QUEEN of ESTROGEN, Part I

Heads-- I know it's really long, but since Melissa is blogging about what I'm getting into as well in attempts to save my health, so here's my part of the story. Part 1: how hormones affected my health.

A long-standing joke among my friends that the last thing I'd ever need more of is estrogen. People have actually told me that I'm the most emotional person they've ever met. While I take great pride in my ability to feel overwhelming passion-- think sensibility, not sense-- lately I've noticed that things have been even more over the top. I'm concerned.

What first gave away that there was something wrong? Sleep.


My sister has a "superhuman ability to compete at sheer Olympian levels of mommyness and wifery on only 4 hours of sleep". She's unstoppable! I used to have something similar; I kept four jobs and went to school full time, getting better grades than I ever had before, and still wasn't overwhelmed. I got hardly any sleep, and worked myself to the bone.

So when, after being on the pill for a few months, I started needing more and more sleep to function, I knew it couldn't just be me. I mean-- I'd done the workaholic with no REM to speak of thing before and knew I had it in me. So why, when I was willing to work that way again, did I require 10-11 hours of sleep DAILY to not feel exhausted? I'd have to miss class or work because I couldn't stay awake in the morning (which did wonders for my GPA, I can tell you). I knew from experience that I wasn't just a lazy bum-- so why on earth did I have to stay in bed all the time?

Eventually other odd symptoms started to click into place as habitual, and not just occasional. Headaches I'd never had before were common. Crushing depression was daily fare, when I had no cause to be depressed. Agonizing stomach cramps that ended with me writhing on the bed happened all the time. I caught every single bug that came my way, when I used to never be sick at all. I would faint, feel dizzy, vomit, spend *ahem* hours in the bathroom, and no matter what I tried all of those things would happen every day.

I went from being healthy, full of energy, and being skinnier than I ever had been (which still wasn't that skinny) to feeling like there was so sunlight, that walking from my bed to the couch was tiresome, and to being bed-ridden if I wished to be comfortable. Talk about your fast turnaround!

A friend suggested that it might just be PMS. "But," I thought, "This can't be PMS if it lasts all month long." I frantically searched through the contraindications of my birth-control pill, and it was all in there.

So I switched methods. Things got worse. My husband said "okay, no hormones for you" and I tried to get it all to leave my system, which, as the doctor said, could take 3 months or more. With every month that passed I started to feel better; the worst symptoms are gone, but some ugly ones remain. I still have no energy. I still feel exhausted and require 12 hours of sleep.

I suspected that I feel this way because my hormones were just really out of whack. Being me, I did a lot research and study to see if my suspicions had merit. Turns out, I was right-- but it wasn't just the birth control. Then I found out that the other things going wrong with me physically could also be caused by a hormonal imbalance!

What other stuff? My acne has flared, I constantly feel cold-- which never happened before either, and my previously broken leg has been killing me again right where the bones were busted (which makes it really hard to walk).

GET THIS! TOO MUCH ESTROGEN LEADS TO:
Weight gain, especially in the breasts, waist and mid-section of the body. Well, yeah. That's practically the only place I put on pounds.

Carbohydrate and sweet cravings. Um...

Immune system problems, allergies, catching colds easily. Oh boy, have I been sick!

Joint pain. Wait, what? Estrogen may be the cause of that?

Cold hands and feet. This is starting to freak me out.

Acne. It was better when I was on the pill, so I figured it could be related to hormones.

Panic attacks, depression, anxiety, feelings of dread, etc. Oh, so it's not just me!

Mood swings, PMS, irregular bleeding, cramps, and because associated with changes in hormonal levels in the body-- dysmennoreah. Psh! I don't have any mood swings! Ahaha. Anyway. Dysmenorreah is a beast, I can tell you; I figured out that I have that a few years ago. It stopped when I was on the pill (a common treatment for dysmenorreah because there's no ovulation), but when the pill was gone it all came back. Joy.

Bone loss. Okay... so my broken-leg hurting out of nowhere was ALSO related to this? You've gotta be kidding me.