: Health and hormones :
I had a pretty rough night last night health-wise. My allergies are always pretty bad this time of year, and weather changes like we've been having in Houston make them worse until the first real cold front of the season blows through and makes whatever it is I'm allergic to go dormant. Maybe a change of scenery will help that too.
As some people know, I've enjoyed excellent health during my first year on hormones. Even during the fall allergy season last year, my symptoms were not as severe as they have been in years past. In fact, I believe I've only taken a total of maybe four sick days from July 2004 to September 2005, and I only remember one of those times where I really felt sick was when I had a cold. Other times it was headaches or allergies, but not really an illness. During this same period of time my spouse and child were often sick, yet somehow I didn't catch anything. It was almost as if my immune system was stronger then.
But after last night, I'm thinking my period of nearly perfect health is coming to a close. Perhaps my body has adjusted to the hormones and now my body chemistry has normalized to the state of general health I enjoyed before, which was still pretty good. I've always had a fairly robust constitution. It's just that now, biochemically speaking according to blood tests run by my doctor, I am female. My hormone levels have been reassigned to closely match the levels that a genetic female would have, in terms of the ratio of female to male hormones, estrogen to testosterone.
Last night I was suffering from my usual allergy symptoms of sneezing, runny nose and itchy, watery eyes, so I went to bed at 10 p.m., which is quite early for me. I awoke at 2 a.m. having trouble breathing through my nose, and couldn't fall back asleep because of my symptoms. I stayed up and watched some TV before finally biting the bullet and going out to the drug store for a remedy.
One of the major hassles of losing everything in the fire that destroyed my house is not having little things like nasal spray or a full drug cabinet on hand when things like this pop up. So I threw on some clothes and drove to the 24-hour CVS pharmacy to get what I needed. I guess the highlight of the evening for me was being called "ma'am" in the store, even though I had no makeup on, looked terrible with my runny nose and all, and my voice wasn't working its best due to congestion. Passing when you're sick is a little harder than under normal circumstances, so that was a nice feeling for me. So as a little reward, I bought a new lipstick for myself, came home, and finally fell asleep around 4 a.m.
As some people know, I've enjoyed excellent health during my first year on hormones. Even during the fall allergy season last year, my symptoms were not as severe as they have been in years past. In fact, I believe I've only taken a total of maybe four sick days from July 2004 to September 2005, and I only remember one of those times where I really felt sick was when I had a cold. Other times it was headaches or allergies, but not really an illness. During this same period of time my spouse and child were often sick, yet somehow I didn't catch anything. It was almost as if my immune system was stronger then.
But after last night, I'm thinking my period of nearly perfect health is coming to a close. Perhaps my body has adjusted to the hormones and now my body chemistry has normalized to the state of general health I enjoyed before, which was still pretty good. I've always had a fairly robust constitution. It's just that now, biochemically speaking according to blood tests run by my doctor, I am female. My hormone levels have been reassigned to closely match the levels that a genetic female would have, in terms of the ratio of female to male hormones, estrogen to testosterone.
Last night I was suffering from my usual allergy symptoms of sneezing, runny nose and itchy, watery eyes, so I went to bed at 10 p.m., which is quite early for me. I awoke at 2 a.m. having trouble breathing through my nose, and couldn't fall back asleep because of my symptoms. I stayed up and watched some TV before finally biting the bullet and going out to the drug store for a remedy.
One of the major hassles of losing everything in the fire that destroyed my house is not having little things like nasal spray or a full drug cabinet on hand when things like this pop up. So I threw on some clothes and drove to the 24-hour CVS pharmacy to get what I needed. I guess the highlight of the evening for me was being called "ma'am" in the store, even though I had no makeup on, looked terrible with my runny nose and all, and my voice wasn't working its best due to congestion. Passing when you're sick is a little harder than under normal circumstances, so that was a nice feeling for me. So as a little reward, I bought a new lipstick for myself, came home, and finally fell asleep around 4 a.m.
