And the BLOOD results are in :)

So my blood results are in...I was 1. not taking any estrogen or progestrone the last 4-6 months.  2. Feeling great except for 3. my eye sight was getting worse and my skin was less elastic.  4. barely having hot flashes...sometimes I even got COLD flashes.  

Overall:  I need a little estrogen and should be taking progesterone to help as well.  My Vitamin D was LOW so I am on 50,000 I.U. of Vitamin D3 a week and my estrogen was virtually non-existent! 

Happy go Lucky

So, I have been on my BHRT for three years now and it is going good!

I actually changed by hormones a little bit in the past two months so now I am on,

My trans-dermal cream of...

1.5mg of C-E2 Estrogen, 200mg of Progesterone, and 2mg of Testosterone (Testosterone Cypionate)

and

100mg of Progesterone taken orally at bedtime.

I have lost more weight so now I'm at around 128lbs!  I also got my BMI (fat) down below 20%!! Yipee

I will post pictures of before and after BHRT later.

Forgot my BHRT

So it is Monday (Montag) and I forgot my BHRT at home.  That means I am putting it on at 1600.  Should not be too bad since I put it on at 1420 on Saturday and 1230 on Sunday.

Also lined up for today is an Ultrasound of my Left Breast.  I have had a lump in there for the past few days and today I'm going to get a good look at it.

BLOOD!

So Blood Test Today... had to use both arms. Blek.

My right arm wasn't working too well  as you can see by the video below, but I took a breather, cooled off and lay down and a few minutes later the left arm went smoothly.


Warning: If you are squeamish or don't like blood be prepared.

A day in the life of an Intersexed

Haha, ok I don't even know how to start this...

Preface: We do all the laundry in the house together to conserve energy, all the women in the house own the same shirt in size S and to top it off I own in the color gray One medium, three smalls, and one extra small.

I do not produce body odor. Simple fact.  I sweat, but no body odor.  I do not have to use deodorant. Freakish, I know.  I think this might be why my sense of smell is SO good.  

So yesterday I grabbed a clean, fresh out of the washer, gray v-neck t-shirt (Target: boyfriend tee) and threw it on.  It was a warm day and I sweat on the way to work no problem, I don't smell.  I get to work and within 7 minutes of me being there I start to smell Body Odor, B.O. No one is in the office. Instantly I know what's wrong.  I don't have my shirt on I have someone else's on.  (insert horribly disgusted face here)

(Now everyone produces body odor, unless you're a mutant, and wears deodorant and washes their clothes to combat the smell that stays in your clothes.  But little does anyone know that that smell rarely washes out.  And it stays in the clothes.  For this reason it is nearly impossible for me to wear another persons shirt, especially a fitted T.) 

What do I do!?  I instantly jump in the car and rush to target.  Grab 4 shirts off the shelf, walk straight back to the dressing rooms switch shirts, throw the B.O. one my purse and go to pay for the 4 new shirts I got.  

It doesn't stop there. 

I get back to the office in record time (20 minute turn around) and smell check myself only to find out that the Damn B.O. shirt got that persons B.O. on my skin.  So what do I do, take that shirt off, wash my armpits with soap and water and then wipe them down with 99% Isopropyl Alcohol and put my 3rd t-shirt on of the morning and thankfully the last of the day.

Sidenote: I understand that the general populous might think me freaking out over wearing someone else's shirt is a little overreaction, I understand. But ugh that smell is horrible.

The 1st BHRT Lab.

This is the first lab before I began my Bio-identical Hormone Replacement.  Labs were taken on 28 September 2009 at 11:45am.  Yes, I was fasting for 12 hours prior and was starving!  I believe my full panel is 12 vials of blood. 

What I really like about Dr. Filbeck is that he gives me a "Lab Summary" that is easier to read.  Here it is...

 

As you can see, on Page 2, I made notes during my appointment.  The 80 to the right of VitaminD, 25-Hydroxy is what I am aiming for.  

Also, on Page 3 under subjective, you can see the main reasons that brought me to try Bio-identical Hormone Replacement.  Extreme emotions, weeping, highly sensitive, numerous hot flashes.  

Extreme emotions:  I would move through emotions very quickly and erratically.  z.b. laughing to sobbing

Weeping:  I would break out into tears.  No reason, I was just so sad. 

