A personal note

How about them hormones...

The last two years have been something of a health journey for me. And I think it's important to raise awareness about the things people are quietly dealing with—because talking about this stuff isn’t always an option for everyone, especially when you're already facing adversity.

One thing that’s come out of this journey is that, at the ripe age of 37, I have the hormones (specifically the progesterone levels) of a postmenopausal woman.

Whether it’s hereditary—we don’t know, as most of the directly related women in the generation above me are no longer with us—or whether it’s something that’s developed due to my health, the result has been the same: for the past two years, I’ve felt, on and off, like I’m going mad… or being mad.

Going through my GP wasn’t giving me any answers. I have health insurance, and even with that, some things just weren’t accessible through the public system—and the private path came with massive price tags for certain kinds of care.

Eventually, I found a private consultant who tested my progesterone levels and found they were very low. I’ve now been prescribed a bio-identical form of progesterone and have just started this next phase of the journey.

I’m sharing this partly to track the process for myself—to look back on later—but also because every time I talk to someone about hormones (I’m an open book, mind the pun), it turns out they’re dealing with something similar. If not personally, then someone close to them is.

So—more to come.