Type Dancing

Fertility Journal Entry 9009

I am now 5 weeks into the Lupron therapy. From the beginning, I had hot flashes. I’d be sitting in my cube at work, and feel a sudden wave of heat pass over me. In a minute, I’d need a sweater. I also started waking up 10 times a night wondering if it was time to get up yet. I called the doctor’s office to see if I should increase my progesterone dosage.

“Oh! Ha! Ha! So now you are getting a preview of what menopause is like. Ha! Ha!”

I had called when a nurse was on hand. One I had never talked with before. She seemed entirely entertained by my predicament. I asked her if I should increase the progesterone dose.

“Not if you can help it. Cut out caffeine, exercise more, and reduce your stress -- whatever you can do to not have to take more drugs. But let us know if you do decide to increase it. Tee-hee.”

OK. That made sense. I thanked her, hung up, and began to plan for my attack on menopause. Instead of exercising 5 days a week, I would exercise every day, come hell or high water. I would stop by my favorite gourmet coffee shop and pick up the darkest roasted decaf beans I could find, Peppercorn’s Dark French Roast Decaf, and mix it into my regular dark roast coffee. Don’t tell Dave.

I had lead the attack for about 2 weeks, still feeling the hot flashes and still watching the huge, glowing dial of my clock half the night, when I went in for my second Lupron shot. This time, I had decided to do the 3-month dose. I could handle the symptoms. No problem. One of the doctors in the practice saw me this time. She immediately started writing out a prescription for Lupron. “We’ll take care of those nasty symptoms!”

I explained that I was already on one half pill of Lupron a day.

“Oh! OK. Then you should increase your dose to a full pill for two weeks, see if the symptoms go away, and then reduce the dosage again to see if you can continue that way without the symptoms returning.”

So much for my alternative health plan.

When I got back home, I thought of something. Even if I reduce the obvious symptoms of menopause (hot flashes, heart palpitations, mood swings) how can I know I have reduced bone loss? We didn’t measure my bone density before I started Lupron. Even if we measured it now, how will we know it has decreased? We’d have to measure it throughout the therapy to know what is going on, and, even then, we might not be able to increase the progesterone to a level that would reduce bone loss noticeably. But I am not a doctor. I don’t understand the larger picture here.

Sigh. I guess this means another call to the doctor’s office. I wonder if I will get the hilarious holistic nurse or the medicating doctor. You know, health information is so hard to evaluate. Especially when it comes to women’s medicine. Sometimes I feel like I am in a George Orwellian version of Bridget Jone’s Diary: a little less scary than 1994, but not quite as uproariously funny as the diary.

I am sleeping better, but still getting regular hot flashes. I wonder how my bones are doing? Stay tuned.

Posted by ellen at October 13, 2004 04:37 PM