o-so special designed just for you hormone cream that is going to make you feel o-so much better? Nope, apparently we go to the pharmacy first, get a 6 panel hormone panel done...then it is sent to a Doctor that deals specifically with Bio-identical treatment...then the Doc sees you, with all sorts of questions....then my special-compounded just for me-hormone topical cream is made & I am on my way to feeling fine.
Okay..okay I have been hearing about bio-identical hormone treatment for 15 years...and then Oprah made it mainstream. I have read everything I can get my hands on about this treatment for the last 5 years. Why....because I have felt like literal cow dung since I was about 38. Went to all the favorite doctors...it was stress...you're getting older...let me pat you on the head.....oh, lets give you antidepressants cause your stressed!
My OBGYN refused to check my hormone levels...I was too young to be starting the big M! Well after much fighting he finally did check...and wa-la I had none!!!!! I did the big M @ 45...but no way could I have any kind of HRTs..cause they decided after all this time they were bad! "You just have to deal with it." Even a few female Doctors I went to see were unwilling to help. Soooo...as a woman what do I do? Go to plan B of course.
I started studying..talking to people...reading everything I could get my hands on..both pro & con about bio-identicals. My big surprise was that standard HRT is made from horse pee! Anyway...I digress....after I had finally made up my mind to pursue my plan B treatment....couldn't find a Doctor in my town that would even talk about it....& the few that did had no idea what they were doing. (what I looked like a little lab rat!) I finally found a doctor that was knowledgeable....but wanted $500 to start with-give me a break. Oh & insurance does not cover it~figures. That was 5 years ago. I gave up. I decided to "just deal with it".
I am 56 now....feeling like cow dung is a part of my everyday life....hell I am so use to it I have forgotten what it feels like to feel good...have energy......energy~what's that??? lol Or sleep thru the night....oh my to sleep thru the night. Sorry, digress again.............I started my hunt again & I have an appointment tomorrow. It's affordable, reputable and have over 300 female patients. If this turns out to be even 60% of what it is supposed to be....then it will be so worth it and I will be screaming from the roof tops to every woman I know that is going thru or has gone thru the big M to run...not walk....down to the little compounding pharmacy. That's why I am blogging....to be the lab rat for all the women in my town that are feeling like cow dung cause their hormones have taken the high-five express to a far off place. The journey starts tomorrow @ 1pm.....I'll be blogging the minute I get home!
We will talk about all the ups & downs of being over 50 as we progress thru the journey. But now, today I want to start with a brand new journey that I begin tomorrow......BIO~IDENTICAL hormone replacement therapy. Yes-sir-ree I have my first appointment tomorrow @ 1:00 with Med Solutions Compounding Pharmacy. A Pharmacy?!?!? Wait a minute...don't we do the Doctor first & then go to the compounding pharmacy for the o-so special designed just for you hormone cream that is going to make you feel o-so much better? Nope, apparently we go to the pharmacy first, get a 6 panel hormone panel done...then it is sent to a Doctor that deals specifically with Bio-identical treatment...then the Doc sees you, with all sorts of questions....then my special-compounded just for me-hormone topical cream is made & I am on my way to feeling fine.
Okay..okay I have been hearing about bio-identical hormone treatment for 15 years...and then Oprah made it mainstream. I have read everything I can get my hands on about this treatment for the last 5 years. Why....because I have felt like literal cow dung since I was about 38. Went to all the favorite doctors...it was stress...you're getting older...let me pat you on the head.....oh, lets give you antidepressants cause your stressed!
My OBGYN refused to check my hormone levels...I was too young to be starting the big M! Well after much fighting he finally did check...and wa-la I had none!!!!! I did the big M @ 45...but no way could I have any kind of HRTs..cause they decided after all this time they were bad! "You just have to deal with it." Even a few female Doctors I went to see were unwilling to help. Soooo...as a woman what do I do? Go to plan B of course.
I started studying..talking to people...reading everything I could get my hands on..both pro & con about bio-identicals. My big surprise was that standard HRT is made from horse pee! Anyway...I digress....after I had finally made up my mind to pursue my plan B treatment....couldn't find a Doctor in my town that would even talk about it....& the few that did had no idea what they were doing. (what I looked like a little lab rat!) I finally found a doctor that was knowledgeable....but wanted $500 to start with-give me a break. Oh & insurance does not cover it~figures. That was 5 years ago. I gave up. I decided to "just deal with it".
I am 56 now....feeling like cow dung is a part of my everyday life....hell I am so use to it I have forgotten what it feels like to feel good...have energy......energy~what's that??? lol Or sleep thru the night....oh my to sleep thru the night. Sorry, digress again.............I started my hunt again & I have an appointment tomorrow. It's affordable, reputable and have over 300 female patients. If this turns out to be even 60% of what it is supposed to be....then it will be so worth it and I will be screaming from the roof tops to every woman I know that is going thru or has gone thru the big M to run...not walk....down to the little compounding pharmacy. That's why I am blogging....to be the lab rat for all the women in my town that are feeling like cow dung cause their hormones have taken the high-five express to a far off place. The journey starts tomorrow @ 1pm.....I'll be blogging the minute I get home!
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