As promised I am updating everyone with my progress since my hysterectomy 10 weeks ago.  I have posted ‘around town’ on other sites when I have been asked, but I wanted to keep all this info in one place too.

Ten weeks ago I had my hysterectomy, both ovaries removed, lapro/vaginally.  This site tells about everything I dealt with regards to my PMDD, physically and emotionally so if you haven’t read all of it, I recommend you do.

I am feeling great.  As of this week I am not only walking a couple of miles on the treadmill and outside w/ my Siberian Husky, I am now also running.

I haven’t had my period since the surgery, they told me a couple of weeks after surgery more than likely I would have a cycle, shedding the last of it, but fortunately, I haven’t.
So, that is 3 months without PMDD!  It is so awesome!

I started taking the Premarin straight from the hospital, but when I went in for my 6 wk follow up I explained that my sex drive seemed a bit low, or should I say- GONE!  That was a bummer since I was hoping for a huge difference since I was no longer in pain, instead it was worse.  Yes, I was nervous but I also told myself and my husband that I didn’t come this far to stop until I was living the life I wanted, deserved!  (I was also having major migraines. )

So, the doctor said migraines could be from too much estrogen and we needed to add a small dose of Testosterone to the picture- it worked!  So, as of now, the new HRT is working.  I’m not tricking myself into thinking this will be the final stop and that I won’t ever have to tweak it again, but I am positive as of now, and enjoying things day by day.

Physically, no pain- No more cramps, back pains, leg pains, etc…

Emotionally, no outbursts, raging, depression, etc…

I haven’t had any emotional problems such as not feeling like a Woman, or anything like that, I know some Women go through this, it just didn’t happen to me.  If anything I feel more like a Woman since I can have intimate moments with my husband w/o pain, raise my kids without having weeks of  getting quieter, and I don’t have to carry a heating pad around everywhere with my kids worried about Mommies health.

I am really happy that things have worked out this way.  I have been off my anti-depressant and Topamax since right before the surgery, and am doing great without them.  Really goes to show doctors that PMDD is real, the depression we go through during this time is not depression, but PMDD.

I will keep everyone updated as time goes on, whether it’s something good or bad, I will keep posting here.

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I can’t believe it’s already been almost 7 wks since I had my hysterectomy!

Things are going great, a few tumbles, but nothing like what I used to live through.  I have made it thru 2 months of my used to be 2 wk hell, completely PMDD-free.  This is completely amazing to me!  I didn’t even realize it was ‘supposed’ to be my normal PMDD time, my husband just happened to ask me how I was feeling, he too was surprised that I was feeling so great.

I am having some hot flashes, but I had them before surgery too, not too bad, and they are quite quick.  I feel like my body is on fire and about 5-10 min later I cool down again.  When it happens at night it does become bothersome, but again, small price to pay in my opinion.

I do know that as time goes on some Women stop having these flashes, again, I had them before surgery so I’m not really sure yet what mine will be like with time.

No Pain!  No back pain, neck pain, leg pains, cramps, migraines, etc… No pain what-so-ever.  I was surprised it was gone so quickly especially since they found a lot of scaring during my surgery and I lost a lot of blood.  I assumed it would take more time for me to get back to ‘normal’, but it hasn’t.

I have been working out, walking outside w/ our Siberian Husky and walking the treadmill on a great incline w/ good speed since about 2.5-3 wks post surgery.  I am aware this is quicker than a lot of Women, however, I felt great, took it slow and didn’t have any problems.  Exercise is so important not only physically but emotionally IMO, so I wanted to get back to it ASAP.

Intimacy- Waited until my 6 wks so this is still new.  I was very scared of the possibility of pain but once again was so relieved to find I didn’t have any.  I am able to enjoy intimacy more, probably since my hormones were so out of whack before and I was always in pain.  It is still early, but so far I am positive it’s only going to get better with time.

