Watching some video about Linux yesterday, it mentioned that Microsoft Windows had everything. I thought, yes, Jack of all trades, master of none. I thought about the DVDs I tried to make on Windows 8, and a lot ended up being unplayable. I would then try on my XP machine, using non windows software, and the non windows software would inform me that the file was too large for the disc. It would have been nice if the windows DVD burner had informed me that the file was too large instead of burning the file onto the disc until there was no more room, and then inform me of a disc failure.
 I'm getting a new laptop with Windows 11. I'll see if I can do it right this time. First thing to do is try to make a Windows 11 installer using the laptop itself. Then see if I can partition the drive without destroying the software. The final step will be a dual boot system with Linux.

I once had a subscription to a psychology magazine. And I know the basics of computer programing. I wondered once about combining the two and reprogram my own mind. At the very least, understand that whether or not my dad knew it, he was brainwashing me.

Reading in other forums about the person having to know about estrogen and having to teach their doctor about what estrogen does to the male body helps me understand that doctors don't know everything. Knowing what I know about Klinefelter syndrome, I can dismiss the endocrinologist's opinion on the subject. I don't know if it was an outright lie, or she was misinformed.
If in fact that estrogen is needed, and not just a lack of testosterone for breast growth, and I already have breast growth, then it should indicate that I already have estrogen in my system. It seems to me that I should be tested to find out how much I already have, to get a proper dosage to bring it to the proper level.

Someplace I read about the importance of a person having estrogen coursing through their veins having the proper marking of female on the license. It is to avoid being given any medication that would conflict with estrogen.
Michelle

All humans produce both estrogen and testosterone. The presence of ovaries and the lack of testes provide more estrogen than testosterone. The lack of ovaries and presence of testes provide more testosterone and less estrogen. The difference is also in the quantity of each produced.

I just watched a couple of videos about HRT injection. They were very informative. They were done by a registered nurse, and were very detailed. Part of my learning about HRT.

Part of my dislike for injections might go back to my childhood. It took three different attempts to get a reaction from the smallpox vaccine. My mother said I got sick after the third attempt, and I don't have the smallpox vaccine scar. My mother had claimed that she had smallpox when she was younger. I doubt that, perhaps cowpox. That would raise another possibility that I had gotten the cowpox earlier, and became immune to smallpox.

I had a friend once that was diabetic. I saw him do a self injection. He told me that his sister was diabetic, and mentally was unable to do self injections. Her husband had to help her. She died when he was not around a few days to help her.

Could you imagine playing darts with used syringes.
Michelle

Quote from: Michelle_K on June 23, 2025, 12:50:26 PMCould you imagine playing darts with used syringes.

Now, I can. I would guess it would be a bit more challenging than feathered darts. Hope you get all the HRT worked out to your satisfaction, Michelle, and best of luck with the whole Linux/Windows thing (about which I know absolutely nothing).

Quote from: Michelle_K on June 23, 2025, 12:50:26 PMCould you imagine playing darts with used syringes.

Wait... what? Hahaha, your dark humor made me laugh.

Darts with syringes? Now that's one way to get your shot in!

ROFL 🤣

~ Lilis 💉

My new laptop arrived. I have it set up and made a restore USB stick. I downloaded Steam, and went to sign on. When it asked for my password, I checked my password list and Steam was not there. Somewhere around here is a piece of paper with the password written on it. I can do a change password after signing in with the other computer.

Something I read, Cleaning is putting things out of sight, and then forgetting where you put them.

Remembering now why I mistrust doctors. A year ago my LDL was in the normal range. That should mean no clogged arteries, That should also give me a history of normal cholesterol, except for the low HDL.
In may my LDL was too high,  At the VA it was way lower, but still a bit high. At my pre op exam she again mentioned statins. I know, my HDL is too low. Calculate the difference between the two plus my weight and when I quit smoking and the calculation equals statins.

Probably the same kind of thoughts about my lung damage. Former smoker makes it obvious that the damage is due to smoking, when it was really emphysema. I never did mention that I would get lung pain log before I started smoking.
Michelle

Quote from: Michelle_K on June 25, 2025, 12:31:21 AMSomething I read, Cleaning is putting things out of sight, and then forgetting where you put them.

I love this!

I hesitate to say things sometimes. If challenged, I have a tendency to break down, unable to verbally defend myself. My sister knew this, not giving me a chance to speak. Ask if she can do something and before I can respond, states silence is consent. I never had the chance to say no.

