Fast forward one marriage breakup, a new relationship, two house moves and three years later to early 2010. Life is calmer than it was and a visit to a different (newly qualified) GP sparks his interest in why I'm on Yasmin when I've over 35 with high blood pressure and would I like to try the progestogen only mini-pill Cerazette instead? (I'd also been back to GP and off Yasmin for one month in summer 2009 for headaches which didn't go away when I came off)
I thought to myself that this was always going to need checking at some stage so why not now? Yes please, I'll switch to Cerazette. Not immediately but around 2-3 weeks later, back came the hot flushes with a vengeance, and back I went to the surgery to have another FSH blood test done. This time it was 82! So even worse than the 63 back in 2007. This time it dawned on me that there's something very wrong that could be permanently irreversible - and that realisation hit me hard.
I immediately bought myself another private gynaecologist appointment as I wanted answers. She confirmed I was in premature menopause/premature ovarian failure (interchangeable terms it seems - that's another discussion in itself), did an internal exam then asked about children as clearly I would need egg donation, and I could be referred to a clinic who could send me on a fertility tourism "holiday" to get "An Egg". She was obviously trying to help me as quickly and cheaply as possible but to me:
(a) I want further tests to see exactly what is wrong with my body
(b) no-one has looked at possible causes?? ...and
(c) if I wish to have children (this diagnosis is not just about having children!) then I may not necessarily want to "buy" a cheap, unidentified egg off some poor woman in Eastern Europe like I'm buying a pair of shoes???
I was offered and then unoffered an ultrasound, as she realised I had paid for the appointment directly, and didn't have health insurance to cover the cost. She then recommended I stay on Yasmin and not HRT, as that would prepare my body better for future egg donation pregnancy (didn't explain why?), and I was to come back once my partner and I had decided we wished to go ahead with egg donation. Great. So until that time then, it doesn't matter that my body has gone through menopause too early with all the possible long term problems that brings, all the concerns about me staying on Yasmin have gone out the window, and I'll just stay on pause then in the middle of medical nowhereville for an undetermined length of time......
Showing posts with label follicle stimulating hormone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label follicle stimulating hormone. Show all posts
Thursday, 24 February 2011
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
My story so far, part 1
My story dates back to 2006 when I decided it was time to give my body a break from pretty much non stop use of the pill, namely Dianette and Yasmin, since I was a teenager.
My periods were very light and started skipping and I began to get hot flushes and night sweats more commonly associated with a much later time of life. I remember naturally assuming that coming off the pill would mean my body would take time to reset itself and get back to normal. During that year, the threat of redundancies at work also came to light adding to the stress, hence not worrying overly about it.
In early 2007, things were still not right so I saw my GP who recommended a blood test in which my FSH levels were tested. FSH is Follicle Stimulating Hormone which is the hormone responsible for sparking up the menstrual cycle each month, sending a signal from your pituitary gland in the brain to the follicles in your ovaries to release an egg. A normal level for a woman before menopause would be approx from 0 to 10 (depending on who you talk to!), as a normally menstruating woman would not need much FSH to release an egg. From 10 - 20 indicates means you've got problems and anything over 25, we're talking menopausal ranges as it means that your brain is sending more and more of the FSH signal to get the egg released but your ovaries are not interested anymore.
My level came back as 63. Not just I've got a problem or I'm pre-menopausal even, but straight through to the other side. There it was on paper. I was post-menopausal at just 33 years old.
I made an appointment to see a gynaecologist though there were problems with when he could see me, so I decided not to see him. I was going through a hellish time with all the flushes every hour, no sleep, night sweats all sorts, plus I also had other stressful problems going on in my life too so what did I do next? I lied to the GP, said my periods were back, must be stress and I was happily back on Yasmin pretending none of that ever happened. Yes it was denial, but I thought that I needed to sort out all my other stresses first, then when my life had calmed down and I was more settled again, I'd come off the pill again and then everything would be back to normal, right?
My periods were very light and started skipping and I began to get hot flushes and night sweats more commonly associated with a much later time of life. I remember naturally assuming that coming off the pill would mean my body would take time to reset itself and get back to normal. During that year, the threat of redundancies at work also came to light adding to the stress, hence not worrying overly about it.
In early 2007, things were still not right so I saw my GP who recommended a blood test in which my FSH levels were tested. FSH is Follicle Stimulating Hormone which is the hormone responsible for sparking up the menstrual cycle each month, sending a signal from your pituitary gland in the brain to the follicles in your ovaries to release an egg. A normal level for a woman before menopause would be approx from 0 to 10 (depending on who you talk to!), as a normally menstruating woman would not need much FSH to release an egg. From 10 - 20 indicates means you've got problems and anything over 25, we're talking menopausal ranges as it means that your brain is sending more and more of the FSH signal to get the egg released but your ovaries are not interested anymore.
My level came back as 63. Not just I've got a problem or I'm pre-menopausal even, but straight through to the other side. There it was on paper. I was post-menopausal at just 33 years old.
I made an appointment to see a gynaecologist though there were problems with when he could see me, so I decided not to see him. I was going through a hellish time with all the flushes every hour, no sleep, night sweats all sorts, plus I also had other stressful problems going on in my life too so what did I do next? I lied to the GP, said my periods were back, must be stress and I was happily back on Yasmin pretending none of that ever happened. Yes it was denial, but I thought that I needed to sort out all my other stresses first, then when my life had calmed down and I was more settled again, I'd come off the pill again and then everything would be back to normal, right?
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