Bits & pieces of life

First, I apologize for taking so long to post another column. This happens sometimes when I’m deep in reporting for a story, as I had been for the Sacramento News & Review these last few weeks, and my head was crowded with the story I was working on.

Unfortunately, I can’t mention it here, at this moment, because we still have two weeks before it publishes, and I don’t want the competition getting hold of it before it comes out, and coming out w/ their own version. Sacramento is a small newspaper town. Rest assured that when it’s published, I’ll post here, along with the supplemental information that I wasn’t able to fit into the orig. story.

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My thoughts turn toward the personal today, as a number of you were kind enough to ask me how things were going with my health.

Like many who live with fibromyalgia, it’s been a mixed bag of late, exacerbated by the hormonal ups & downs of menopause, topped off with still-occurring daily migraines. There are days when I get no sleep for 48 hours straight, which makes all the other symptoms flare up, and then it sends me crashing to the ground.

What this does for my mood is make me, by turns, snarky, teary, confused, and just plain out-of-sorts. More than that, it makes me feel isolated — from colleagues, friends, and family. This is perhaps the worst. On those days, I do just that — isolate — because it’s sort of a protection mechanism — as much for everyone else as for myself.

On my “good” days — when I’ve had sleep, when the pain is at a manageable level — I call a friend. Yesterday, it was Cindy, and obstensibly, it was just to go run a couple errands (my car had died), but it gave us time to be together and lifted my mood considerably.

On another front, I’m still off sugar (since last posting 6/5), and have found an even better sugar substitute that Stevia. It’s organic Blue Agave, made for Trader Joe’s and is a liquid. The friend who turned me onto this was correct — it’s sweeter, and without that “mediciney” aftertaste. A winner! I’ll be going in for new labs @ the second week in July to test my blood sugar to see what difference it has made.

Well, my friends, that’s about it for now.

Until next time.
Keep the faith.
–AY

Tales from the front: Sleep? What sleep?

Menopause is Mother Nature’s way of telling you that both sleep and clothes are overrated. — Amy Yannello 5/24/10

More tales from the newly-initiated: Third night in a row that I didn’t get to sleep until 6 a.m.

I caught a few zzzzs from 6 a.m.-11 a.m., but I’m quickly tiring of this routine of staying up all night in my chair. And, yes, I take nighttime meds to assist me in sleep already — so this is clearly a horse of a different color.

As for the hot flashes, they’re not typical — at least not yet. They’re more like hot & cold flashes. I layer up, then strip down. Bundle up, then peel off. It’s a royal pain.

Recent labs revealed that I am woefully low on Vitamin D — I knew my avoidance of the sun would one day bite me in the ass, but this reading was ridiculous. I basically had trace elements in my system. So, it’s mega-loading the D, starting about 20 min. ago — so I should be feeling like a new woman in about an hour.

All joking aside, supplements do take time, but my doc says that Vit. D is one essential that kicks in quickly and is noticeable, so I am hopeful. What we’re looking for is an increase in energy.

Also just finished my first week of ERT (Estrogen-replacement therapy), and will stay on that for another three weeks before seeing my doc and discussing whether it’s doing any good. So far, I’m not noticing any reduction in the adverse symptoms I’ve been experiencing, but it’s only been one week, and I’m on a really low dose of the Vivelle Dot (an estrogen patch). In other words, there’s wiggle room. (The good news: I’m not having any adverse side-effects from the patch — unless not sleeping is a side-effect. NOTE TO SELF: CK THIS.)

I have no energy for anything these days it seems, which goes a ways to explain why I haven’t posted anything here in quite awhile. I just haven’t had the gumption.

But, I did manage to finish a new piece for the SN&R last week (publishes this Thursday) on the Sacramento County Animal Shelter, so hopefully that will help get the word out on their “Save Our Shelter” campaign.

I must go forage for food. My internal schedule’s off, and I’ve waited too long to eat again. Must rectify this.

Until next time.

Keep the faith.

AY

Ethics, horses & mood swings — some trouble with HRTs

Well, the good news is that I’m not losing my mind.

The unpleasant news is that, at just shy of 48, I’m in menopause.

Well. Damn.

So those unprovoked fits of tears, and bouts of anger, just my body’s way of telling me I’m woefully low on estrogen, and, most likely, also on progestrone and testosterone as well (yes, women have testosterone.)

Labs still have to tell us how much, but other indicators are already there, such as not having had a cycle for more than a year and a half. (My doc says that, at my age, not having a period for more than six months indicates that you’re at the end of your cycle.)

So when she suggested that we try me out for a month on estrogen replacement therapy to see if there’s an immediate improvement in my mood, I agreed. She said, however, that we would be just “starting” the process, and we would “finesse” it later — meaning decide on exactly which hormone replacement therapy is right for me, and which delivery system (cream, patch, pill, et, al).

When she mentioned the drug “Premarin,” it sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t readily place it, and we just went on talking, her saying she was going to start me out on a very low dose and see what effect it would have.

But when I got home, I went back to the Sacramento News & Review archives and remembered: Premarin is a drug manufactured by Wyeth Laboratories and produced by making mares stay tethered up in their stalls, day and night, with no room to turn around, and KEPT PREGNANT, nearly year-round, to produce urine, to make the drug.

Can you say, “ugh.”

Thirty-five THOUSAND mares annually are used in this collection process, my reporting found.

To think that horses are still being killed for the manufacturing of this drug is abhorrent.

Luckily, today, there are alternatives, and I’m sure that when I bring this to my doctor’s attention, she will prescribe me a plant-based Estrogen HRT, or at least one that isn’t made as Premarin is made.

My doctor today was somewhat prophetic when she said that we were opening up a “Pandora’s Box” when we talked of menopause and HRT, and that we would have many other discussions before we were done.

Choosing not to take Premarin is but one we will have.

Until next time.

Keep the faith.

AY