Watch those male/female hormones

December 23, 2011

I started a pretty good crash in late August with hypo type fatigue and then

serious adrenal fatigue/stress by September. After you've been sick awhile, you

know the difference between plain hypo tiredness and adrenal fatigue/stress. I

was feeling anxiety that I hadn't felt in years. Into the fall my brain fog got

worse and worse. I lost motivation, sat around all day staring at the TV, took

care of my cats and fed myself, tried to keep up with the familiar work that I

had to do for the business, but that was about it. I remember that my typing

skills got bad. Laundry piled up. Pretty soon I realized I could not drive

anywhere. I didn't go outside for many days at a time. Felt stressed, fast heart

beat on exertion. Was tired wheeling the trash container to the street. Gained

20 pounds over 3 months. Face got puffier, eyes more dull, aches and pains

returned. I tried again to increase my thyroid medication, P-thyroid (compounded

porcine in olive oil from Women's International), and worked with tiny doses, as

I've always had to increase in small bits. Had tried increasing twice before

during this year, but no go. This time I was using 1/32 grain pills. Got 1/16

grain in, but the third pill made me a bit hyper, so I left it at 1/16th grain

total increase as of later October. After my usual 6-8 weeks of waiting, I

started to feel a bit more clear headed. But then it got worse again. Had to

wait for my appointment with Dr. Spurlock on 12/2 to dig deeper. We looked at my

female hormones again, hadn't checked them in awhile. Whoa. My estradiol had

dropped by half from my high of 88 in late 2009. Got a new prescription and

within 4 days the fog lifted, and I was back to doing things in a day that it

took a week to do, or not at all. Started driving again, no problem. Will still

try to work in thyroid medication, tiny doses and slowly. All of my other

numbers looked good except the female hormones. And perhaps my testosterone.

Might pump that up a little bit after I talk to Dr. S again in January. He had

pointed it out as not really optimal.

Bottom line: fatigue, anxiety, sleep issues, brain fog - all can be symptoms of

thyroid hormone, female/male hormone, Iron, cortisol issues. You need a doctor

who knows to look at it all. We went too long without looking at the female

hormones this time, so I'm going to return to quarterly blood work and consults.

I want to stay ahead of this crazy ongoing ball juggling process of dealing with

balancing hormones. Imbalances can creep up on you when you least expect it. You

must look at it all, all the time.

* climbs down off soapbox *

Sara

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