My hair has almost completely stopped falling out. I stopped taking the DHEA supplement Oct 10th, and I also started using this AWESOME natural treatment for my hair and within 8 days of stopping the DHEA and 2 days of using the treatment I have stopped shedding! You have no idea what that can do for a girls self-esteem! I felt like daily I was getting sadder and sadder every time I saw the large amounts of hair that I was losing. But it is amazing how quickly that sadness can turn around. So I am hoping that this is the end of this part of the journey. I will continue to use the natural treatment for awhile, and I told the doctor I am not taking the DHEA supplement anymore. He said that was fine, because it is not vital to the IVF process. It was just an added thing that had been researched recently and shown positive IVF results, but the doctor said there has only been one study, so he personally doesn't know if it really does anything or not. I am willing to take my chances and not include it in order to have hair on my head! In case anyone is wondering the products I am using are:
www.justnaturalskincare.com
Hair Loss Shampoo
Vinegar Rinse Cleanser
Grow New Hair treatment-Spray Oil
A much happier
Jenny
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Monday, October 17, 2011
A couple of great posts from a fellow infertility blogger
She really knows how to get the point across! Love it!
Post: Trying to Conceive: A month-by-month guide.
Link: http://www.jennepper.com/2007/
Post: Did you seriously just say that?
Link: http://www.jennepper.com/2007/
Post: Trying to Conceive: A month-by-month guide.
Link: http://www.jennepper.com/2007/
Post: Did you seriously just say that?
Link: http://www.jennepper.com/2007/
The Waiting Game
As I said in my last blog we had an appointment with the doctor last Friday (Oct 14th) to do a follicle count and to get the results of my AMH test. Well once again we had good news and bad news, but according to the doctor the good news in this case is out-weighing the bad news.
Bad news is that my AMH level has significantly dropped from 0.48 in June to 0.16, which is almost undetectable. The doctor said if this would have been my first AMH, no one would have even touched me for IVF. But he said it seems that many people who have endometriosis seem to have lower AMH, but many are still able to produce children especially in my case because.... the good news is that the ultrasound showed a follicle count of 9!!!! And since the follicle count is a more important predictor because we can physically see that there are eggs left, the doctor said he is kinda going to ignore the AMH. My previous follicle count in June was an 11, but the margin for error is +/- 2 so it looks like my egg reserve has stayed the same which is AWESOME!
The doctor is puzzled as to how I have 9 follicles on my own this cycle, and 6 last cycle, but during the IVF drug treatment I was only showing 2 follicles. So we had a long talk and the doctor and I are both convinced that my body doesn't react well to the overload of medication I have been on for the last 10 months. He thinks the steroid I was on from January to June might have totally screwed up my AMH levels, since AMH is directly connected to your pituitary gland, and the steroid I was on directly affects that as well. He thinks that all of my hair shedding/loss, the drop in AMH, and the nonreaction to the drugs might all be attributed to the steroid making my pituitary gland shut down. He also added that the combination of all the hormones in the birth control pills and my pituitary gland being messed up could be the reason for no reaction to the IVF drugs. Soooo, what is the PLAN?
Well, we are going to try and prepare my body for IVF as naturally as possible and with as few hormones as possible leading up to another IVF cycle. The doctor is NOT going to give me any kind of hormones like birth control pills or progesterone this cycle to try and force a period to come when they want it to in order to start IVF. He just said we will leave you alone, but you must start on your own no later than Nov 5th, or else we will be forced to push you back into the December cycle. Great no pressure!
The medicine I used last cycle is still being tested, and the doctor said now that he hasn't decided which group of medicines I will do next IVF and he will not decide until those results come back. Which means he NOW isn't opposed to using the same medicines, if in fact the first ones were counterfeit.
We also discussed the hair shedding issue and I told him it was a big concern for me. I told him about my DHEA research and that I had seen several women blogging online talking about their hair loss. The doctor thinks the hair loss is most likely from 1 of 3 things: birth control pills, the predisone steroid I was on from Jan-June, or the DHEA. But that is it definitely from a hormone imbalance of some sort, most likely created by all the stuff I have taken. So I am stopping taking the DHEA for a couple weeks to see if that makes a difference, since that is the only one of the three I have been on most recently. The doctor seemed to have a strong feeling that the hair loss is the bottom fall-out of the predisone. Which to me seems strange because I had hair loss with it in June and July, then it seemed to almost stop in August, and then got really bad again in late Sept/Oct. I wouldn't think that the after effects of something would go up and down like that, but who knows???