Another example would be my sister knocking over the ash tray. I stop and clean it up, my dad seeing me clean it up. He assumes I am cleaning it up so that he would not find out I knocked over the ash tray. I get a lecture where he states he knows I knocked it over, because I was cleaning it up. I do not get a chance to defend myself. After all, if she knocked it over she would be cleaning it up.
My sister learned from that, she can knock the ash tray over, and blame me.

You don't know me very well, I'm the one that broke both wrists at the same time. In the emergency room the doctor wanted to know if I understood that they were just stabilizing my wrists. About All I could say was "not fix, stabilize. In the operating room they wrapped my arms up so I couldn't even bend my elbows. I got sent to a different hospital, where they had to order another metal insert for my wrist. I had to wait a whole week for them to arrive. In the meantime I had the choice Of getting the inserts and going back home. or getting casts and spending months in a nursing home. I got the inserts, and spent another week in the hospital.
I don't know if the occupational therapist realized it, but I started doing finger exercises on my own in the emergency room. When I was released from the hospital, I dressed myself. I don't know if the occupational therapist was surprised when I tied my own shoes. I was released with the understanding that I did not need anybody to stay with me.
Nobody said I couldn't drive. So, the next day, I put about eighty miles on my car. Straight driving was okay, making turns got a little rough.

I'm hoping that after the bladder surgery, I won't need anybody to stay with me. Like I stated elsewhere I may have an advantage due to my low weight. I seem to have stabilized for the time being at 155 pounds. I may remain at that weight and later lose some more. I still have the possibility of weighing 150 pounds when I get the operation. Not a big deal if I don't lose more weight.
Another advantage is that I do get exercise. Although, It has not been easy to go for walks with the cold wet weather. With the smart watch, I was surprised by how many steps it showed just from me wandering around the house.
Lastly I am not on any prescription medication, so health-wise, I'm pretty much ok there. I'm using a nicotine patch to control my autism, and that will have to stop. I'll see what happens afterwords. If my vision goes back to before, or if my eyes are now retrained to see properly.
Michelle

Out of curiosity I put my testosterone level into a search along with some other search. Checking one result in a forum, it basically said run, don't walk to your urologist. That is too low. Back in 2005, the chart showed the lower level of normal to be 200. The newer chart shows the lower level to be 300. Back to this later.
Again back in 2005, my prostate level was 4.28, that would be 0.28 over normal. It seems to me that the doctor made several mistakes. 1 was getting the levels from a previous doctor, ignoring that at the time I was in for a UTI, and the previous doctor had diagnosed prostatitis.
2. ignoring that I was at his office for an UTI, and not allowing time to pass for inflammation.
3. Insisting that I needed an immediate biopsy instead of sending me to an urologist for another opinion. He did not accept no for an answer. The biopsy was negative for cancer, but did state that I had inflammation, confirming prostatitis.
Now the biopsy consisted of punching holes into my prostate to take tissue samples, leaving me with a damaged prostate. Healing would leave scar tissue, and now wondering if it could function properly with the scar tissue, and if that is part of the reason I now have a high PSA.
My cholesterol was a little bit high, and my glucose was in the normal range, but declared to be borderline diabetic. Again, the doctor insisted that I needed to see the nutritionist at the hospital, and would not take no for my answer. Insurance would not pay for the nutritionist.

The same doctor ignored the low testosterone, stating that it was normal. The new charts show 300 as being low, mine being 375. That would put my in the lower half of the chart. Doing more research, I finally found a chart for testosterone levels of Klinefelter syndrome. Their chart considers anything in the lower half of the normal level and below to be low for Klinefelter syndrome. So when Klinefelter syndrome states low testosterone, they are including the lower half of the normal chart. My testosterone has been low my entire life, judging by the feminization of my body during puberty. Leaving me wondering why my parents didn't notice.
I also decided to check if there was some special way to to find the long leg of Klinefelter syndrome. I did find it was the relationship of the leg measurement to torso measurement, not just getting 6 foot tall. I found that even at 5 ft 9.5 inches, the leg to torso measurement fits Klinefelter syndrome, as does my longer wing span.

Like I said, you don't know me. I have read that some intersex people don't find out they are intersex until an operation reveals it. An operation maybe like an appendectomy, where the doctor writes in the medical records that he observed a healthy ovary while performing the operation. I haven't been able yet to get ahold of my military medical records to prove it is written there. I thought I had seen something on a chiropractic x-ray. I had asked my family doctor if I could get an x-ray to prove one way or the other. I was told there was no need because it doesn't happen. When I mentioned it to the endocrinologist, I was told that it had to be a transcription error. The same endocrinologist that was to give me a prescription for estrogen. The same one that told me that since Klinefelter was not in my records, it was not possible for me to have Klinefelter syndrome. I got sent to a therapist for gender dysphoria diagnosis, and after the session waited for them to contact me and never heard anything since.
In the meantime I have low sex hormones, and it does affect my life.