Emotions- I haven’t lost my temper or felt that PMDD-hypersensitive feeling since surgery either.  Of course I have become annoyed with something since surgery, but it hasn’t gotten out of control like with PMDD.  I haven’t felt like it was too difficult to keep my emotions in tact.  I haven’t raged on my husband or children, and I have been off my meds since a little before surgery.  This to me is awesome.  I was prepared that I may need my anti-depressant after surgery.  I didn’t know if I was going to struggle with my emotions or anything else, but fortunately I am still med-free.

So, for now I have posting great news!

Again, I am NOT recommending a hysterectomy for everyone.  My results are just that, mine.  As you all know I had exhausted all other options and my life was being effected by PMDD in h0rrible ways.  This worked for me and for anyone who would like more info on it, I am sharing here, or you can email me.

I am still 100% pushing you guys to try and get your PMDD under control before you turn to any major surgery such as this.

Hope this helps and I pray that all of you are doing okay!

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I had my surgery on Tuesday, 2/16. I am doing great, still a bit tired, but I am taking notes and going thru ideas as to what I have planned for this site.

I will be updating my Stefanie’s Journey with my journey about why I had to have a hysterectomy, what it entailed, where I am.

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For anyone keeping up, I had my hysterectomy on Tuesday, came home late afternoon Thursday.

I’m doing great, I think I was in so much pain before that surgery recovery really isn’t so bad. Of course I had an incredible doctor too :)

I will be posting soon, I am still checking the site and emails from my phone in the meantime.

Looks like my computer cleaning has done the trick so my laptop is now working great again, expect exciting things to come.

Under Stef’s Journey is where I will be updating about my recovery.

More info to come.

Stef Prose, PMDD Advocate

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My laptop is heating up alot so that is who I am constantly replying by phone. It should be fixed soon and then I will get my posts moving quicker.

I did have my doc appt today since as most of u know I had to cancel the hysterectomy over the summer. Anyway, I go back on Monday to sign the paperwork and surgery is scheduled for Tuesday.

I can’t tell u how excited I am, nervous too of course.

I will keep replying by phone until the laptop is completely ‘safe’.

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As most of you have read my son started running a 104.6 fever and his lips and body turned a purply color, we called the ambulance and they took us to the hospital. He was vomiting and had only had a fever of 102+ for 2 days before we called the ambulance. We called ask-a-nurse late the night before he went by ambulance, they thought it was more of a virus.

His leg all of a sudden started hurting so bad, he couldn’t even walk- another reason we decided on the ambulance rather than just driving him, plus we didn’t want to get there and have to sit in the waiting room with him being as bad as he was- thank goodness we didn’t wait.

They ran all his tests- no mono, no flu, no nothing. Then they did a CT scan on his leg and found something to be there. They transferred us by ambulance to another hospital where an incredible pediatric orthopedic surgeon waited for us and ordered an MRI to get better pics of the leg. He had a staph infection in his bone.

We don’t know how, he doesn’t have any open cuts, etc… but they say it could be from a cut or something like that from a long time ago and his body fought it off at the beginning, then he just got sick once it hit his bone. They did surgery a few hours later and drained the infection. Then he got a blood clot and then it got in his blood stream and moved to his lungs. The blood clot is in his major vein in his leg so we had to watch to make sure it didn’t do anything.

Luckily, the blood clot finally started getting smaller, the spots in his lungs are breaking up and not getting worse, his fever finally stayed away the last 3 days and his blood cultures came out negative. We were finally released after 2 wks.

He is at home with a PICC line where we give him antibiotics and his blood thinners. He’s also on other meds and will be starting physical therapy, and home health care comes once a week to take blood and change the dressing. It is nice they come here to do blood work and they take it to the hospital and the hospital faxes the results to his 5 specialists.

It is good to be home, he is doing good, playing computer and doing stuff again which will help with the rest of his clot and lungs, getting rid of the mess in them.

My surgery is temporarily off, but the surgical coordinator has been incredible and has said to let her know when I feel like I can reschedule and she will work with me. With the stress and everything going on, it just wasn’t best for me to keep my appt and then rush back to the hospital for recovery.