My mom found this all natural shampoo, vinegar rinse, and oil spray online that I am going to use to hopefully try and stop the hair shedding/loss. The vinegar rinse says that it is supposed to help remove the excess build up of DHT which is actually testosterone, which is what DHEA is converted into. I read a journal article online that said if women have too much testosterone in their body, either naturally, or they are taking too much DHEA, the body converts it into DHT and then tries to expel the excess DHT out of the body, most of the time through the scalp and hair follicles which leads to hair loss. Ahhh Haaa! I think I may be on to something! So hopefully this stuff will help. Keep your fingers crossed! I am pretty sure by the time we figure this pregnancy hormone thing out I will either have my MD or PhD or some kind of medical research certification!! Ha ha!
Basically I am learning more and more everyday that this journey to have a baby this way is a huge guessing game and really the doctor's don't know much more than I do. They can constantly change up the variables, but when it is all said and done there is no exact science and it is all just a big experiment, that may or may not work. I am glad that the doctor is willing to listen to what I have researched and then we come up with a plan together based on both of our opinions, research, and his experience.
For now we will just go on about our normal lives because there isn't anything we can control and if my cycle decides to come on or before Nov 5th, then we will jump back into IVF mode. If my body decides it isn't the right time, then well..... we will wait. In the meantime, we are sending lots of good energy and love to my friend Dave in New York who suffered a brain aneurysm a couple weeks ago, but is making a miraculous recovery! My problems seem so small next to what you have been through. And Go Cardinals!
Jenny
Bad news is that my AMH level has significantly dropped from 0.48 in June to 0.16, which is almost undetectable. The doctor said if this would have been my first AMH, no one would have even touched me for IVF. But he said it seems that many people who have endometriosis seem to have lower AMH, but many are still able to produce children especially in my case because.... the good news is that the ultrasound showed a follicle count of 9!!!! And since the follicle count is a more important predictor because we can physically see that there are eggs left, the doctor said he is kinda going to ignore the AMH. My previous follicle count in June was an 11, but the margin for error is +/- 2 so it looks like my egg reserve has stayed the same which is AWESOME!
The doctor is puzzled as to how I have 9 follicles on my own this cycle, and 6 last cycle, but during the IVF drug treatment I was only showing 2 follicles. So we had a long talk and the doctor and I are both convinced that my body doesn't react well to the overload of medication I have been on for the last 10 months. He thinks the steroid I was on from January to June might have totally screwed up my AMH levels, since AMH is directly connected to your pituitary gland, and the steroid I was on directly affects that as well. He thinks that all of my hair shedding/loss, the drop in AMH, and the nonreaction to the drugs might all be attributed to the steroid making my pituitary gland shut down. He also added that the combination of all the hormones in the birth control pills and my pituitary gland being messed up could be the reason for no reaction to the IVF drugs. Soooo, what is the PLAN?
Well, we are going to try and prepare my body for IVF as naturally as possible and with as few hormones as possible leading up to another IVF cycle. The doctor is NOT going to give me any kind of hormones like birth control pills or progesterone this cycle to try and force a period to come when they want it to in order to start IVF. He just said we will leave you alone, but you must start on your own no later than Nov 5th, or else we will be forced to push you back into the December cycle. Great no pressure!
The medicine I used last cycle is still being tested, and the doctor said now that he hasn't decided which group of medicines I will do next IVF and he will not decide until those results come back. Which means he NOW isn't opposed to using the same medicines, if in fact the first ones were counterfeit.
We also discussed the hair shedding issue and I told him it was a big concern for me. I told him about my DHEA research and that I had seen several women blogging online talking about their hair loss. The doctor thinks the hair loss is most likely from 1 of 3 things: birth control pills, the predisone steroid I was on from Jan-June, or the DHEA. But that is it definitely from a hormone imbalance of some sort, most likely created by all the stuff I have taken. So I am stopping taking the DHEA for a couple weeks to see if that makes a difference, since that is the only one of the three I have been on most recently. The doctor seemed to have a strong feeling that the hair loss is the bottom fall-out of the predisone. Which to me seems strange because I had hair loss with it in June and July, then it seemed to almost stop in August, and then got really bad again in late Sept/Oct. I wouldn't think that the after effects of something would go up and down like that, but who knows???
My mom found this all natural shampoo, vinegar rinse, and oil spray online that I am going to use to hopefully try and stop the hair shedding/loss. The vinegar rinse says that it is supposed to help remove the excess build up of DHT which is actually testosterone, which is what DHEA is converted into. I read a journal article online that said if women have too much testosterone in their body, either naturally, or they are taking too much DHEA, the body converts it into DHT and then tries to expel the excess DHT out of the body, most of the time through the scalp and hair follicles which leads to hair loss. Ahhh Haaa! I think I may be on to something! So hopefully this stuff will help. Keep your fingers crossed! I am pretty sure by the time we figure this pregnancy hormone thing out I will either have my MD or PhD or some kind of medical research certification!! Ha ha!
