If you are grossed out by "female stuff" I suggest you stop reading.
A little background.
When I got serious about lifting in November 2013, I went off all birth control...the pill I had been on made my monthly visitor nonexistent (normal as it had always been light before)... but I never got my period once I went off it. I asked my doctor and she said it wasn't uncommon in athletes as lean as I was. She suggested that I allow myself to gain some body fat after my April show. By June my cycle seemed to be back, and regular.
But that summer I didn't feel like myself. I can't exactly describe what it was...I just felt off. I tried to move forward.
Early in the new year a new problem arose. When my period came the first week in January, it never stopped. I went to the doctor in February and they said it was probably just stress.
I hired a contest coach soon after that who, hearing about my issue, suggested I take a supplement to metabolize estrogen.
Now... ladies... don't ever take something because your coach assumes something. He thought I was bleeding and moody from having too much estrogen...but he's not a doctor. I started taking DIM and the bleeding transitioned to more like spotting. But I was feeling REALLY off. I decided to stop taking it...
On March 19, 2015 I had just made a $200 deposit on my custom competition suit when I started to feel nauseous. I could feel the bleeding was getting heavy. In the car back to the city I was screaming in pain as my body cramped and gushed clots and blood.
I was rushed to the hospital. After 6 hours, 4 pelvic exams, an ultrasound and 3 blood panels, the doctor gave me some information.
I was not pregnant. But my body was going through a miscarriage...the only way it knew to reject massive amounts of tissue that had built up over several previous months. The DIM had made it worse...because I didn't have high estrogen. I actually had dangerously low estrogen & progesterone and naturally high testosterone. The test booster recommended by my first coach was actually making what little estrogen I had metabolize and my body freaked out without it.
Now, a little info. Most women who have participated in contact sports have higher test, so that's not uncommon.
I even got my uterus biopsied a week later.
The issue was... my body wasn't producing enough female hormones naturally... but they don't know why. Still.
Over the past few months I've gotten shots of progesterone and my system seems to be functioning properly... yet I'm not quite back to where I want to be. They can't tell me WHY. They can't tell me if I'll need these shots forever... and they have told me to avoid any extreme dieting.
I'm also fighting off extreme Adrenal Fatigue (I took myself off Adderall this year...after 20 years). My CNS is shot. I am trying hard to get my Vitamin D levels up as those were found to be extremely deficient. I no longer use preworkout or any fat burners.
I am always extremely tired. If I didn't have to get up to train clients, I could easily stay in bed for days. My body hurts. My workouts have been almost nonexistent because of pain and stiffness most days. I still don't feel like myself.
I plan on meeting with a Naturopath when I get back from vacation... I look forward to getting my groove back!
So...will I ever compete again? I'd like to, some day. But I have no idea if/when my body will allow that. We shall see. I'm on a mission to get healthy. To find my sexy and be happy even if I don't have a visible six pack.
