First week on Lupron shots

I started a six month stint of the Lupron Depot shots because I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and a hormone imbalance. The shot stung a bit but I managed to not scream out in pain but I did have to suck my breath in and not speak for a moment. The doctor told me that it would take a couple of weeks before I really started having symptoms of menopause (me...menopause...33????) but the next day I was so exhausted I could barely move and spent most of the day sleeping. (Of course the day before had been a long day between getting up early for work and then driving 3 hours to spend a couple of weeks with my friend.)

I started having my first "hot flash" moments a couple of nights later. I'm not sure that they're full blown hot flashes but my body temperature has definitely shot up a few hundred degrees. Being down South and away from the mountains, my blood has thinned a bit...well, maybe more than a bit. If the temperature dips below 70, I want a light sweater on. Now, I can barely stand to have shoes and clothes on and since I have the other unsightly hormone imbalance symptom of weight gain, that's not a pretty sight. But if this extra body heat is the worst thing I have to put up with over the next few months to regain my old self, it will be worth it.

Life has been hell for the past couple of years. Some of my problem is genetic...according to my mother, many of the women on her side of the family has had problems. I'm sure the other part of the problem is that I've had a hard time finding balance in my life. My early adult life was spent burning the candle on both ends. I worked hard and I played hard. It was so bad that I was running a couple of miles before work with my boss (even if I was hung over from partying the night before). Then my boss and I would run another couple of miles at lunch and then I would work out for another 1 to 3 hours every night. It probably wouldn't have been so bad if I was eating properly but with working out 2 to 5 hours a day plus working at least 8 hours a day (including weekends), who has time to prepare healthy meals.

After a point, my body finally gave out and I spent an entire summer sick. I had strep throat for 3 months and then finally had to have my tonsils taken out. My energy was never really the same after that. I spent a lot of time getting sick because I was still trying to do everything that I used to do (well, maybe not the running but everything else). Then there was the stress of losing my job. Things finally got so bad that other than going to my job, I couldn't do anything and I started having anxiety attacks. I had lived alone for many years and all of a sudden I was afraid of being alone and thought things were watching me and waiting to get me. One day I slept close to 12 hours and probably could have slept the entire day if I didn't have a prior commitment...and for those who don't know, I sleep an average of 6 or 7 hours a night and can only nap if I'm sick...regardless of how tired I am. My face looked worse than a hormonal teenager and I felt like a freak any time I went out of the house...although I finally found a product that helped my skin be less freakish. Finally a friend of mine who is in the medical field suggested that I might have PCOS.

I was finally diagnosed with PCOS but the place that I went to first didn't really know how to deal with my problem. They put me on birth control pills and all of a sudden I started throwing up multiple times a month. I couldn't find any specific food that was causing the problem as some mornings I woke up and threw up and other times I took a bite of food and had to run to the bathroom. The only thing that seemed to be the same was that it usually occurred a week or so before my period started or the week after my period ended. I tried to tell my first doctor about this and they tried to tell me to eat rice, bread, and bananas but I knew it wasn't an issue with my stomach (although I did go to a gastro doctor for various gross tests and procedures to make sure). I even went off of the pill and was still having issues. I finally found a doctor who specialized in PCOS. And after getting on various pills and talking to the doctor, I am now starting these Lupron shots to see if I can clear everything up and find hormonal balance. Of course, I'm also working on finding balance in the rest of my life. We'll see how that goes.