A rollercoaster ride

OK, having now been taking the HRT tablets the doctor prescribed (Elleste Duet) for a couple of weeks. So... how are things going? Well, I'd say things were a bit up and down to be honest.

My 'hot spots' haven't exactly gone away, but they do seem less frequent (night sweats once or twice a night now, not five or six episodes!) and they are less intense. I should still be hooked up to the National Grid as I produce a lot of excess energy, but the Water Board probably couldn't make much use of me to reduce seasonal shortages now. Likewise, those extremely irritating Beach Boys haven't decided to retire altogether. Still, the buzzing blighters play me up less often and at a significantly reduced, more manageable, volume. My moods seem a bit less volatile too, which is a big plus as I'm a bit more on an even keel. Less intense anger (although I still have my moments) and a reduction in the sudden floods of tears for no real reason.

But... and there always is at least one 'but', isn't there... there are a few things which are causing me some disquiet. First of these is that, even though the night sweats are less of an issue, I'm still not sleeping properly and so I'm almost always feeling tired and mildly run down as a consequence. The overnight disturbances caused by the sweats seem to have been substituted with other wake up calls! I seem to be getting bad dreams (hmmm, nightmares really) quite frequently over the past couple of weeks. Some of them are pretty unsettling too. It reminds me of the time I took Lariam to prevent malaria - but thankfully not as bad! And there are the early hours leg cramps. Not something I suffer from usually, but lately my calf muscles have managed to tie themselves into excruciating knots and wake me.

Then there's early morning indigestion - usually first thing in the morning, or within half an hour or so of breakfast. I don't feel sick exactly, just a bit uncomfortable and mildly 'dodgy'. I feel bloated and bigger around the belly (despite the yoghurt) and my digestive system seems to be just slightly out of kilter.

But the one which is really annoying to a fat lass is the effect on my weight. OK, it wasn't the best of weeks last week, but things shouldn't have been bad enough to see the scales leap back up to 62.5kg again. Needless to say... they did! I can tell from my wedding ring being tighter on my finger that I'm retaining water so that is part of it, but...

Coincidence? Not sure.

It's still very early days so I guess it's 'keep taking the tablets' and see how things go.