Those years symptoms and conditions

I would just like to say I have been taking Ultracet for about 5 years with yearly blood tests. All my life I have suffered with RLS and now I have been diagnosed with Fibromyalga which is very painful and no one understands this pain unless they have experienced it. Ultracet has allowed me to function so much better and for all those years with RLS when I could not sleep at night and was so tired during the day ,Ultracet has changed all that .I have no side effects except for maybe dry mouth which comes with most medications. I take 4 or 5 Ultracets a day and have little or no pain. It has changed my life so much for the better.

Kim
Hi BitterRN here.
All I can tell you about your hormone levels is what I too have experienced myself.
I had my hormones tested by blood and saliva 3 months after I quit bcp.
Both tests showed estrogen and progesterone levels as normal.........HOWEVER
On my saliva test My level was 11... Normal is 20-50 (I am sure I run on the higher end of that scale as I have or should say HAD the oily skin, oily hair, smalller breasts before yasmin..) This level is extremely low, and the test level stated LOW.
My blood tests drawn at exactly the same time on the SAME EXACT DAY, read normal (at the very lowest end of the scale) so my gyn said, all levels are normal.
NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I had the results evaluated by a bioidentical Dr. later she said no, the blood levels were not "normal" and her words were "for an 80yr old maybe, but not for you"

So long story short, I kept testing, with saliva tests month after month (they have to be done at a specific time every month) and here is what happened.....

Month 4 after stopping,
My estradiol went to 0.8 now in the low range
Progesterone dropped to 72 now in the low range
Testosterone went UP to 15 still low range but higher.
Cortisol went up to 9.3 High ranges are 3-8. So just a little high probably from stress.
Symptoms, still feeling up and down with ? improvement.

Month 6 after stopping, (I skipped a month due to expense, I pay out of pocket for all these tests)
MY estradiol is range but still all of my symptoms are not gone
Cortisol still a little high at 8.9.
I am feeling better than before and symptoms are resolving, but I am not feeling getting better as quickly as I would like, so I do something REALLY REALLY stupid...

I try to start my old bcp ortho novum, thinking I did well on it all those years (12 yrs) and my hormones are pretty well getting to be more normal...or so I thought, now looking back not really, still had a ways to go, but I was not thinking clearly, and started them, at first I felt like things were getting back to normal, but about 12-15 after being on it, I felt the anxiety coming back. I stopped them on day 15, and it was like all the symptoms started over again (really wanted to die, How could I have been so stupid?) I believe I would have really felt better by now if I had not tried to do this.

Anyway, I saliva tested 1 month after and I already knew before the tests came back that my testosterone had fallen again to 17
My estrogen was normal at 1.3
Progesterone was really low at 16!!!!!! normal is 100-600
cortisol high at 11.

Next month after stopping
estrogen low again at 0.9,
Progesterone coming up at 52
testosterone 15 whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!! somebody shoot me!
still feeling like sh*!
I really tried supplementing with bioidentical hormones at my doctors suggestion at this point, but It is really hard to find a dose because they are used to caring for much older women so it was a guessing game, consequently, I think i used a little too much testosterone,

Next month testing
progesterone dropped and testosterone shot up to 80!!
I called the lab and they said this indicated the dose I was using was too high, that since I tested while using this high dose, the test was registering high (in other words this was not my true level and it would come back down as soon as I stopped using it.) I asked why my progesterone went down as I was supplementing with progesterone creme as well, she said when one hormone is too high the other hormones become suppressed. Ahh.
So I quit supplementing altogether.
And now I am waiting for the next results, I should have them by monday or tuesday.
Just a side note, I am feeling better just as I was before I tried to take the bcp the 2nd time. It seems like this time I may be getting better faster? I dont know, depends on the day you ask me.
This is why i have been asking silke about her hormone levels and why I think that it may be her testosterone that is the problem, as some women have trouble getting their testosterone up after being on bcp or after pregnancy. I really feel this may be the problem as I did not feel better until this particular hormone started going up, as i felt crappy again as it dropped (especially with the anxiety) However, a doctor not familiar with hormones will say a Low normal level is normal. Its NOT.
This is just my experience. I cannot write it in stone. Hope it helps.
BitterRN

Silke
Hi, did you get copies of your labs?
Anxious to hear from you.
BitterRN

I took Levaquin 1 1/2 yrs ago............First I shoud say I am a 55 yr old man and have not been to the doctor since I was in the army.........when I was 20.....I had severe abdominal pains for about a year.. I finally told my wife about theser pains. and she made the doctors appointment for me that she has been insisting on for years.. The doctor gave me some free samples of levaquin... Free samples do no include the insert advising of side effects.(that should be illegal). any way he told me to take the drug for 7 days..Finally going to the doctor after all those years, I did as I was told.. I developed a severe rash over my entire body.. the itching was un believable.. the intensity of pleasure in itching thr rash especially my shins was indescribable.........the pain after was equal to the pleasure..I then went on predisone for 9 days to get rid of the rash.......the itchings and pleasure (tho reduced) remains. my skin has white blotches in it.. and my skin is permanantly dried out. Please tell everyone you know.........................watch for side effects, and stop taking immediately............I waited too long, and took the drug as it was prescribed.

i posted last oct/nov of 2005 and have quite a progression with my 7 year old daughter. in october we decided to take her off of singular due to anger, hyperactivity, chronic illness. she was on at the time singulair 5mg, zyrtec, nasonex, advair 250/500, constant antibiotics and orapred.... and still not well. she was tested for chrones disease due to chronic stomach upset, several ct scans due to recurring sinus infections. we removed her adenoids in december....still sick. i finally took her off all her medication except nasonex, and advair 100 1x a day and had a blood test done called elisa. docs thought i was crazy and said it was worthless. turns out she is allergic to several foods. wierd ones like garlic, onion, melon, bananas, beans etc.....anyway, she is no longer on any of these foods and no longer needs ANY medication....it has been 2 months...we'll see, but there really seems to be something to it. ****** feel free to email me to discuss. we have been through it all!!! hope it helps someone a little. apparently, all those years on antibiotics only made things worse and weakened her immune system which created this horrible cycle.

I have been having temporal lobe partial complex seizures since I was 5. Was put on Topamax as solo therapy for use also for migraines in 1999. Controlled both well. Gradually I developed severe depression. It was so subtle I was not aware it was my medicine. I did tell my neuro. and he added different antidepressents to the regime to no avail. My life continued to deteriorate. I also had the tingling fingers, toes, twitches on my face, confusion, could not remember anything. I finally became suicidal and a regular MD decided told me to switch neuro and get off the meds in 2005. 1 month after coming off the med I was my old self again. My memory everything came back. I felt like i had lost all those years.

I have been taking synthroid for 10 years and for 9 of those years everytime I get a dosage the doctor thinks will get my readings to a safe level, I begin to have heart palpitations to an extent that I pass out. At first I was rushed to hospital several times from passing out in public places. I also have leg cramps, coroited artery aches and the inevitable weight gains. Finally my doctor sent me to an Endro this week and he claims he has never heard of side effects and tells me to increase me dosage slowly. My readings are suppose to be between 4 and 5 and they are 26! He treated me like I was a hysteric and told me not to breath so hard when I am having palpitations. Someone mentions a balance between T3 and T4 can someone explain. I am so happy to know there are others like me out there. Sally