Tuesday, August 17, 2010

TTFN Aunt Flo

Aunt Flo is about a month overdue. Usually I dread the monthly visits, but now I long for the arrival.

I tried a home pregnancy test two weeks ago (ok, I was really optimistic for a week before that) and it was a big fat negative. Then I began noticing these strange hot flashes that would randomly occur during the day and some nights I would wake up in a sweat. I mentioned this to my acupuncturist and she advised me to make an appointment with my doctor as it might be a change in hormones. Oh, boy.

A week ago today I went to my doctor and told her my story; the whole story of the embryo transfers and the pregnancy losses -- that's when I had a mini meltdown and shed a couple of tears. She asked if we were going to continue with the fertility treatment and I said that was it. I told her we are looking into adoption and she was really supportive. She also told me that she has helped five of her patients adopt. Guess I never thought about doctors acting as liaison between patients want to adopt and patients who want to give up their baby for adoption. I must remember this when we move back to Canada.

She told me she wanted bloodwork drawn to see if I might be pregnant or if my hormones are crazy, and if I might be going into early menopause. Yikes. I replied that if I was going into early menopause then I wanted hormone replacement. So, I got the bloodwork drawn and the results came back: my estrogen is low and my FSH is 53! Agggh! I'm only 41! Yes, I am in early menopause. Oh, boy. Luckily I had an appointment for acupuncture later that day and that calmed me down. My acupuncturist pointed out through my tears that at least I have taken action and I am doing something about it.

I made an appointment with a gynecologist (who my doctor referred me to) for this Thursday. Hopefully she will tell me all about early menopause and hormone replacement therapy because I am freaked out about the negative impact of low estrogen on my body. So, I guess this may be good bye for Aunt Flo and me.

3 comments:

Illanare said...

I'm so sorry :-( Thinking of you.

AmyG said...

Oh, MAN! You didn't need to make this transition NOW. How about another decade or so? I hope you get great info from the gynecologist. You're definitely way ahead of the game in terms of self-care.

Silver said...

I'm sorry you've had this news, but pleased you have a supportive doc and another possible source of help on the adoption front. I do know a couple of friends who struggled with IF and were almost relieved to hit the menopause because it gave them a reason to stop that came from outside themselves. I don't know - it must be such a personal range of emotions.