I went to get my hair cut this morning. When I sat down, the hairdresser took a look at my hair… as they tend to do.
I blurt out that I don’t see a difference in my hair since I saw her last… it’s still thin, but I can’t tell whether it’s still falling out at a rate of knots because it’s now short.

And then what she said was music to my ears… she could feel it was thicker!! Woohoo!!

Once she’d dyed it, and cut it, and dried it… I saw the difference too. It’s definitely thicker!! She also noticed a difference when she was cutting, she noted that she could see less of my scalp

You have NO idea how happy that’s made me, NO idea!

And it’s not only that… I’ve noticed in the last week (and she noticed today too)… that my skin has changed. Not only has the acne almost disappeared, but my skin tone has improved too.

Oh yeah, I’m a happy camper now the endo and his treatments were so worth all the money!

There was a blog challenge last week on Female2Female about 10 things, and I never did it, but while I’m waiting for this endless LR export, I might as well list 10 things that I’ve learnt this week.

It’s been a big week so far, with Connor having a tonsillectomy and I went on a photo workshop, so these should be easy enough to rattle off.

1.  Don’t wear a white jersey when your child goes for surgery, you will get it full of blood when he starts recovering from the anaesthetic and thrashes around madly.

2.  It’s required to wake your child up in the middle of the night for a snack of chips and sweets, when they’re recovering from a tonsillectomy because it stretches the muscles so they’re not as sore in the morning.

3.  It takes 1 day before the kids are tired of coke and other fizzy drinks… because they’re now allowed it.

4.  Lightroom takes too long to export… I get too impatient! But I have learnt it’s quirks now, and I know when it’s going to fail.

5.  I’m charging too little for weddings.  I know how much to charge now, so my rates will be going up.

6.  I need to define my style photography… apparently I have one, according to most people… but now to put it in words and that’s impossible

7.  I can say No.  I’ve turned down a few shoots this week.  I do have one or 2 days free in the next few weeks… but I actually need a day off! I’m starting to burn out, I can feel it.

8. There are a whole load of excellent photography bloggers that I need to add to my reader.

9. There’s only so much I can cook without using spices or tomato-based sauces.

10.  I’m tired

I’m waiting for Lightroom to finish exporting, and praying it doesn’t fail again… but in the meantime…

Connor is sleeping, without realising what’s really happening tomorrow.

How on earth do you really prepare a 3 year old for hospital and surgery?  He looks at me blankly when I say he can’t have his morning bottle tomorrow because he’s not allowed anything to eat   .  It’s going to be hell tomorrow morning!

He’s going for a tonsillectomy tomorrow, because his tonsils are now permanently swollen from the umpteen bouts of tonsillitis he’s had in the last year.

I’ve stupidly forgotten to pack toys for him before he went to sleep, so if I do it now he’ll wake up.  And we have to be at the hospital at 6:30am… and yes… it’s late and I’m still not in bed!!

I’m just hoping that he doesn’t react to the anaesthetic like Bradley did when he had grommets put it… Bradley was the first to go into surgery, and the last to leave the ward that night, he just wouldn’t wake up! I’m not sure I can handle that again.

I’m not sure I’m prepared for the pain he’ll be in afterwards.  I’m shying away from understanding it right now, because I don’t want it to happen.  But I suppose I can’t stop it.

Tomorrow will happen as tomorrow needs to happen, and I will have to deal with it.

I went back to the endo this afternoon to get the results of the blood tests, only to hear that I’ve got them flummoxed too!

He consulted with the other 2 Specialist Physicians in the practice because of my results, because my symptoms don’t match with the bloods. Much that I’m flattered by the attention, I’d actually prefer a definitive answer about my hair!

So, I actually have plenty wrong with me, and I’m now on a long long road to try and get it all in balance again, and judging by what he said each one of the problems would cause, I’ve actually had this for years… if not forever!

