Well, today was the one day that most women dread the other 364 days of the year…their yearly visit to the gynecologist. I say most, because there are always exceptions. I’ve been around long enough to know that some probably will say something like…”no, I actually enjoy the experience of making sure that my body is healthy”. Whatever. An added bonus at today’s visit was the mammogram. I wasn’t aware that it was scheduled today as a part of this annual event. The good news was that they used a new digital mammography machine. The radiology technician was so excited to share that I was one of the first to get to take advantage of this new technology.  My assessment:  Big deal. It still uses the same principle of flattening your boobs out like pancakes. I actually looked down at my flattened size 34B in between those two sheets of Plexiglas with sadness….poor little thing. Surely, somebody somewhere can come up with a better way to do this. The tech and I discussed why someone hasn’t come up with a scrotum exam using this type of concept…I’ll bet that would accelerate the invention process! In the mean time, we’ll be waiting! I will say, for those that have not had a mammogram yet, it’s really not that bad…just uncomfortable.  It is so worth a little bit of discomfort to know that you are doing everything in your power to protect your breast health.  Do it!

The other good news today was that I didn’t have to do the other exam because I started my period yesterday….great… so it’s now rescheduled for next week. I didn’t cancel because I wanted to talk to my gyno about “perimenopause”. I’m 46 and have started having some weird symptoms……heavy periods, periods close together….missed periods, etc. So, the nurse discussed with the gyno and decided that I should have blood work done to check my hormone levels, then we could have a long talk at my visit next week.

I told the nurse that I had been researching bioidentical hormones with the ulterior motive of finding out the direction that next week’s visit would go. I found out in about ten seconds that my gyno is not a fan of bioidentical hormones. The nurse told me that they have seen many women that have really gotten into trouble by using bioidentical hormones that are compounded at pharmacies. She said that typically what happens is that they are given far too much of the hormone which starts another set of problems for the patient. I then asked if they would be testing my progesterone levels and was told “no”. She said that they only do the FSH and thyroid tests. She said that they do not do the “spit on a swab” tests, as she called it to check progesterone levels. She was referring to “saliva” testing for hormone levels. There are independent labs out the wazoo that are now doing saliva tests through the mail…..gotta make you wonder how reliable this method can be.

Bioidentical hormones have been widely discussed in the past year on Dr. Phil and many others. Suzanne Somers has written a book about biodenticals that has been met with both lofty praise and loads of criticism. Her approach to taking care of her own health is a little unconventional, but hey….it seems to work for her and she seems healthy and happy. Isn’t this the goal for all of us?

I enjoyed this article written in part by Dr. Erika Schwartz and published in the New York Times about hormone replacement therapy.

I suppose we will see after next week’s visit what my blood work reveals and if I am in perimenopause or the beginning stages of menopause. It is also a possibility that my symptoms are due largely due to side effects of my RA medication. Who knows? What I do know is that I will listen to my gynecologist’s opinion about hormone replacement therapy. I will then make a decision based on her knowledge and my research. After all, I’m not a doctor, but I am a thinker.  I’ve also owned my body for quite some time.