Basically I am learning more and more everyday that this journey to have a baby this way is a huge guessing game and really the doctor's don't know much more than I do. They can constantly change up the variables, but when it is all said and done there is no exact science and it is all just a big experiment, that may or may not work. I am glad that the doctor is willing to listen to what I have researched and then we come up with a plan together based on both of our opinions, research, and his experience.
For now we will just go on about our normal lives because there isn't anything we can control and if my cycle decides to come on or before Nov 5th, then we will jump back into IVF mode. If my body decides it isn't the right time, then well..... we will wait. In the meantime, we are sending lots of good energy and love to my friend Dave in New York who suffered a brain aneurysm a couple weeks ago, but is making a miraculous recovery! My problems seem so small next to what you have been through. And Go Cardinals!
Jenny
Monday, October 10, 2011
The Hairy Rollercoaster
Today, I am feeling really sad. I have mentioned in my past blogs how after I stopped taking the steroid predisone suddenly I started experiencing some hair loss in July. The hair loss went up and down for about 6 weeks, and seemed to be getting better in August. I then started the birth control pills (2 a day) for 38 days and then did 6 days of injectible IVF drugs. Well the hair loss has increased noticeably in the last 2 weeks. Every time I wash my hair my hands are covered in hair in the shower. If I brush my hair when it is wet out of the shower the brush is full of hair and I can run my hands through my hair and I have a handful. If I brush my hair while blow drying it my brushes are completely full of hair and when I am done blow drying if I grab the ends of my hair I have another handful. It is really scary! So the last 5 days I have tried not washing my hair as much and not brushing it when it is wet or when blow drying, but I still seem to be shedding large amounts of hair. I have been wearing my hair pulled up because if not, my clothes are covered in hair. I am scared to death! The anxiety when I see it all falling out is almost paralyzing. I feel sick to my stomach. This is not what I signed up for. A girl's hair is her identity, and a part of who she is. I just feel ugly, and well.... like I want to cry. Actually I am crying as I sit here writing this. I have asked the nurse coordinator and the doctor about this and they don't seem too concerned. I have mentioned it in my last two appointments, and they seem to brush it off, and the nurse coordinator even said at my last appt, "Well you just might be a bald pregnant lady." Ummmmm, not cool with me!
So this morning I called the Dr's office again and spoke to the nurse coordinator and cried to her and told her I was really freaked out about how much hair was falling out. She said she didn't know what it was from, as it could be from any number of things, but that she would talk to the doctor about it this afternoon and get back to me. So, I will wait and see what he says. I am hoping he has a solution!!
Update: I just heard back from the doctor and he said I should do two things. One get some Rogaine Women at the store and start using that. Second, he said make an appt with my dermatologist right away to see if there is anything he can suggest. So I will start there.
As far as updates go on the IVF front here is what is new. After being canceled in September, the doctor said I would just go on to have a normal cycle/period. Well that didn't happen. My cycle was 34 days instead of the normal 26-28. Soooo, I thought maybe I got pregnant on my own!? On Thursday this past week (cycle day 32) I went into the doctor for an ultrasound and blood test to see what was going on . The doctor did the ultrasound first and for the FIRST time we had some good news! He looked at my uterus and the lining looked really good, and he thought I might be pregnant, (which we later determined I was not). He then looked at my right ovary and I had 4 follicles on it!!! Well if you remember during the beginning of the cycle with the drugs I only had 2 small follicles. The doctor was very happy to see 4 large follicles on the right and then also saw 2 decent sized ones on the left. He seems to think an answer to why we weren't seeing any growth with the drugs is that the BC pills screwed up my cycle days and what we thought was day 1 of my cycle really was NOT, and so we weren't stimulating on the right days. Anyway, he said this just shows that I am capable of producing at least 6 follicles, so he is confident if we can get the cycle days right we should have good stimulation and follicle response.
In regards to the medicine being tested, we are still waiting to hear. Apparently the process can take up to a month to complete. The doctor said we are still going to go with a different set of medicines for our IVF in November. (Well that is if I am cleared to do November's cycle) What does that mean? Well the doctor wants to try and NOT use BC pills to regulate my cycle this month, to get me on target for next month. He wants to try and have as natural a cycle as possible, because the birth control pills jacked everything up so bad last time. When I spoke with him a few minutes ago he said he wants to introduce progesterone on cycle day 14, for 10 days and then stop taking it and hopefully this will make my cycle start. (I am not sure if it is the big needle injections or just a pill, but I am hoping pills!!??) He needs my cycle to start by a certain day in order for me to be a part of the November cycle. If by chance, it doesn't cooperate and start by the time he needs it to, then we might be pushed back to December cycle. Got all that? Phew, I am exhausted just trying to understand it all myself.
