Monday, July 2, 2007

Second opinion...

Well, my dear friend A, reccommended a naturopath and the T and I went to see him. After listening to me and reviewing my blood work he was convinced I didn't have POF, he was the first person to doubt about the Dx. He gave me some herbal tinctures and fresh herbs to make tea and I started taking them along with my HRT pills.
His opinion on my pills was that it was OK to take them for one month to get my FSH and LH back to normal levels but after that we needed to work with my body so it can produce the estrogen by ITSELF and not tricking it by the estrogen supplied by the HRT.

After the appointment the T and I were hopeful and decided that I will finish the package of HRT, and I will not start a new one. We wanted to see how my body responded without the HRT, just taking the natural remedies. Once I finished the last pill, I got my induced period on December the 2nd, and a new cycle without HRT started.

Much to my surprise I started my period on my own on December 27th, no HRT needed... and I must admit that I have never been so happy about actually having a period!

Well, after that we went to see an endocrinologist (RE) for a second opinion. She seemed positive and thought we were on the right track being off HRT, she wanted to give my body some time to let go all the effects of chemicals before doing further testing. She seemed concerned about my weight and my training level but I'have had a knee injury the week before so I had quit the training for the marathon, so she said to keep it easy.

So, the next period was annovulatory and I developed a functional cyst but after that the next one was normal. I had more tests done on CD4 ordered by the RE: An LH/FSH-RH stimulation test, DHEA, and 17-alpha-hydroxyprogesterone.

All the tests came back N O R M A L !!! ....I had gained 4 pounds due to the lack of exercise and the RE told us her opinion: She thought IT WASN'T POF. I had a chronic hormonal imbalance due to a combination of things: being on BCP for so long, lack of body fat needed to produce estrogen (due to overtraining) and stress. She put me on a diet to increase my body fat and therefore my BMI and the next two months I gained 6 more pounds. My cycles were fairly regular and on my own, no HRT needed at all !!!

After dealing with the POF diagnose it is hard to believe that it was all a bad dream. POF is cruel sometimes because it is possible to have it and then suddenly experience a few months of normal cycles and then appear again!... That is the "beauty" of it, you never know what to expect, if you are on a normal cycle it could very well be your LAST ONE...

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