Tuesday, July 24, 2007

My weekly ho-humming

So this being my first month on DHEA I'm not sure I expected anything in particular, but I do find it interesting that my luteal phase seems to be longer. In the months prior to this, I discovered that my cycle seems to be getting shorter and shorter and more and more messed up. The amount of estrogen/progesterone required to maintain a 28 day cycle has become, well, bizarre.

But this month my body seems to be working a bit better. I'm technically in the 2ww, but I think that's a lost cause this month. I finally figured out that the scribbled letters "tid" on the piece of paper he gave me meant 3 times a day, duh....must learn how to read bad Doctor handwriting someday. Is there a course in that?

And he wonders why I like to email him, silly man. Speaking of which I'm waiting to hear back from him. He's on vacation and it may take a while, but apparently, his assistant told me that almost all the previous studies attempted were done with women who had been on it for less than a month, even 2 weeks, and his is predicated on the idea that it takes 4 months for the body to respond to increasing follicle production. This article talks about that concept more.

He's trying to get women in his study who are on DHEA for 4 months then do IVF. Problem is, lots of them seem to be getting knocked up before he can IVF them! (Yes, I'd love this problem....) Good news, is though he has had a lot of women in the last year, and many many pregnancies. It will take until 9 months after the study is done to figure out the live baby rate, but I'm encouraged by the pregnancy rate myself.

And yes, I know there are no definitive randomized control trials just yet, but frankly, there aren't very many of those in fertility circles, and there never will be unless women like me agree to be guinea pigs, right? I mean, it's not like anything else I'm doing is working, so what the hell?

As for side effects, ehhhh, not that I'd notice yet. I already had acne, and I'm always irritated and anxious. Ok, not always, but it's pretty darn cloudy, rainy, blechy out there. Feels more like I'd always imagined London to be, or a Harry Potter novel & Dementors are roaming the earth. Is this just Toronto, or is there summer sun somewhere in North America? Please?

So, we'll see if Dr. Eyebrows has anything more to add. I'm trying to figure out if it matters to take oral estrogen but separately or estrogel or does it even matter? Do they interact? Don't know....never mind the rest of the shit I'm on.

I got a letter from my osteoporosis doctor. My vitamin D level is low and she wants me to take more. Of course, no blood test numbers, and there was more than Vit.D measured. No explanation, just a note from the nurse. I really prefer phone calls frankly. Makes it so much easier to ask questions, but they are all so afraid of PHIPA - (Personal Health Information Privacy Act) these days that we could all be dying and nobody sensible would help, because they are all so terrified of phoning us to tell us the news! And really I don't get it, why is it so much more private to write a letter than leave a message on voicemail? My mail is more likely to be stolen than my private voice mail or email to be broken into.

Hmmmm, I think the problem is the lawyers who seem to over interpreting these rules and stretching them into bizarrely unrecognizable versions of the original. I have a couple of funny ranty stories about that actually...have to post those.

More news on the camp situation btw, some good, some not so satisfying. Next post, I promise.

14 comments:

  1. Okay, totally not related to today's post, but you are quite the hit here in DC. Somehow, Sunny got onto the topic of "toys" and so I reminded/told folks about your recent adventure. Everyone was clamoring for more information. :)

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  2. We have plenty of sun. Not too hot either.

    That DHEA news is encouraging. I'm kind of lost on your plans - will you do IVF in 4 months??

    Make the next post sooner rather than later please - I want to hear about camp!

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  3. Sorry Sara!

    No, I don't need IVF in the sense of having blocked tubes or MF as a problem, but if PGD meant I could avoid ever having to make another decision about ending a Trisomy 18 pregnancy, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

    Unfortunately, even if DHEA works I may never get enough eggs to try IVF so I may just have to do it the old-fashioned way.

    You know, with a Cone. snicker...

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  4. Gotta hear more about the camp thing. Torture to leave me hanin' like that.

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  5. I am laughing my ass off - about the Cone!

    My side effects have lessened, but I am only taking it twice a day.

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  6. The results from his other patients taking DHEA sounds promising. It would be nice if it happened for me! I started taking it again this month.

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  7. Sounds promising. isn't My reality taking that too. Its apparently kicking her arse poor luv :(

    Hope you get off better than that. Good luck with it! X

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  8. Oh hang on, she commented, I don't always read other comments you see :)

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  9. I've done the DHEA for 2 weeks, and have the same stuff. Maybe some acne, and I'm always irritated and anxious -- who wouldn't be after yet another BFN from poor stim response along with a truculent 4-year-old?

    My DHEA doesn't say micronized though and I wonder if I should change and see if I get more side effects.

    Spill the camp story d*mn it!
    Oh, by the way, its sunny here in Buffalo!

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  10. Wow... that study sounds very interesting! Good luck to you with it!

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  11. This DHEA thing sounds amazing. I'd like to give that a try in the future. Was it really hard to get a prescription for? Hope it helps your cycle!

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  12. The DHEA sounds like something really great. I can't wait to see what the finall outcome will be from you takeing it. Does it increase your eggs or just the quality?

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  13. Hi! I have been taking 50-75 mg DHEA per day for a little over a month now (I started at 50 mg and went up to 75mg about a week ago), and my luteal phase has also lengthened. I too feel like my body is working better. I have been looking for an IVF doctor who will work with me on infertility using the DHEA, and wondered if your doctor was looking for more women to participate in his study? I will have been on the DHEA for four months starting November, and am planning to get IVF abroad, as my insurance won't cover it here.

    I notice that I am getting a little acne, but nothing horrendous; and, I remember that when I was in my 20's I had similar amounts of acne, it was no big deal. I think that if we want to get our hormones back to the levels they were at the time when we were at our most fertile, we need to expect to deal with the little side effects we dealt with then. What I read in Dr. Gleicher's 4-month study and in the data from a clinic in New York, was that DHEA improves both quality and quantity of the eggs.

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  14. Anonymous, I think my doctor might be looking, I don't know, but if you email me at aurelia.cotta@gmail.com I'll pass on his clinic name and contact info.

    He'd most likely say that anyone in his study has to be monitored by his clinic and do IVF there, so he can record the protocol, etc. But he does take patients who travel to see him, so who knows?

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