I will keep you guys informed on my new surgery date, I am still having the surgery and am still very optimistic about the results.

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After too much hollering, feeling annoyed, picking at everything and just being a down right bitch, I have started back on one medication today, Topamax (my mood stabilizer).

At first I felt like I had let myself down, but as I sat and thought about it in my head I realized a couple of things:
*I can’t stand the person I am right now and I have fought too long and hard against this person

*If I need it, I need to take it…Practice what I preach :) … and I need it, LOL

*I have said before, I have been diagnosed with Cyclomythia too which is very rapid up and downs and very quickly. Basically, I don’t stay down long enough for it to seem as though I am overly depressed or up long enough to be manic, so it’s not bipolar. It is very exhausting though because of the quickness that can occur, and it’s not something that has to be going on all the time.

My PMDD makes it worse, but this is something outside of the PMDD. I had hoped that everything would just fall into the PMDD category, but I have finally started my period and am off all my meds and this one wk that I am always longing for is hell too. The cyclomythia is something that was diagnosed when I did all my work with the psychiatrist and doctor that I loved. It all made sense, but still I hoped. :)

Anyway, because this is outside of my PMDD there is a chance that I will still need meds even after the hysterectomy. The good thing is that after the hysterectomy, even if I still need the meds for the cyclomythia, I will be able to have the quality of life I am longing for, like the one I have during my good one week.

Basically, I jumped the gun which is something that I do when I get excited. I am so completely stoked about the thought of living PMDD-free, even though I will openly admit I am scared as hell too. The very idea of living a full month feeling the way I feel during my one week right now that I am allowed, is almost to hard to even believe.

So, with all this said, I have started back on the Topamax, but I am still in high spirits. I feel so incredibly great during my one week PMDD-free time, while on my meds, that I am okay re-starting them.

This will all be a new journey for me, the hysterectomy, balancing my medication out if necessary again, etc… I am thrilled to share it with all of you and hope that it will help more of you.

My hopes now are that because I am so medicine sensitive that this medication will kick in very quickly so that I will be able to enjoy my 1 wk time once my period is over. Also, that my children will quickly forget the crazed and sick woman that came to visit the past couple of weeks, and feel relieved that there ‘Mom’ is back.

For everyone out there, maybe this posting will help you realize that we all have different things that we have to figure out within ourselves and our own families. There is never any one answer and sometimes stumbling is the only way to figure it all out. I know I had to do that these past couple of weeks and especially today.

Well, I must try and get some rest and I will post more on this later. I am thinking about all of you and hope you are all able to enjoy this week.

Stef

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My appt went awesome, man it has taken years to say that!
I saw another doc in the office at the Womens Institute, my doc got called out for surgery and I didn’t want to come back that afternoon.

He confirmed by decision and said that he completely agreed with my choice and that the ovaries must go to make a difference.

He talked with me, not at me, and found that I had exhausted all measures at this point. They don’t have anything else for me and believe it will take away my pain too.

Though I wasn’t expecting to meet another doc it went well, a 2nd opinion.

We scheduled my appt for the earliest available… July 18th!

I am even more excited and relieved that soon I will be living the quality of life I am so desperate for, though I am aware many more stops will be difficult along the way. I’m ready. I feel I have a great support system in place and as hard as living with PMDD is, I will definitely make it thru this.

Stef

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I wanted to share with all of you how things are going with me.  My hope is that my updates, my journey, will help you when you are trying new things, or struggling with your PMDD too.

First, I should say I am very fortunate because I have had PMDD for so long, I knew what it was going to be like when I got off of meds.  This has allowed me to stay somewhat sane, I have prepared myself as much as possible.  I know what I MUST do when I feel overwhelmed and I am trying to stick to it.

When I feel the angry thoughts in my head, I take myself upstairs to my room, shut the door and watch TV or research on the computer.  This allows my thoughts to dwindle without me going extreme to my husband and children.

