“I thought I was going into early senility”
I went through a period of time in my early fifties when I thought I was losing my mind. I couldn't sleep, which had never been a problem for me. I couldn't remember ANYTHING! I forgot words - "you know - that thing that the water runs into in the counter" when I couldn't come up with the word for the sink. I worked as a receptionist and I would have to ask people 5 times what their name was before I could get it all written down on their work order. I had hair-trigger emotions - crying way too easily or snapping someone's head off for no real reason. I was scared. I didn't want to live that way - I even had thoughts of suicide since I didn't want to have my family deal with early dementia, especially combined with the typical longevity of women in my family.
I happened to read an article about how hormones can affect one's brain and something clicked. I had my hormones and blood checked by a doctor who specialized in this area. My blood counts were all great. My hormones, on the other hand, were gone. My numbers were so low, the doctor commented "No wonder you feel like crap." He put me on a customized blend of several bio-identical hormones.
Within 2 weeks, I was sleeping again! I felt like myself again within a month. I had had hot flashes too - I called them "warm flashes." I'd feel too warm, but didn't have the red-faced, break-into-a-sweat, hot flashes some women get. But - I had my "warm flashes" hourly or even more frequently. Sweater on, sweater off. Covers on, covers off. After starting the bioidentical hormone therapy, their frequency dropped to a few times a day. I still have them 12 years later, just not nearly so often. But the flashes were never the reason I sought help. To me, they were a nice side effect of starting to use the bioidentical cream therapy that rescued my mental state.
I am still using my bioidentical cream many years later for a couple of reasons:
1) My family has a history of osteopenia and osteoporosis. There is little family history of heart problems and no family history of female cancers.
2) I am so scared to death that going off them will affect my brain/moods/sleep back to that dark place, that I'm not willing to even try. I've tried skipping it for a few days and I immediately start having trouble sleeping.
Please, please, please don't take my bioidentical hormones away from me!!!! I don't believe that any synthetic hormone drug available will help me like the customized blend I'm taking now does. It will also cost way too much for me to afford (and I seriously doubt insurance, when I'm lucky enough to have health insurance, would cover it). I am VERY happy with my bioidentical hormones - I've had no side effects and they help me tremendously!
Share
