Today I went to my follow up 3 month appointment to discuss how I was feeling on the hormone replacement therapy.
Truth be told my 'menopause' symptoms have subsided, no more hot flashes or any other nasty thing I was dealing with before.
However
and it's a big
HOWEVER
I have felt like absolute shit since starting this regimen of hormones. Now, the thing about HRT and adding hormones back into your body once they are gone is that there is no one size fits all cure all. Every person will react differently to their protocol. So it's basically 'try this and see how it works'.
So we tried the estrogen patch and progesterone pill for 3 months.
And since starting that protocol my sleep has gone from bad to worse, there are days (some times multiple days) where I would just be in a funk and couldn't get out of it, my anxiety has spiked in ways it never has before (and lets be honest I'm already a ball of anxiety on normal days, I've gained over 15 pounds and I can't stand myself for it. Know how strict I am with my low carb diet and not changing what I'm eating but consistently gaining weight has been downright depressing.
With all that being said and with her listening ear on doc said nope we're not going to keep you on those meds.
Sigh. Of. Relief.
So we are going back to birth control. We are going back to Lo Loestrin which I was on years ago before insurance stopped having to cover all birth controls (don't get me started on this soap box). I had to fight every month for insurance to cover it and eventually gave in and stopped fighting, thus, changing to the NuvaRing a couple years back.
Truth be told I *LOVED* Lo Loestrin. It was probably the only birth control I felt great on.
So, we are going to go back on that and doc said she will write any and all letters needed so that insurance will at least cover some of the hefty price tag (its patented because of its low hormones so there are no 'generic' versions).
Now, birth control isn't a great options for those with POF/POI. Usually the go-to is hormone replacement therapy. But again, each person is different.
I will, however, have to be very careful about any blurred or spotted visions I'm having, headaches, abdominal pain etc. If I start having ANY of those I have to stop taking the meds IMMEDIATELY and call into the office.
So today I stop HRT and start back on BC.
And in 2 weeks I'm buying an elliptical so I can stop feeling like shit about my weight gain.
And in 1 month I have a follow up because my blood pressure wasn't too great at this appointment (I did say I felt like shit, right?!)
