Time for an update! Past time probably, but here it goes anyways.
OK, so at the end of October or beginning of November, one or the other, I basically went blind in my left eye. Turns out it was Optic Neuritis related to the MS, of course... Another relapse. And while I think they took far too long to treat it, resulting in only a ~50% recovery, what's done is done. And I'm talking by only like a week or two here.
So, steroids, more steroids, and even more steroids later, I finally wound up being hospitalized for a week for plasmapheresis right before Thanksgiving. That basically stopped the MS in its tracks and started the slow and tedious vision recovery process. Like I said, I still only have ~50% vision back, but my brain has largely adapted to the change and is compensating well enough, unless I close the good eye and then it's like, "Oh yeah, damn..." LOL. This makes it quite difficult to put on eye shadow and eyeliner!
With the terrible cascading relapses I had through September and October, the doctors pushed for me to get approved for Lemtrada. The Tecfidera and Aubagio just weren't cutting it obviously. I received my Lemtrada treatment in the middle of January, and that combined with the plasmapheresis has left me relapse free since around the beginning of November. So, about 4 months. That's not a significantly long time by any means and I missed about 3 weeks of work for treatments and hospitalizations in there, but it's the longest stretch I've had in 2 years without symptoms.
And that's the state of my MS.
Now for the HRT side of things. I went to see my endocrinologist partway through my plasmapheresis treatment. They discharged me for the last couple days and I just had to come back and be treated outpatient, to save a tiny bit of money on hospital fees. Anyways, when I went to see her I had these tubes hanging out of my neck, it's kinda gnarly, I've got a pic somewhere I'll try to get up.
Here it is in my Gallery:
So, my endo gets my blood test results from a couple weeks prior and she's like, "I did some research and discovered that testosterone has properties that have been shown to possibly protect the myelin sheath from damage caused by MS." And my heart sinks... "I don't want to increase your estrogen dose because it may push your T levels down even further, and with your recent string of relapses, I think that's dangerous." My T was at like 200! Sigh...
She did however agree to add progesterone, which I've been on now for 3 months. I go back to see my endo in a week. I saw my neurologist a couple weeks ago and he said that so long as I was relapse free by the middle of March, he'd tell my endo that he would approve an estrogen dosage increase. So while I may not get an increase next week, hopefully I will a couple weeks later.
In the end. Nobody knows anything, and now that I've had Lemtrada it could render any real future evidence irrelevant. Lemtrada is pretty intense in what it does to your body, so who knows. I just know that I've been on HRT for 8 months now, with ONE dosage increase 6 months ago, and I'm getting kinda antsy. I like the progress I've made, but there are times when I can tell my body chemistry is off and that things aren't like I want them to be. I still have pretty intense leg hair for instance even after 8 months on estrogen and spiro! So I'm hopeful. Keep your fingers crossed for me will ya? I just need to be relapse free for another couple of weeks, lol. And I hope my blood test results come back in favor of increasing the dosage as well.
