Saturday, March 08, 2008

Being female

Hormones are wonderful things. They regulate growth and metabolism and play a small part in reproduction.

When they get their wires crossed they can go beserk. Mine are having a party. TSH is up the creek (or disappeared), which will at some time in the future give me the joy of Osteoporosis. Already suffering from recurring bursitis in the hip, I can only imagine what it will feel like when I slip and break that stupid joint.

I could really do with having my cyst producing ovaries removed....but then I will increase my odds of Osteoporosis, so I shall hang on to them, gripping the edge of the bed every few months while I can actually feel the cyst reaching exploding point. It gets bigger, and bigger and starts to bubble as if it is on the stove coming to boiling point. Once it bursts, the relief is unbelievable. Then we go onto simmer for an hour or two. At present I have a cyst on one ovary that is doing nothing except giving me a 'dragging' kind of ache every few weeks. It will neither grow nor explode and is about the size of a large lime (so says the ob-gyn). This has been going on for a very long time.
During this time, my other ovary 'pops' every 2 - 3 months. It is excruciating, but all over and done with in a few hours. It always occurs between midnight and 5 am.

To add to all these woes, I had a 'patch' put on my uterus after my last C-Section. What the heck is a patch?, I here you say. I do not know either, but it would have suited me better to have the whole damn house removed. Now the 'patch' and whatever else they did to me caused major adhesions.....these in turn caused my insides to adhere to each other. So my bladder, uterus and bowels have become one. If one cramps, then the whole lot goes into a grand mal seizure leaving me gasping for breath. Perhaps the adhesions have spread up to my lungs. Oh Life! I love you. Give me a bout of diarrhoea and I will experience period pains, cyst explosions and cystitis together. Yeeeeeha...bring it on.

You are probably wondering why I am dragging you all through this horrible part of my life.....I have just discovered that every single female that I know is having or has had some kind of dilemma with hormone-related health matters.

Every day I load myself up with Thyroxine and evening primrose oil, and for 16 days of the month I top up with progesterone (forgot why now) and also glug a load of stress reducing B-Vits. I still feel like a piece of crap though.

You know the saying about what does not kill you? In that case I am an Oxe right now.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

you can thank the c-section for adhesions as well...something else the doctors do not warn their patients of. There is help through Dr. Daniel Kruschinski. www.endogyn.com. He is the world's leading expert at adhesiolysis, though some US people slander him, going on 5 years now, as their fav. surgeons lose so many patients to him. You can contact his past patients as well who are listed on his site and learn of their stories. Take care.

existential al ain said...

Good luck! I hope you start to feel better.

CG said...

Anon, thanks but I think I shall keep my adhesions rather than trust another Doc so soon.

Telephone, thanks for your well wishes. I am actually learning to live like this. I may even grieve if someone were to take away my pains.

Unknown said...

Lady, what I like about this post, and in spite of all the pain - you've not let go of your sense of humor :)

The only jittery part was the grand mal seizure reference. These words give me the creeps, being an epileptic since 1998.

You take good care of yourself :)

Dubai Jazz said...

I just heard your blog being mentioned on the Radio. I am not sure if it was a live broadcasting.

Anyway, nice blog ya CG keep it up and I shall visit you more often

CG said...

Thanks DUBAI JAZZ, I should hope you will return.

CG said...

AWOS
Funny thing, epilepsy. It haunted me for much of my life, and then disappeared mysteriously after my first child was born. I have not taken a drug since, although the EEG remains the same.

rosh said...

Hope you feel super, soon CG. Life throws challenges every now and then - and you are correct, what doesn't kills us, makes us stronger.

Hang in there thru the high tide. Prayers and thoughts for a healthier tomorrow :)

BuJ said...

wow.. very well-written.. i wonder if we'll ever read a "being male" post!

BuJ said...

Wow.. two people i know are epileptic!!! how cool.. i know it's an illness but i always kinda admired people with epilepsy.. don't ask me why. i'm just weird.. but this is something!

how do you guys deal with it when it happens? what triggers it? i know if someone has it i should lay them down and make sure to put a sock in their mouth so they do not bite their tongue and bleed.

Unknown said...

BuJ: In my case, it's inherited paternally. Miraculously, I have a god-sent Neurologist who's kept me seizure-free since May 2000 but I'm still on meds twice a day.

As far as I know, one of the two triggers is lack of sleep and in part stress.

Man, I wouldn't know what happens during a seizure but all I know is that I regain consciousness with a daze but without a scratch. I guess those around me ensure I don't harm myself in any way.

CG: Your first child is your miracle :)

Anonymous said...

Don't give up - you can be helped! I really think your progesterone is not working. First of all I assume you are doing natural progesterone. You need to make sure your level is where it should be. Progesterone is what prevents cysts from forming and growing. You should have a day 20 blood level of progesterone around 10 ng/mL. You also need to check a free T3 (you are only replacing T4) and maintain your TSH between 1 and 2. Thyroid hormones controls how well your progesterone works, and yours is not working well. Thyroid is nature's birth control- if your diet/minerals are not perfect it won't work well. Check out my book, The Natural Hormone Makeover" and get balanced. PS also make sure to take magnesium and/or Cihnese herbs for your cramping Good luck...DrP

Anonymous said...

wow.. me very impressed by Dr Cohan!

BuJ said...

Louis,

thanks for that insight.. i never met an epileptic before.. and it's quite an interesting thing for me for some reason.

Glad you been free for about 8 yrs.. very good doc!

glad you know your triggers.. make sure to mention them when you ask for holidays and the like :)

stay healty and safe!