A Not So Good Health Update

Hey everyone, I know I haven’t been able to stick to my promise of posting a lot more outfit posts this year unfortunately, as things have really not turned out the way I wanted them to. I’m not making this blog post for anyone to feel sorry for me or for sympathy, but since you are regular readers here and I haven’t been able to post my outfits, you deserve an update as to why.

I did mention previously that my health hadn’t been so good, and unfortunately it’s just got worse over the months since I wrote that. I have a lot going on, and unfortunately we haven’t managed to get to the bottom of what’s causing my issues at the moment. I’m scheduled for MRI’s next week, which will hopefully tell us more, but for now, I’m unsure. So, what’s been going on?

My hormones are my biggest problem. You may remember that I was diagnosed with PCOS back in 2022, and the treatment they put me on was a testosterone blocking birth control pill to take continuously. I had to try various different versions of this to get them to work correctly, but in October 2024, I had to stop taking it because the side effects were just ruining my daily life. Stomach upset, nausea, migraines, exhaustion… and as soon as I stopped taking it, that all returned back to normal and I didn’t feel unwell anymore.

Unfortunately, since stopping that in October (5 months ago), my PCOS symptoms and more slowly crept back in. My weight, which has always been fairly stable, has shot up by 12-14 pounds, so unfortunately hardly any of my clothes fit me anymore as on my 5ft 4 frame, that equates to a gain of around 2 dress sizes. This has made me miserable as I have tried so much to lose the weight, and I can’t, because my hormones are ridiculous at the moment. I remember when I first got put on the pill, my weight dropped by about 7 pounds very quickly, then I gained about 5 of those 7 pounds back steadily, so I was stable for quite some time. It really does go to show that hormones seriously impact your weight, and it’s not something people make up.

Since I have issues with various hormones, which I will write individually below, there’s a concern that I have a pituitary gland disorder. This is the small gland at the base of the brain that controls hormones. Usually these disorders are tumours that grow on it, causing it to not produce correct levels of hormones, so that’s the reason I am having an MRI next week. I think there’s something more going on than just PCOS.

Estrogen – This level keeps fluctuating up and down. For a while it was low, then it’s high, now it’s normal. And these levels are tested according to my cycle and what the levels should be at various times of the month.

Testosterone – This has unfortunately shot up higher than it has ever been before. It was high back in 2022 (off the scale high) and now it’s even higher than that. While on the testosterone blocking pill, it came down to the top end of normal.

Prolactin – For as long as I’ve known, my prolactin levels have been high. Well beyond the normal range of what’s ok. Back in 2022, they were above 1000, and the maximum limit is 500-600. This level was slowly coming down on the birth control. Now, my prolactin is heading towards the low end. I’ve never had it this low and it’s already dropped another 140 in three weeks. So this is concerning to me.

Free T4 – My free T4 levels (Thyroid) are low, however my TSH and T3 remain normal. This has been going on for over 2 years now and I’m not sure why that’s low, when the rest are fine. This can be due to the pituitary gland too.

Iron – My actual iron levels are normal, but my Ferritin and Transferrin are low, so this means I am not able to utilise the iron in my blood correctly. Possibly another reason why I’m so tired.

I’ve received information on my blood results for fertility reasons too, which I’m unsure if I want to share at the moment, but I will decide in a later post if I want to talk about that. For now though, everything is a mess and I’m still waiting for results on why it could all be this way.

As you know, I have Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, which also causes me Autonomic Dysfunction (Dysautonomia) and I know that this can effect hormones, but I’m not sure if it can effect all of the ones I have issues with. So if the MRI comes back clear, it’s a route I will have to go down to figure out if that’s causing the pituitary dysfunction.

For now, I’m honestly quite depressed, even though I’m really trying to remain positive as I’m a positive person, but I’m not going to lie, it’s definitely making me upset and it’s a chore to function most days. I’m not sleeping properly because my hormones are messed up, I’m sweating a lot, I wont stop gaining weight, I’m exhausted, I have absolutely zero libido, I’m achy… and this is ongoing about 95% of the time. I’m really thankful I am using Spironolactone cream as it’s really helping to keep my hormonal acne about 85% away, I’m only having a few breakouts. My back, however, is a different story! I’ve broken out really badly all over my back.

I also injured my wrist back in January, 2 whole months ago, and that’s still painful. It’s only just started to heal up enough to be able to type without pain, so that on top of this, it’s not going too well. I will update you soon when I have MRI results and more blood tests back, but for now, I hope you understand as to why I haven’t been able to post any outfits.

I do have some older shoots on my memory card, which I need to edit, so once I find the strength to do that, I will. I’ve just been using the energy I do have to work on things that make me direct money, and doing a photoshoot outside is more than exhausting at the moment. The photo above was taken on a good day, inside, when I’d actually felt like doing my make-up.