Highly Sensitive:  I work at a pool and have for years, I fell into the pool (has happened before with no problems) and had a complete melt down.  Sobbing the works. 

OR

I would be writing a paper for my Language and Gender course at CSUSM and broke down into tears in the Library.  and on top of it I had to print the paper, drop it by my professors office hour (sprachstunde), and then go all the way to my car.  Completely embarrassed and emotionally wrecked.  

In all honesty, I was crazy.

Ordering My Meds

So I am ordering my new BHRT today.  I am currently on my standard 2mg estradiol, 200mg Progesterone, 2mg Testosterone.  Wondering if I should do less Testosterone.  I never know if the Testosterone does that much or not.

Anyways, I'm on the phone with Dr. Filbeck now asking what type of Testosterone I am on just for those of you who were wondering.

Testosterone Cypionate is the technical name of the testosterone.

Still waiting on the name of the Progesterone 

I just asked if I should get a blood test to see what the Testosterone is even doing to me on a technical level.  Will have an answer about the Progesterone and the Blood test on Monday.

PREMARIN

Where can I start...well, I'll start when I started taking Premarin.  So I began taking Premarin when I was 12 years old and weighed 100 pounds maybe less.  This was the summer before my Freshman year in High School  It was my first form of HRT and everything was new.  I began on a  .065 dosage of the drug.  The little Maroon pill is all I remember from taking the Premarin. (second from the top)

My Experience:  I think one of the reasons my experience with Premarin was so unpleasant was both the doctors the drug and the fact that this was my first HRT and I was confused.  

Regardless,  I did not like Premarin.  I was only on Premarin for a few years, but in that time I grew taller and started to gain weight after the first year.  I assumed I was gaining weight because I was growing and because I was playing sports.  Ergo Facto weight gain.  I also had a major sweet tooth/carbohydrate craving, not like I had not had one before, but this was unnatural.  The hot flashed were not getting any better and neither was my insomnia.  

Every time I went to Children's Hospital in San Diego, where my former endocrinologist worked I was told that I was gaining too much weight, I was obese and that I needed to exercise every day.  I ALREADY WAS working out close to 20 hours a week between swimming, water polo a running regiment my parents put me on to loose the extra pounds.  Nothing helped.  

I went off Premarin at my mother's request, she found out how they made it(see below), and switched to Estrogen derived from wild Mexican yams.  I believe the name was Estradiol or Estrace...I will look into my medical records.  My cysts, extra lbs, hot flashes, insomnia did not subside with the new hormones.

Overall

Premarin is derived from PREgnant MARe's urINe.  Hence the name Pre-mar-in.  In order to maintain a high concentration of the hormone the Mares (female horses) are repeatedly inseminated.  Their   This perma pregnancy is what keeps Premarin stable.  (I pose this question, How can a horses hormone level in their urine stay constant? Regardless of the fact that they are pregnant each pregnancy and the hormones that go along with it are different.)

Here is a link: Images and Link.  Shows how they harvest the drug, gives a little more info.  

Lastly, the producer of Premarin is Wyeth.  This same company has a Anti-Bio Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy Campaign.  It is all over the Internet.  Being an Individual on Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy,  I can not support Wyeth.  

So I started Testosterone...

A couple of months ago I began taking testosterone as an experiment to see how it would effect me.  After two months on 3.0mg/day Testosterone and two months off Testosterone I am into my second testing of Testosterone.  This time my dosage is 2.0mg per day.

Upon completing the first round of Testosterone 3.0mg/day, I decided to discontinue the hormone for the following reasons.  

1. Minimal additional hair growth.  Which I don't need.

2. Possibly additional hair pigmentation, but not enough to notice

3. A little more energy/ bordering on too much.  Kept me awake longer and I slept less.  Very light sensitive.

4. Would get one major hot flash a day.  

However,  once I was off the Testosterone and Back onto the Estrogen/Progesterone only regiment I became more emotional, and very tired.  

So when it was time to re-order my prescription I decided to try Testosterone again.  This time, as stated before I chose 2.0mg/day.

I am in the middle of this regiment,  so far I like the addition of Testosterone.  I think.  It is very difficult to decipher the difference between hormones.  Yesterday, I felt like my hormones were off.  This might have been because I did not put my hormones on until around noon(1200) and the day before, Saturday 11/06/2011  I put my hormones on at 6am 0600.  I feel the time difference in hormone application had an effect on my emotions.