Why can't he just let me or everyone else for that matter just have their normal cycles and be more in tune with what the natural body is doing? Why must everyone be batched into groups? I don't really understand it myself, but he mentioned something about the lab, and how there is only enough space for a certain amount of eggs and if everyone was on their own cycle then they wouldn't have enough space and it would be super confusing and also the doctor would be on call 24/7/365. I guess the batching keeps everyone relatively at the same stage so it is less confusing?? I don't know, that is just kinda what I gathered.
So what's next? Well I have to go to the doctor this Friday to have another ultrasound and blood work done. The doctor is going to do a follicle count again during the ultrasound to see if he thinks my egg reserve has gone down or stayed the same in 5 months. They did some blood work last Thursday when I was there, to also check my AMH levels, which also gives them an idea of what my follicle/egg reserve is doing. So they will compare both of those results and hopefully we will have some more good news, because I am not sure I can deal with any more bad results right now.
Jenny
IVs-2
Blood Draws-6 Vials-23
Needle Injections-16
So this morning I called the Dr's office again and spoke to the nurse coordinator and cried to her and told her I was really freaked out about how much hair was falling out. She said she didn't know what it was from, as it could be from any number of things, but that she would talk to the doctor about it this afternoon and get back to me. So, I will wait and see what he says. I am hoping he has a solution!!
Update: I just heard back from the doctor and he said I should do two things. One get some Rogaine Women at the store and start using that. Second, he said make an appt with my dermatologist right away to see if there is anything he can suggest. So I will start there.
As far as updates go on the IVF front here is what is new. After being canceled in September, the doctor said I would just go on to have a normal cycle/period. Well that didn't happen. My cycle was 34 days instead of the normal 26-28. Soooo, I thought maybe I got pregnant on my own!? On Thursday this past week (cycle day 32) I went into the doctor for an ultrasound and blood test to see what was going on . The doctor did the ultrasound first and for the FIRST time we had some good news! He looked at my uterus and the lining looked really good, and he thought I might be pregnant, (which we later determined I was not). He then looked at my right ovary and I had 4 follicles on it!!! Well if you remember during the beginning of the cycle with the drugs I only had 2 small follicles. The doctor was very happy to see 4 large follicles on the right and then also saw 2 decent sized ones on the left. He seems to think an answer to why we weren't seeing any growth with the drugs is that the BC pills screwed up my cycle days and what we thought was day 1 of my cycle really was NOT, and so we weren't stimulating on the right days. Anyway, he said this just shows that I am capable of producing at least 6 follicles, so he is confident if we can get the cycle days right we should have good stimulation and follicle response.
In regards to the medicine being tested, we are still waiting to hear. Apparently the process can take up to a month to complete. The doctor said we are still going to go with a different set of medicines for our IVF in November. (Well that is if I am cleared to do November's cycle) What does that mean? Well the doctor wants to try and NOT use BC pills to regulate my cycle this month, to get me on target for next month. He wants to try and have as natural a cycle as possible, because the birth control pills jacked everything up so bad last time. When I spoke with him a few minutes ago he said he wants to introduce progesterone on cycle day 14, for 10 days and then stop taking it and hopefully this will make my cycle start. (I am not sure if it is the big needle injections or just a pill, but I am hoping pills!!??) He needs my cycle to start by a certain day in order for me to be a part of the November cycle. If by chance, it doesn't cooperate and start by the time he needs it to, then we might be pushed back to December cycle. Got all that? Phew, I am exhausted just trying to understand it all myself.
Why can't he just let me or everyone else for that matter just have their normal cycles and be more in tune with what the natural body is doing? Why must everyone be batched into groups? I don't really understand it myself, but he mentioned something about the lab, and how there is only enough space for a certain amount of eggs and if everyone was on their own cycle then they wouldn't have enough space and it would be super confusing and also the doctor would be on call 24/7/365. I guess the batching keeps everyone relatively at the same stage so it is less confusing?? I don't know, that is just kinda what I gathered.
So what's next? Well I have to go to the doctor this Friday to have another ultrasound and blood work done. The doctor is going to do a follicle count again during the ultrasound to see if he thinks my egg reserve has gone down or stayed the same in 5 months. They did some blood work last Thursday when I was there, to also check my AMH levels, which also gives them an idea of what my follicle/egg reserve is doing. So they will compare both of those results and hopefully we will have some more good news, because I am not sure I can deal with any more bad results right now.
Jenny
IVs-2
Blood Draws-6 Vials-23
Needle Injections-16
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