Hormones and Menopause - DISCUSS!
My success rate with hormone replacement therapy has not been that great since surgery. First, my OBGYN forgot to put a hormone patch on me post-surgery, which I didn't notice until a week after surgery. I came to my mom, who was graciously helping us out (AKA cleaning my cluttered TINY apartment), and said, "Mom, I feel crazy." She replied that I should have a hormone patch on my hip and promptly made me drop my drawers in my front room to find it. Needless to say, it wasn't there, hence the craziness.
As an aside, I thought the anti-nausea patch that the anesthesiologist put behind my ear was my hormone patch and, as a result, had been walking around with it on for a full week. So stylish.
I called the doctor and made an appointment for the next morning, where I learned that my Obamacare plan didn't cover hormone patches, just old school pills. I just wanted to not be the mean crazy lady, so I took what I was given. I was STILL crazy, just not as crazy as I was without hormones.
Back to the doctor I went, and there was a new mom in the waiting room with the cutest new twins. As I quietly admired them and secretly hated her guts, I barely made it to the scale before I was a sobbing, ugly mess. (This is the real reason I see a female OBGYN. Sobbing, screaming, crazy women don't scare her as much as they would a man.) She gave me more kleenex, doubled my dose, and sent me on my way.
A week later I was out of pills (thank goodness it wasn't birth control!) and even crazier. I spoke with one of the office gals, Leah, who was nice enough to let the doctor know about my dilemma. Commence horrendous problems! The doctor ordered an estraidol blood test to prove to the insurance that my body wouldn't absorb pills, which (surprise) came back low. She then called in a prescription for the patch, and it was rejected by the insurance. My pharmacist is awesome, and filled out his side of the forms and got them back to Dr. Reddington's office the same day. Then I had to call my insurance and have them fax the other portion to Dr. Reddington as well.
I got my patch today, and my bargain basement co-pay was $85.00. Retail is $200.00. Thank goodness I pay for insurance? I guess? But the good thing is I AM A NEW WOMAN. I FEEL SO NORMAL! I didn't think I would ever feel healthy or normal again. I want to cry because I have been up since 9:00AM today, and I was up and doing things all day yesterday, too. It's a miracle, no joke! The coolest part is that I put the patch on at 3:00PM and by 5:00PM, I felt like a normal human for the first time in ten years. TEN YEARS, people! I want to cry just typing that.
This is The Important Thing
I missed out on ten years of my life because I just went to my regular doctor with pelvic pain, and I was referred to an OBGYN who said I had PCOS and put me on birth control. When I returned the next year with continued pain, and worsening pain during sex, I was told that I wasn't doing it right. Feeling defeated, I just got pap smears when needed and lived in exhaustion and immense pain for 10 years. If I hadn't gone to the emergency room thinking that I had appendicitis, I can't even imagine what would have happened. If you are sick, if you are in pain, if it doesn't get better, be persistent! Get a second, third, and fourth opinion! Spend as much money on your health as necessary, because not living, just existing, is not worth all the money you'll spend working to get better.
Each new doctor I'd see, each time I'd tell my story AGAIN, and each time they'd poke and prod AGAIN, I became more sure that maybe it was in my head. But it wasn't. It was in my ovaries. They were making my whole body sick. I was so sick that I couldn't work, I couldn't keep plans with friends or family, and I spent every dime I had trying to get better. I tried Eastern medicine, I tried every new fad, every new diet, every new concoction, all in hopes that I would feel better, and I never did. And it wasn't until my ovaries were the size of softballs and had started to become cancerous that I knew it wasn't in my head.
To those of you struggling, listen to your body. DON'T GIVE UP. Advocate for your care. Pray to Heavenly Father to lead you to the right medical professionals, no matter what kind they are, and then make getting healthy your full time job.
I am so grateful to feel normal. I'm not, nor will I ever be, a size 4 beauty queen. I'm not queen of the crossfit gym (let's be honest, I'd rather write, read or sew...), but I am normal, and I shed tears of gratitude to be normal today.
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