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.