So it look like I am intersex in two different ways, only I can't prove any of it, and have no diagnosis for either one.
Michelle

Quote from: Michelle_K on June 26, 2025, 11:01:15 PMSo it look like I am intersex in two different ways, only I can't prove any of it, and have no diagnosis for either one.

Are you able to have your test done and pay for it yourself? If that is a possibility, I would look into that. Very often, doctors will not order tests that insurance does not cover. And insurance won't pay for it if there is no medical necessity.

I had a similar situation with sinus problems. My doctors kept saying it was seasonal allergies. I told them that I am not allergic to anything. After much complaining, they agreed to refer me to an ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat Specialist) for the sinus issues. Their exam was negative. Round and round we went. I pointed to my labs showing the neutrophils in normal range, i.e., no allergies. Back to the ENT, and he agreed to do a full allergy test. He tested me for 80 known allergens. All negative.

My point is that sometimes you can bully the VA into doing the tests you ask for, if you can show a good reason for it. For example, lab tests, symptoms, etc. If that doesn't work, you might need to just get the karyotype test done yourself. Then present your doctor with the test results from a certified lab and request that it be entered into your medical records.

It is important to stay focused on one thing when talking to your doctors. If you discuss multiple issues, they will filter out what they are not interested in and focus on something that needs to be treated. If your only discussion is about getting tested or entering test results in your records, they have no choice but to address that issue.

Quote from: Lori Dee on June 27, 2025, 09:38:31 AMIt is important to stay focused on one thing when talking to your doctors. If you discuss multiple issues, they will filter out what they are not interested in and focus on something that needs to be treated. If your only discussion is about getting tested or entering test results in your records, they have no choice but to address that issue.

Definitely. Also, if you give them multiple issues, they'll tend to focus on the one that's easiest to resolve - the "low hanging fruit." A hard-to-diagnose issue will always get put on the back burner unless it's the only one you present.

I have a tendency to forget things sometimes. It is something else about Klinefelter Syndrome. Where I used to work I would get comments about looking way younger then I actually am. A little speculation, the doctor checks my chart while entering the room, looks at me and assumes I'm 15-20 years younger then I actually am. Doesn't pay much attention to my age as she puts it in the calculation. The calculation shows how much of a risk of cardiac disease will be 10 years from now. All without realizing I will be 85 in 10 years.

My urologist has already stated that she will try to send me to another urologist that know about Klinefelter syndrome, after the bladder stone surgery. There is a possibility that I can get a diagnosis of Klinefelter syndrome without a blood test.
Michelle

It was said that a photo is worth a thousand words. The groove in my ribs is right where the bra strap goes. I don't recall if I set the camera up on a tripod, or if somebody else took the picture. Typical, get my hands dirty, and then my shoulder itches.

I'm guessing that was about 25 years ago, on a warm summer's day. I wasn't about to go topless. I may have been teased about the lack of chest hair, and female looking nipples. Long pants, again the teasing, almost no leg hair. Trying to live as a male, and then wear a tank top.

I had a whole bunch to say, but lost my thoughts.
Michelle

Quote from: Michelle_K on June 28, 2025, 12:56:29 PMI had a whole bunch to say, but lost my thoughts.

Not to worry, Michelle. I never have much to say and still lose my thoughts. Love the pic.

I think even as a teenager, my grandpa would call me a bean pole, in reference to how skinny I was. Hard to imagine somebody that skinny having high cholesterol and be borderline diabetic.  Maybe the doctor gets tunnel vision and freaks, can't think of anything other than sending me to a nutritionist.

The nutritionist looked at my food diary and told me this, that, and the other should be eliminated from my diet. Pretty much put me on a diet that does not have enough nutrition to survive. Pretty much zero sugar intake eliminates most of my diet. That takes care of the glucose problem.
To deal with the high cholesterol, eliminate meat, from a diet that total fat is under 100 grams.
Michelle

It just does not make sense. My HDL is low on all my tests. Even with the other cholesterol levels changing, the HDL does not get over 44, being too low. Mostly every Saturday And Sunday, I am eating fish straight out of the salmon can. The omega 3 three oils are supposed to raise my HDL, What I am seeing is unchanged.

