Posts tagged triptorelin

One more box ticked

June 23, 2011 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged , , , , ,

Starting to house-keep and tidy up loose ends and…can’t for the life of me imagine why THIS post didn’t go up about three weeks back.

Apologies, but there may be a few of these now…stuff that seems to have crept into draft by mistake.

Here goes (from three weeks back):

Along to the GP’s to pick up my anti-androgen stuff (triptorelin) and have my four-week testosterone blocker.

Yay!

After all the rush last week… the hospital recommended the wrong stuff…then they wouldn’t change it without a note from the specialist …and he wouldn;t issue a note without a letter from me…and he sent his note to the wrong doctor … and the GP wrote up the wrong dose (three months rather than one!)… and then the practice mis-placed the prescription…

Phew!

You wouldn’t think such a simple request would lead to so much chaos – and next to none of it of my making.

But we’re done. I went along this morning, collected the box from the pharmacy fridge, and over to the nursing station for my jab. There, the nurse consulted a colleague, cause this is the funny gadget-y injection (with a connector to mix up the powder and solute) and one small prick later (yeah, yeah…but maybe this is almost the last time i’ll make that joke).

Although the nurse made me smile.

After fluffing for a bit trying to work out how the gadget functioned, she opined cheerfully: “well. at least next time i’ll know what to do”.

Er, no. “I think”, i suggested gently, “that if there is a next time for this drug i’ll be demanding my money back from the clinic!”

But yay! When this runs out, one more week of unrestrained testosterone. Ever!

And then the only T is going to be surplus converted from oestrogen, or supplements if my endocrinologist thinks i need it.

That is splendid news.

Except for the fact that now, without the hormone cushion, i understand i am much more likely to suffer side effects.

PMT and mini-menopause here we go. And i am supposed to be being sweet, reasonably and in best negotiating mood for a meeting on Thursday?

Nah! Think maybe i’ll just tear them limb from limb instead.

jane
xx

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Going down…side-effects here we come

February 16, 2011 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged , , ,

Side-effects. Symptoms. Whatever. Wouldn’t it be easier if they came in neatly packaged, discrete parcels.

Like…take this drug, and if it disagrees with you, you’ll develop a sudden and overwhelming allergy to cauliflower. That’d be easy. Just present the patient with a bunch of cauliflowers – and watch them cower (or not).

But no. Most symptoms seem to overlap with symptoms for something else. Boringly predictable, I guess. After all, there are only so many ways your body can misbehave: over-heat, under-heat, come out in spots, bleed. So given the amount of disease around, its hardly surprising that some look much like another.

I was forcibly made aware of this some years back when someone close had a breakdown. Symptoms: behave erratically, minor hallucinations, mood swings, and a few other items for good effect. I checked the textbooks. Aha! This was bipolar. Oh. No. Another book gave much the same for schizophrenia. Yet another suggested personality disorder. Whilst other opinions suggested this was well within the range of “normal”.

So there you have it: utterly bonkers, or completely sane, with almost all stops covered in-between.

That’s a long pre-amble to saying I was ill on Monday – and maybe suffering from my anti-androgen. Or maybe not.

So far, I have to report, I have felt pretty ordinary. No temptations to lash out at random traffic wardens. No crying fits – at least no more than usual. No palpitations, sweats or hot flushes. All depressingly normal.

But then, I haven’t, quite, been able to shake that image that will be familiar to connoisseurs of bad WWII dramas. You know the one: where the submarine captain orders his crew to “dive”…and then you get the long drawn out silence, punctuated only by some officer calling off depth readings in the background, and the first ominous creaks as the hull prepares to collapse.

Or if you prefer modern: think Scott, in Star Trek (which is actually a submarine drama transposed to the future). “She canna take it, Cap’n. She’s gonna blow!”

So I’ve been waiting. Anticipating. And nothing. Nada.