• My iron levels are low, apparently the GP didn’t look at the same measurement that he does
• My ratio for Estrogen vs progesterone is out of whack and I have too much estrogen
• My DHEA and Andi… (cannot remember this very long name) and testosterone levels are too low

He actually tested for testosterone again… and again there was no sign of any!

So, I’ve been told to stop taking the stuff the dermatologist prescribed because it won’t make a difference and it’s making my blood rate too low.

The good news is that I’ve got plenty of mooti to keep me going and I have to have more tests in 2 months time to see if there’s a change… and I have to phone him if my hairloss gets worse.  The bad news… by correcting my testosterone and DHEA levels I risk losing more of my hair… FABULOUS hey?!

And he wants more tests tomorrow… this time to check for auto-immune problems (that was bad news).

The good news is the biggest surprise for me… my stress hormone levels are normal!! Wow! I was amazed!  The bad news… he says they’re a bit low, and that’s because my andrenal glands are not doing much (or something like that) because of the extended stress I’ve been under and because of the other problems listed above.

The good news… all the medicine I’ve been given is natural based… the bad news is that most of it isn’t covered by medical aid!

I went to the endocrinologist today… from now on referred to as endo because it’s such a long damn word.  Yes, I was very very lucky to get an appointment so quickly (there was a cancellation and I phoned just at the right time).

Here’s the quick rundown, apart from my facebook status in which I just declared that I was a hormonal mess:

1.  I need to go for more blood tests tomorrow for all hormones, because apparently the testosterone hormone is at the end of the line when it comes to problems and a problem with that hormone is normally caused by another hormone, or something like that.  This could be the first in  many sessions of tests to try find the cause though, he was very quick to stress that it isn’t an exact science all the time.

2.  The second set of results were the same as the first, and apparently they can’t trace testosterone in my blood at all at the moment.

3.  This could cause hairloss, acne (check), weight gain (kinda check), moods and plenty more which also relate to how I’m feeling and looking like at the moment, and in fact, the last number of years.

4.  He also suspects right now that this could also be the cause for all the miscarriages I had, and the fact that I had to be given progesterone when pregnant with Bradley and Connor to keep the pregnancies.  Go figure!

5.  I’m going back to him next week for treatment… and apparently the practice not only believes in pharmaceutical remedies but also natural and holistic remedies… what a win!!

Kudos to my GP for actually testing for this when I went to see her in January.  According to the dermatologist, he would not have tested for it because the results are normally the opposite for the condition I complained about.  If it wasn’t for her, I would not have known about this problem and been able to try and sort it out.

I wrote a blog post in October last year about Simply Slim after a discussion about the drug at bookclub one night.

For those living under a rock… it’s a weight loss miracle cure that’s not sold by pharmacies, but by agents and random people who have set up camp in shopping centres across the country (that in itself is a worry!).  It was/is touted as a natural weight loss pill and hundreds and thousands of women have been buying it and losing oodles of weight.

However with the weight, comes horrific side effect, some of which I blogged about at the time.

The point of my new blog post…  KUDOS to the medical council for FINALLY investigating this stuff!

According to the Government Gazette, the MCC has suspended the sale of the product with immediate effect.  And according to Timeslive the levels of sibutramine found in the product are above legal limits and after many complaints they’re suspended the product.

I get between 20 to 30 hits on my blog post every day from google searches like “simply slim complaints” and “simply slim dangers” and “has anybody experienced side effects of Simply Slim” and “simply slim side effects”.

My stats have been telling me that there’s a HUGE problem with it.

And on top of that, one of my friends has been told categorically by her doctor that her heart problems are directly related to her taking the drug!

I’m sorry, but that’s not normal. I know that a lot of people swear by it, and have lost oodles of weight on it… but people… you’re killing yourselves early!!

I just hope they actually shut the whole operation down. And yes, I feel sorry for the agents. They’re really in the middle of this mess, after being given “medical” training on the stuff and being told that there’s nothing wrong with it, and it’s safe to take.  Ja right!

