One year anniversary

A year ago today I had my hysterectomy. I never thought I'd say this, but it's the best thing I've ever done. I feel so much better; no ovarian pains, no PCOS and best of all no more periods!! While it was a long (and quite painful) recovery, I'm glad I did it now. I do take a very low dose estrogen patch and while it works, I'm sure I could still go up a bit (especially since I upped all my other hormones). I still get hot flashes now and then, especially if I'm late in replacing the patch. But I really don't want to go up any higher in my dose. All those worries about cancer and heart issues are always there. One year later and doing great is a pretty awesome place to be tho!!

New Year, New Update

Happy New Year!! OMG, it's been a long time. The end of the year is/was very hectic for me. No excuses tho, I just didn't make the time either. I did want to report after I got back from Seattle in November, but didn't. So here it is.

I was worried over some symptoms I'd been having. Every little symptom brings a worry with it. So I was looking forward to going to Seattle to get things checked and have Dr. L give me his advice. As it turns out, when I thought I was helping by lowering my hydro (it was down to 12.5mg), I wasn't. My thyroid was also a tad low and of course my IGF-1 was still low. All hints to explain most if not all my symptoms. Here's my labs:

Thyroid: 1.12 (midrange was 1.26 and they like to see it up more) So I'm to go from 125mcg to 137.5)
IGF-1: 54 (On .4mg every other day, now I have to take it 5 x a week - this is going to be hard for me)
ACTH: 39 (This is mid range, but top range is like 63 or something crazy. Still worried about this tho)
Cortisol: .5
CST: 1.8 (Ok, so with the cortisol below 1 and CST not budging, I think my adrenals are still sleeping.)

They also tested my electrolytes which they said were normal and aldosterone & renin, which they just said were normal too.

Dr. L put me back up to 20mg of hydro. He wanted to see if that, along with the other med adjustments will help. We'll check again in 6+ weeks. I talked to him again about my ACTH and he says going up to 20mg of hydro may bring my cortisol up and my ACTH down some. He swears it's fine tho (that will always be a worry for me).

Since then I have felt soooo much better. I did have to up my estrogen as well, cuz I started getting hot flashes after about a week on the new doses. But I do feel so much better and have much more energy. I did end up losing about 8 lbs, which is more that I have my energy back more than anything! I think I gained a few of those pounds over xmas eating so much! But I'm working on it again! I have my blood test to check all my new levels at the end of Jan. I also have to do a DEXA scan to see how my bones are.

Other than that, life is good. I enjoyed the holidays with my kids and my husband. I like being the room mom in my daughter's class and getting to know all the kids. I like being part of the PTA and part of the Mom's in Touch group... Not much else is new at this point tho, and hopefully I will post again soon!!