Ok, so there's a link on the homepage of MSN today to an article on Hormone Replacement Therapy. I read it, and even now, in my bioidentical hormonally induced state of perfectness, I got steamed! There are so many of us smart and savvy 50-something women out there, who will click on that article hoping to find some insight into our symptoms - only to find what turns out to be a reprint of an article from May of 2006!
In my humble opinion, this was a poorly researched article in the first place, if only for the reason that it never even mentions bioidenticals. Not to mention that it reads like a dashed off rephrasing of the AP news articles of a couple of weeks ago.
The callus attitude of that article is, if not the main reason, at least one of the reasons why I started this blog. I felt myself descending into some alien world of sleeplessness, crankyness, and worst of all what I thought was creeping insanity. Flashes of paranoia, tempered by brazen bitchiness, confusion, lethargy - oh and not to mention the hot flashes. I went to the doctor for some of the symptoms, but fretted and fumed over the ones I thought were a slow progression to the funny farm. All the while of course, tending to my family, doing my job and - as women do - making sure everyone else felt good, even if I didn't. And worst of all, I felt like I was all alone.
There is a lot of information out there - lots of blogs, lots of websites, all claiming to know what's right. I do not claim to have the answer for everyone. Its just that once I started reading about other women who were experiencing the same things I was, and when I started researching the many ways they dealt with it - I felt better. At least, even if I was going insane, I wasn't the only one.
The thing is, I wasn't going insane. I was just experiencing a very normal phase of life, but in an age where everything is talked about more, and information shared more freely, I found out I didn't have to suffer in silence like my mother and older sisters. I read about alternatives, I went to my doctor and even asked her to refer me to a specialist. After what turned into about a year of trial and error, and more error, and friends trying to be helpful, I returned to my female nurse practitioner whom I trust, and who will work with me to make me and keep me healthy. She prescribed bioidentical (plant based) progesterone capsules, taken once at night 6 days a week. The difference is nothing short of amazing. I've been taking them for a little more than a month now, and what I notice most is that I'm more energetic and less bitchy. I still get a couple of hot flashes a day and I still wake at 3 a.m., but I'm just happier about it now.
My hope is that if just one person reads this and because of it, can look at this stage of life a little differently, then I've made a difference.
No comments:
Post a Comment