Note: estrogen= estradiol
RA= rheumatoid arthritis
Spriolatane/sprio= testosterone blocker
I have come to the conclusion after 14 months of hormone
replacement therapy that my gender is the blessing of my life. How could that be Rachel? Many would say being a transsexual woman is a
curse? Until recently I would have
agreed with anyone who would have made that statement. I have never spoken of my true pain until now
and it has nothing to do with my gender.
I can say now without any reservation that without my gender identity challenge that my
rheumatoid arthritis would have crippled me for the rest of my natural life.
In 1997 I was diagnosed with RA(rheumatoid arthritis) which
attacked my fingers, wrist, elbows, knees and ankles to the point I could not
walk without the assistance with crutches. To quote my doctor, “ … out of ten
patients… nine were better than you.”
Again, kinda like HRT(hormone replacement therapy), I took a leap of
faith and went on an experimental study drug which today is called Enbrel. It is an animal protein that is used to
reverse the affects of RA. It took nine
long months before my body even began to respond to the new experimental
drug. But two years later I was walking
and moving about much better than I was in 1997. The problem was I still tipped the scales at
300-347lbs.
Fast forward to 2011, I started HRT (hormone replacement
therapy) and I weighed in at 292lbs on August 4, 2011. Within six shorts months I had lost 100 lbs.
Today I weigh 170lbs and my goal is 150-160 lbs. My curse of my gender was the blessing of RA.
From what I researched estradiol is known to increase your
bone strength and Spriolatane is known to reduce the swelling of arthritis. (fyi:
both sprio and estradiol have dangerous side effects and should not be taken
for RA; please consult a physician before taking either drug) . I doubt many in this country have GID(gender
identity disorder) and RA as dual health
conditions.
Thus, my unique
experience may be exactly that unique because of taking estradiol with enbrel.
( enbrel has been tested on patients with dementia in elderly patients). Also
estradiol is given to stroke victims to recover their memory. The two medications are very potent and are
monitored very carefully for anything from cancer, heart attacks, stroke, TB
and many other side affects. So, one
could say I am living breathing experiment that has had great success but the
long term prognosis is truly unknown.
I keep a smile on my face but privately the pain of my RA
can consume me at times. How bad is the
pain? When I am stretching in the
mornings before my six mile run I stop stretching because I cannot take the
pain any longer and I begin to cry. My
ace, as my grandma would say, is my gender and taking estradiol (estrogen) has
enabled my mind to over ride the pain of arthritis. Perhaps among all the Gender issue the real
story is estrogen has over powered the arthritis with it’s shear will to
control my mind thus the actions of my body. How is the estrogen able to override the pain
of RA ? I have no idea but to say that when I am crying and the pain is so bad
that within a few minutes I am back to working out. I have never failed to complete a run of six
miles after crying doing the strength because of the incredible pain of RA.
This all seems great but with all the abilities of the
enbrel to fight my RA and the estrogen to fight off the pain in my mind I can
say with out one reservation that it is not enough. The third component is something I would never
have thought of as a weapon to fight RA, Caffeine. That is right in my Coke Zero is enough
caffeine to counter the effects of arthritis with enbrel, estrogen and
sprio. There is a major problem with
mixing spriolatane and caffeine and it is increased anxiety.
So with it is a constant balancing act between my estrogen,
sprio and caffeine and how to balance all three drugs. Finally after months of research and trial
and error I have come up with the best solution. My rationale is based on the
research that concluded that caffeine will reduce my estrogen levels and that
is very bad for me. High doses of
caffeine are considered 12 oz of coke per day.
However caffeine is known to help
Arthritis. Note:
tried zero caffeine and the arthritis pain was so severe that I felt nearly no
effects of the estradiol .
Thus, I am now drinking one glass of coke per day with
plenty of water doing the day and this seems to keep my arthritis in check and
still allows for the max effects of estrogen with little increased
anxiety. But the one liter of coke cola
I use to drink pushes my anxiety levels too high and I have learned moderation
of caffeine consumption. This was a
difficult lesson.
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