A River Runs Through It

I’m looking at my CGM aka Bowie, and seeing a good number for a change of pace.  In the area I like it to be.  It’s difficult to attain that perfection in both the blood sugar zone and A1c that seems to plague many of us with diabetes.  It’s not easy, with dealing with other aspects of life that make things go up and down, just like a roller coaster ride.

Since having the surgery last September that resulted in having one of my ovaries removed due to it acting funky wonky, along with removal of fibroids that I knew would eventually shrink down due to menopause without under ongoing surgery … well … that pretty well upset the balance of my body.

Meanwhile, I was still playing around with sorting out the earlier diagnosis in 2014 with a sluggish thyroid aka Hashimoto.  This is something that seems to plague many diabetics since it’s another autoimmune condition.  I thought at that time, I would be put into a looney bin with how that affected my mental health … and along comes menopause!

I just did a months trial to help with the hot flashes that made knowing whether I’m having a low blood sugar or not abit easier.  I can’t say enough about EstroGel (see note below)!   After a few weeks, I was actually experiencing normal sleep, not waking up with a river running through my girls.  Because it feels the same as having a low blood sugar being all clammy, my body has been trained over the past ½ century of having diabetes to wake up and save itself from going too low. 

That’s where the CGM has been helpful, in alarming when it is an actual low, provided that the sensor is behaving (it’s pretty accurate most of the time with lows, not so much when in the higher areas – which luckily isn’t too often).  Still, it’s hard to break out of the habit of waking up, it’s been built into me, but having 1 full week of no waking up was like the best holiday I’ve had in awhile, and I didn’t go to any exotic location except home sweet home.  People who know the value of a good sleep will be nodding in agreement, it makes or breaks you, and as a diabetic, it also effects how your blood sugar readings will be.

It’s a wicked circle – sleep – hormones – everyday life – sometimes taking care of diabetes can be overwhelming.

Sadly, I’m no longer on the EstroGel due to my gyno being abit concerned with the breast cancer aspect of being on hormone replacement therapy (HRT).  I’ve knew the possible side affects of heart attacks, strokes, or blood clots with using the gel, but didn’t realise the cancer bit.  Because of having had diabetic mastopathy, where my breast in the end had to be removed due to unawareness of the condition at the time, he felt that being on hormones might aggravate the condition in the other.  

So, in order to help with the hot flashes, he’s put me on a month’s trial of a low dose antidepressant (I didn’t know this at the time, until getting home and having a mind seizure reading what the drug was supposed to be for since I’m not depressed).  It’s called Paroxetine, and I’ve been given the lowest dose possible of 10 mg which is supposed to help with the serotonin level of your sponge brain, and help with elevating hot flashes and improving sleep.  It takes about a month to take full affect, and I’m only into my 2^nd week.   And so far, the side effects of the drug which scared the bleep out of me, aren’t happening.   There are other similar drugs out there that the pharmacist I spoke to after I flipped out said were more common, but I’m going with what my gyno has recommended that I try out in the meantime.

UPDATE:  Since starting this blog (and exploring some of the aspects of the EstroGel ) I’m realizing that maybe it’s better to stay off of it.  Reports of gaining weight (which I have seen with an increase in my stomach and legs, despite it making for better real estate for injections) along with possible mucking up thyroid, hmmm.  I think the anti-depressant is the better option to be on as long as it works.  So, the original plan that my gyno and I were doing together with investigating how the HRT affects diabetes mastopathy is not going to be an issue that I’m going to look any further into.