Doctor appt set!

[Guest Jo-88]

So as some of you may know I had been self medicating HRT up until several weeks ago. Anyway today I finally made the appointment to see a doctor about getting on HRT... officially. I called them up and the receptionist was very friendly when I told her what I needed... she didn't seem surprised at all so that was a good sign. But I did get worried a bit when she told me she would have to talk to the doctor and call me back... I've had a several doctors offices tell me that and never call me back, I've also had some call me back just to tell me they weren't accepting new patients (right... if that was the case why didn't you just tell me on the first call?). Anyway, the lady did call me back about an hour later and she said the doctor was completely ok with helping me and we set an appt for April 10th!! She emailed me the new patient documents which Im filling out now.

My only concern is that my hormone levels might not have returned to baseline by the 10th... hopefully, but nonetheless Im going to have to tell her about my self medicating.

[Sally]

This is great news!

Do tell her about the previous use because if the baseline is off, she needs to know why.

Best not to keep secrets from your health care professionals.

I am so happy for you - this will get you moving.

Love ya,

Sally

[Guest Ney'ite]

Congratulations on finally getting a Dr appointment set! I am very happy to see you chose this much safer route over one that is just too risky all the way around (health wise, legal wise, etc). And as Sally mentioned, definitely let them know.

Good luck and please feel free to let us all know how it goes

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(A quick friendly reminder to anyone reading this post: Laura's does not condone self-medicating and strongly encourages all to obtain HRT prescriptions legally)

[Guest Jo-88]

paper work done, gonna scan it and email it back to them tomorrow!! Also, yea I have every intention of telling her about the self medicating, I want her to have all the info she needs to do this right

[Guest Haileyruso]

This is great news!

Do tell her about the previous use because if the baseline is off, she needs to know why.

Best not to keep secrets from your health care professionals.

I am so happy for you - this will get you moving.

Love ya,

Sally

Totally agree with this. Keeping secrets like that from your doctor could cost you your life. Do you have a letter of recommendation from a therapist/psychologist to start HRT, any good doctor will require one before starting HRT. Yes, even if you have self-medicated before Good luck!

[Guest ZoeG360]

Hormones are very powerful chemistry. Anything that can make big changes in your body in a few months is powerful stuff. I am glad you are going to do it with a doctor's guidance now.

Keep us up to date; good luck on the 10th. I will be thinking of you.

[Guest Jo-88]

I will let ya'll know how it goes, Im stoked but Im also nervous. Its going to be really awkward sitting in the waiting room for a gynecologist, Im sure Im going to get some strange looks haha

[Guest Ney'ite]

I will let ya'll know how it goes, Im stoked but Im also nervous. Its going to be really awkward sitting in the waiting room for a gynecologist, Im sure Im going to get some strange looks haha

Wait until the time comes when you are in for something and the nurses asks you when your last period was.

[Guest Donna Jean]

.

Yeah, that's happened to me, too.....mine was Dec 25, 1949....lol

This is a big step, Hon......best of luck...I'm sure that all will be good!

Huggs

Dee Jay

[KathrynJulia]

Jodie

Prepared yourself that your first appointment will be to sound you out, find out you motivations, etc. If you have a letter from a therapist, that will help. Your doctor is going to order lab tests to obtain baseline values so prepare to donate some blood. He or she may wish to wait 3 weeks with the admonishion of no unprescribed meds or drugs. That baseline is very important because your doctor is going to use it to chart your progress. He wants to know how suppressed your testosterone levels are, estradiol levels, he will also do a CBC (Complete Blood Count) he may check Thyroid levels and he will also order a fasting liver enzyme levels. All of these test scores may change as soon as testosterone levels change and estrogen levels rise. For a time, your body needs to compensate. Have taken off market estrogen may or may not change some of these levels. Depending on the source of your off line estrogen use, many of these drugs sho up in pharmaceutical boxes with brand name manufactures an the dosage often doesn't compare with USP American medications. Your mileage may speed up when you switch to the American branded estrogens, so be aware. My best guest that your doctor will prescribe hormones for you in 3 to 4 weeks. They really need to see those labs, other wise their prescribing is no better than your own Be safe. Kathryn

[Guest Jo-88]

Btw the for those who asked, I do in fact have a therapist letter of recommendation, and yes I have every intention of disclosing my self medicating to the Dr. I am worried that the blood tests won't be accurate though... hopefully they will, but they might not be... if thats the case I might have to wait a bit longer and have them taken again. Anyway lets see what the doc says next week

[Guest Mia J]

While most of the replies have been about disclosing your DYI to your doctor which is great.

I would like to tell you how happy I am that you have stopped DYI and are going to be monitored. Thank you for taking the steps to reduce the risk and going a route that, in the long run, will extend your life.

By the way my HRT doctor says that a high number of her patients were DYI and that she would never put them down because they are at least now taking the steps to do it right.

Mia

[Guest Gregg Jameson]

Congrats Jodie!

I am sure all will go well!

Brad

[Guest Jo-88]

T minus 3 hours until Dr. appt ... Im very nervous but very excited!

[Guest Jo-88]

well it did and didn't go well... The doctors appt was great the doctor seems to know what shes doing. She actually did not take any tests today but she went and ahead and prescribed me an HRT regimen anyway. I have an appt in june to run tests to make sure my levels are correct. Unfortunately I have an issue with two of the prescriptions so Im going to have to call her and probably go back in, the estrace script she wrote has a simple typo which makes it not make any sense to the pharmacist (I cant really explain it without talking dosages which is against the rules). The other issue is that the anti androgen she prescribed is unbelievably expensive... she prescribed trelstar la (aka decapeptyl) which is a 3 month depot shot, too bad its $2500 (its only around $450 in the UK, go figure)...sigh at least the prometrium script went without a hitch.

Btw on the way to the pharmacy which broke the bad news... I got into a car wreck, my pretty car is now ugly fortunately no one was injured and it was not my fault, the officer gave the lady that hit me a ticket and the police report clearly states its her fault so I should be able to get her insurance to cover the damages 100% but nonetheless its one more thing to deal with.

Anyway Im exhausted Ive had a very long day... one last thing, if anyone has any experience with or knows of a good and affordable alternative to spironolactone that I can suggest to my doctor I would really appreciate it. I can get my orchiectomy done for the same price as the 3 month depot and that lasts a lifetime not 3 months... but I don't have the money for either