Self Medicating Is Dengerous

[Guest]

About sixteen years ago I decided to take control over my HRT and save money on endocrinologists, and other MD's, and prescriptions and started buying my hormones online from overseas sources. I found that Ethinyl Estradiol is a pretty aggressive form of estrogen and in spite of the clotting warnings I bought half a year's supply and took it according to the recommended dosing. BIG MISTAKE! I awoke one morning with my left leg twice the size of my right leg. I realized that we didn't  elephantiasis on the North American continent so I made a B-line to the local hospital ER. After an ultrasound it was determined that I had a nasty blood clot referred to as Deep Vein thrombosis and that it was smart that I got there in time as it could have killed me had I put it off thinking it would go away. In order to get a good idea of what it was like, it is similar to the artery being like a river and the clot is like a debris jamb in the river that eventually turns into an island that cuts down on the flow. That "log jamb" was a congealed chunk of blood that was becoming bigger all the time and cutting off the flow of blood to my leg below my groin. I was given half a dozen big self injecting devices and had to give myself a shot in the stomach each day for a week. Then I had to take Coumadin pills each day. Coumadin is a blood thinner and is also used as rat poison, when they ingest too much they bleed out internally. I had to return to the hospital each week for a blood draw to monitor the clotting factor of my blood. Too little and the clot would remain, too much and I could have a bleeding problem. Eventually the Coumadin would dissolve the clot and normal blood flow to my extremities would return. Unfortunately it left my lower leg with a lot of purple blotchy spots where the blood had to take a detour to get to my foot and back up. My left foot is purply looking as a result, but I'm lucky to be alive. During this entire time I was off any kind of HRT, finally under the advice of an endocrinologist I was allowed to go on the patch as topically applied hormones are considered relatively safe. Pills make two passes through the liver, the first pass through is where the clotting danger is, if it is the wrong dose or the wrong type of estrogen, eventually the liver will create the clots and they will show up somewhere in a person's system. This is why medically supervised HRT is the only way to go.

[Guest Rachel Gia]

No argument there and I think more people should read your post.

 The desire to transition can be intoxicating and the drugs we are prescribed could be considered street drugs for those who either cannot get a prescription or cannot wait to get a prescription through the established procedure.

I have read on this site over the years how others are taking or have taken the DIY approach only to hit a wall at some point and for some the consequences are a lot worse then you've described.

I was in a support group and a newly prescribed person said that they wonder what it what it would be like to take conflicting hormones and blockers at the same time.

My thoughts were , 'this is not some game'.

 

Thank you for your most graphic post,

Rachel

[VickySGV]

I had been on medically supervised HRT on a dose that most people would have thought would be ineffective for six and a half years, with great results for me but I still developed a DVT.  I will be on Coumadin the rest of my life but I will be patching myself up like an old bike tire as well.  My doctor and I both think that it was not the E itself which was oral tablets even though I had been doing them sub-lingual, but rather a couple of long trips where I had been sitting in airplanes and cars.  Lesson is that on airline flights over and hour, do get up and walk the aisles about every hour.  Our meds are dangerous and even a doctor;s care is not a sure thing, but it is still safer.

[Guest]

Excellent point Vicky, that would include spending excessive time on the Internet. We need to take breaks, get up and walk around for awhile and get the blood moving through rather than pooling up in our extremities.

[Guest]

10 hours ago, VickySGV said:

Our meds are dangerous and even a doctor's care is not a sure thing

 

Amen to that.

 

I'd been on medically-supervised transdermal estradiol for five years when I was sent to the emergency room and diagnosed with bilateral pulmonary embolism and a DVT in one leg.  I took Xarelto for six months but nothing more.

[Guest]

Pretty scary stuff huh Kenna, glad you survived that awful event!