[fblike style=”standard” showfaces=”false” width=”450″ verb=”like” font=”arial”] Heading now to the reproductive endocrinologist with my mother in tow. Or rather, she’s got me by the hair and is dragging me there now. Will report the findings after my 11am appointment. I wonder if this premature menopause is caused by a gluten intolerance. One of my best friends in Austin considers the gluten-free diet a panacea. She sends me articles on the links between premature menopause and gluten intolerance almost daily. I will bring this up to the endocrinologist.

The endocrinologist didn’t give me a good vibe. At all. He just struck me as someone who was familiar with women who desperately wanted to get pregnant but knew very little about managing menopause, especially with regard to premature menopause.”You’re out of eggs,” he said. “It unquestionable. You’re not peri-menopausal or pre-menopausal. You’re in full blown menopause, or postmenopausal, there’s really no difference.”

For the record…
LH 37.7
FSH 75.8 (Postmenopausal is 25.8 – 134.8)
Prolactin 9.0
Estradiol 17.9

Roche ECLIA methodology
Thyroxine (T4) 11.9 (Normal is 4.5 – 12.0)
T2 Uptake 26 (Normal is 24 -39)
Free Thyroxine Index 3.1 (Normal is 1.2 – 4.9)
TSH 1.770 (Normal is 0.450 – 4.500)

Thyroid Antibodies
Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO) Ab  10 (Normal is 0 – 34)
Antithyroglobulin Ab <20   (0-40)
Siemens (DPC) ICMA Methodology

Anti-Mullerian Hormone (AMH) <0.16 (Reference Range for adult females: <6.9)

CEA 2.1 ng/mL Normal is 0 – 4.7

Creatine Kinase, Total, Serum  43  (Normal is 24 – 173)

Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy 39.7 (Normal is 30 – 100)

Since I’m moving to New York, I want to hold off on doing HRT until meeting with a premature menopause specialist in New York. This doctor today, when I asked him about the risks of bioidentical vs traditional hormone replacement therapies, specifically bringing up the information that the mayo clinic has cited bioidentical HRT as being riskier, given the specialized compounding, he simply shrugged and said, “I disagree,” adding no… “Here’s why I disagree.” When I asked him what form he recommended in terms of HRT delivery (cream, suppository, capsule, tablet, etc.), he said only that it was really just a matter of preference. Except I had read that the cream or a patch were preferable because they needn’t be processed by the liver. Why didn’t he mention this? Why? Because this just isn’t his bag, and it should be right? As a reproductive endocrinologist? Shouldn’t he know this stuff? I feel so disheartened.

So, here’s my plan. I’m going to go gluten free for the next month, no cheating. Just to see if a period comes. He assured me that it wouldn’t, that I’m “Simply out of eggs.” He said there was no cause, no thyroid issues, no auto-immune things going on. I asked if he thought I should see a non-reproductive endocrinologist, and he believed “This is simply the amount of eggs you were born with. There’s likely nothing that caused this.”

Bottom line, I didn’t like how clueless he seemed about this. When I brought up my concern about the lack of studies of HRT on young women, he actually SHRUGGED. He had nothing to say other than, “Well, this is what I recommend.” He didn’t speak of a single side effect, of any of the risks, nothing. Doesn’t seem very responsible to me. So, now I’m on the hunt for a NY doctor and for some sushi. Without wheat or flour, there will be a whole lot of sushi in my future.