When I am feeling exhausted, which is daily right now, I don’t drive myself crazy because the house isn’t spotless.  If I worry about the house too much it will turn into one of my over-the-top, everything has a place and get it there phases.  That is one of the things I hated most about myself without my meds.  I felt as though everything should be picked up, put away and do it right now, not later.  It’s like I could completely overwhelm myself with it and make everyone miserable in the process.

Sadly, now that I have been on the meds, I can see what it did.  Basically, my husband who has always been the most laid back person I have ever known became louder and knit picky.  He didn’t want me to be annoyed with everything, and he didn’t want me coming down on him so he started jumping the kids about the house.  It’s like before I could start in, he would be getting them to run around cleaning up.

Guess who caused this?  Yep, me!

Once I started my meds I had to talk with him about not being so picky.  It was my doing that caused it, but I knew it wasn’t good for anyone.  He wasn’t like this from the beginningand thankfully not anymore either, he wouldn’t have been happy like that- it’s not his nature.

So, right now while I am off the meds, I am biting my tongue a lot. :)  I don’t want to go backwards after our hard work moving forward.

My crying has been more intense without the meds.  I am hiding out when this happens so that my kids don’t see and worry.  My husband is doing so great taking care of them when I do into check out mode.

I am doing pretty good replying to all emails, blog and forum posts, but if anything sounds loopy I blame it on the PMDD, LOL!

The family is hanging in there, but I feel like I am sitting on the outside a lot.  I don’t feel up to going swimming, visiting, jumping on the trampoline, or just even petting the dog.  These are all the reasons taking meds works for me.

I am not going to take anything though, I went this far to get my body free from all of them and now I go in on Thursday.  I have my review of everything the doc and I have discussed and I will be scheduling my hysterectomy appt.

My scheduling and final decision on a hysterectomy will have to wait for another post.

It’s very difficult for me to stay focused, I couldn’t even tell you how long ago I started writing this post and I have been sitting in one place so it’s not like I have had disruptions.

Anyway, just wanted to update openly.

Stef

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First, Thank you to everyone for wishing me great thoughts!

I had the polyp removed which didn’t hurt, thankfully, because I am in my 2 wk hell time, tapered from my meds, and in a pretty good amount of pain already.

For anyone that hasn’t seen (LOL, i think I posted about it), I have tapered myself off of the Prozac and Topamax for now while I am having these issues, and a lot more physical pain.  My reasoning: I want to be able to see exactly where my body is without the meds tinkering me one way or another.

I did taper faster than I would recommend anyone which has been difficult, especially since I usually taper quite a bit slower than even the doctors recommendation, but I am doing pretty okay right now.

My husband and I had already talked before the taper and I made him aware of some places I may need him to step in with regards to my patience levels during this time.  So, pretty much, the nausea, the migraines, weird body feeling, feeling like I caught something (ill).  I figured doing the process during a 2 wk hell time anyway would only add to what I already go thru, so that’s the time I chose.  I know for some that would be the exact time they would stay away from. :)

Other than just being a bit tired, restless and the headaches I am doing fine, but who’s to say if it’s the taper or the PMDD, it’s all the same.

Sorry for rambling, it’s pretty late and I am just finally able to get back to the computer and site to get back to work on it.

Anyway, the sonogram showed I have a rather large cyst on my right ovary, so though that doesn’t sound pleasant in the least, I did walk away feeling better.  I was reading my body correctly, I knew something more was going on, the pain wasn’t just the PMDD getting worse and now I know.

I will be going back in next Thursday to review pics of the sono in detail and everything that he and I have already discussed in our previous appts and decide my next best move.

Also, back to the research. :)  I don’t know much about cysts other than I am in quite a bit of pain from it, so any thoughts from all of you incredible Women, I am always open for ideas and discussions.

Off to get some sleep.

Stef

www.lifewpmdd.com (Blog)
www.lifewpmdd.ning.com (Forum)
livingwpmdd@gmail.com (Email)

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