Even drinking olive oil is supposed to help, but according to the ad, it must be from this one location, and he is the only one that has the contract to get the special olive oil. This special olive oil can only be bought through his website.
I heard someplace that some places are diluting the olive oil with soy oil, to make more profit.

The doctor wants the cholesterol under control before prescribing estrogen. If my HDL is not high enough to clean my blood, then a statin will not even help. Like any woman after menopause, since my testosterone is too low, I need the estrogen to convert to HDL to clean my blood.
If I understood everything right.
Michelle

Looking at my blood work again, I looked at everything instead of just the high LDL. My total cholesterol is in the normal range. My HDL is at the bottom of the scale, making my LDL too high.

It might be noted that the process of loosing weight might be raising my cholesterol, by pulling it out of the fat cells.
After being without my lower denture for a decade, I have a tendency to forget I now have a lower denture again, and I can now eat the raw fruits and vegetables. I can snack on the apple slices.
The biggest problem is living alone, some fruits might spoil before I get to the bottom of the bag. The nutritionist from 2005, didn't like the idea of me eating canned fruits. Probably had the idea that all canned fruits have added high fructose corn syrup.

Cleaning my cabinets, I found some gelatin and pudding that have been there a few years. I think that as long as I watch my sugar intake, I can use them up. I'm already getting sugar free versions to use once the sugared ones are gone. I also have Kool-aid packets that have been sitting for awhile. The last time I made Kool-aid, I was putting in 3/4 cup sugar instead of the full cup as called for. I wonder what it would taste like if I used 1/2 cup of sugar instead. I might just throw out the packets and forget about any Kool-aid.
It was a surprise that the banana had almost as much sugar as my bowl of gelatin. I've now traded the banana for an apple. I had the bananas on a stand, and was surprised one day that one banana was hanging by a peel, with that part exposed. A partially nude banana.

I've been eating salads lately, buying the pre-made store bought salad. I toss the included dressing packet into the garbage, and put on the fat-free, sugar-free Skinny Girl dressing. I add a couple spoons of diced tomato, and considering adding chia seeds and a tin of sardines.
Michelle

Quote from: Michelle_K on Yesterday at 06:22:52 PMLooking at my blood work again, I looked at everything instead of just the high LDL. My total cholesterol is in the normal range. My HDL is at the bottom of the scale, making my LDL too high.

It might be noted that the process of loosing weight might be raising my cholesterol, by pulling it out of the fat cells.
After being without my lower denture for a decade, I have a tendency to forget I now have a lower denture again, and I can now eat the raw fruits and vegetables. I can snack on the apple slices.
The biggest problem is living alone, some fruits might spoil before I get to the bottom of the bag. The nutritionist from 2005, didn't like the idea of me eating canned fruits. Probably had the idea that all canned fruits have added high fructose corn syrup.

Cleaning my cabinets, I found some gelatin and pudding that have been there a few years. I think that as long as I watch my sugar intake, I can use them up. I'm already getting sugar free versions to use once the sugared ones are gone. I also have Kool-aid packets that have been sitting for awhile. The last time I made Kool-aid, I was putting in 3/4 cup sugar instead of the full cup as called for. I wonder what it would taste like if I used 1/2 cup of sugar instead. I might just throw out the packets and forget about any Kool-aid.
It was a surprise that the banana had almost as much sugar as my bowl of gelatin. I've now traded the banana for an apple. I had the bananas on a stand, and was surprised one day that one banana was hanging by a peel, with that part exposed. A partially nude banana.

I've been eating salads lately, buying the pre-made store bought salad. I toss the included dressing packet into the garbage, and put on the fat-free, sugar-free Skinny Girl dressing. I add a couple spoons of diced tomato, and considering adding chia seeds and a tin of sardines.
Michelle

I think your doctor's concern over canned fruit is correct. Canned fruit has its own sugars, and then they add the syrup. But when you eat an apple, you get just the fructose from the apple. It doesn't spike your blood sugar because the fiber of the fruit slows down the digestion. I enjoy drinking fruit juices, but I had to cut back because they have all the sugar and no fiber content. That spikes your glucose level.

I have the same problem with keeping the fruit fresh long enough to eat it all. Then Davina suggested slicing up the apples and freezing them. That eliminates the waste.

I think throwing out the old Kool-Aid packets is a good idea. Even if you added only 1/4 cup of sugar, that is still added sugar that you don't need.