Until Monday, when first I had stomach cramps, then headache, nausea, general lassitude and all-round rottenness (no: I hadn’t been listening to Theresa May!).

Aha! That must be it. The anti-androgen’s revenge. Except…

… this felt pretty much exactly like a particularly nasty bug that first attacked me some thirty years back in France – and which has returned, at odd intervals to make my life a misery. Nothing too serious. It feels like flu without the sneezing. And it tends to last a day or so then go away.

Which this did.

So there you have it. I’ve had my side-effects (touch wood!). Or then again, I haven’t. Either way, Monday was pretty rotten. I took myself to bed and when I looked round, it was Tuesday. No zumba for me!

But I’m feeling OK now and, if there are side-effects to come, they’ve got another week or so to make themselves known.

See u all later – just off to strangle a chicken!

jane
xx

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Flooding out the testosterone…

February 9, 2011 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged , ,

Ugh! The long-awaited moment arrives – and it is not without its down side.

No, not the surgery. Silly! That’s still to come later this year. But last time I saw the specialist, I was finally prescribed an anti-androgen. Triptorelin, for those who are interested in such things, which should reduce my testosterone levels to bugger all…

Anyway, its taken a week or so to sort out – but tomorrow it will be administerd. A small prick in my… oh! Ha! Ha! But yes: an injection, for the girl who hates injections. That’s downer number one, but something I will cope with.

Number two is the long list of possible side-effects that comes with it, including (I’ve copied and pasted): “blood in the urine; bone pain; diarrhea; difficulty urinating; dizziness; headache; hot flashes; itching, pain, or swelling at the injection site; leg pain; nausea; sleeplessness; stomach discomfort; tiredness; vomiting; worsening of pain for several days”.

Oh, joy!

Actually, the biggy is deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which risk is already exacerbated by the oestrogen and will be doubled up with the triptorelin. Serious discussion today with my own GP, who reckons I shouldn’t stay on the drug much more than six months.

Totally agreed!

Third, albeit one of the supposed side-effects, but maybe most significant, is a “testosterone spike”. Apparently this drug works by overwhelming whichever bits of my system produce testosterone… flooding it with, er, testosterone. So for a few days, possibly even a week or two, I’ll be undergoing a hormone switch-over, from gentle female uppermost to raging male. Ugh! And double ugh!

That said – and I’d love to hear from others who have trodden this path before – some people discount this side-effect as not much: others reckon it is major and serious.

One of those maybe things: maybe it exists; or maybe the idea that it exists tends to encourage psychosomatic reactions. Hard to say.

I spoke to someone who had taken anti-androgens in the past, and she spoke about feeling utterly miserable for a couple of weeks until her body settled down again.

We shall see. Seems like I should avoid additional stress – and at the same time, watch myself totally for any lapses into male boorishness.

That said, it is a major step and, there are some major plus’s to follow if it works out. Loads less body hair, supposedly – and a reduction in testosterone to nil. Effectively, hormonal castration. That, according to others who have reached that, is a remarkably peaceful place to be.

Anyhow, I was enthused by Ashley’s blog on the subject – although slightly less enthused to discover that her post on triptorelin is the last post she made over the last couple of months. Eeek! I hope nothing bad came of it.

Meanwhile, if I am acting a little aggressive over the next fortnight, you now know why. I’ll do my best not to..

jane
xx

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Anti-androgens

January 31, 2011 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged , ,

That darn testosterone! Although my oestrogen levels continue to hover at a suitably high level, my testosterone is stubbornly refusing to budge much further. If anything, it has edged its way up since last I had samples taken.

Drat!

No doubt that contributes to the constant war I wage with body hair.

So I have been prescribed Triptorelin.

This, apparently, is the least worst of three options – but is also the most expensive. I am going to ask my GP to prescribe. It is possible that they may decide not to pick up the tab.

Anyone have any experience of either: the drug, or GP funding for it?

jane
xx

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