And I’m NOT going to respond to people who comment saying I have no idea what I’m talking about… this is my opinion! I know people have gotten their lives back on the stuff because they’ve lost so much weight in the process, that’s not the issue… the issue is how much of your body you’ve irreparably damaged by taking it.

I went to my long awaited dermatologist’s appointment this morning… and all I know for certain is that I’m going to be going to the loo a lot in the next 6 months.

He’s put me on a diuretic which is apparently quite strong and will make me need the loo all the time… fabulous.

The verdict was as follows:

1. My hairloss is my body’s reaction to the hormonal issue, but follows the same pattern as male baldness.  FABULOUS!!
2. My acne is part of the same problem
3. It’s also caused by stress.  Funny that!!
4. The medicine he’s given me should sort both problems out … but it’ll take 6 months   We should be able to stop it though.
5. And I have to watch what else I eat because this stuff has high levels of potassium in it, so I have to make sure anything else I take is potassium free.
6. Note the should is not a will!! 
7. He phoned an endocrinologist because of the low testosterone levels found in the last tests as they were very very low and concerning.  FABULOUS.  The specialist is also confused by the results.  So… I’m off for more blood tests tomorrow to repeat that particular test.

On another hair note, I’ve booked my hair appointment… with Jessica‘s stylist because the other chick was only available at the end of February!! My oath!! I hope this chick cuts well.

Lance is still trying to tell me it’s a bad idea because it’ll accentuate the bald areas on my head   But I can’t do this for another 6 months

I’m sure by now you’re tired about hearing about my hair… so I’ll find a new topic for tomorrow… maybe something to do with me stressing about the small chapel on Friday and wondering how I’m going to get around it without tripping over the bridal couple

One week back at school, and Connor is already sick!

I took him to the doc… tonsillitis yet again! So I’m going to make an appointment at the ENT tomorrow to see what to do next.

As for me… I’ve got it too… my throat is on fire, my ears are blocked and I’m light-headed! If it doesn’t go away soon, I’m also going to have to go to the doc.

I’m afraid that’s my sorry excuse for a blog post (apart from this cute photo of Connor that I took last week)… I’m not in the mood.

As I mentioned the other day, I went to the doctor to see if there’s a cause for my hair loss.

The doc phoned me this morning:

• Thyroid is perfect
• Liver and kidneys perfect
• Iron perfect
• Glucose levels low – she says I need to eat more often or else I probably get very tired.  Ho hum, I see more eating and more weight ahead of me I suppose
• Testosterone levels low.  Now that’s where she’s confused.  Apparently high testosterone levels cause hairloss, and even the other doc she phoned for advise couldn’t explain it.

So now I have to go to a dermatologist with the blood results and her report.  She doesn’t want to put me on testosterone yet because it could make it worse. Fabulous!

And the first appointment for said dermatologist… 1 day after I start my new job.

Ultra fabulous!!

I actually feel close to what Lotus is feeling about her hairloss… maybe I should just shave it all off and be done with this crap!

A few of you know that over the last few years, I’ve gone through bouts of losing hair.  It started when I had those miscarriages, and when I had both kids it happened again.

Now however, I can’t blame the kids.  My hair is falling out and it’s depressing me so much.

I knew it had got bad when Lance said something to me the other day

So now, I’m declaring Operation Jenty-hair.  I’ve got to do something about it or else I’m convinced I’ll be bald in a few months.

Last time it happened I invested in Nioxin… but MY GOD it was expensive and it really didn’t work all that well.

This time, I’ve bought hair and nail tissue salts to try the natural route, and I’ve also bought Vigro tablets and a hair tonic.

Any other ideas anyone?  Other than a wig?  Maybe I should chop my hair off… but then I think I’ll look worse because of how thin my hair is right now.

I don’t know… I actually just feel like crying about it and crawling into a ball and wishing it away.