HRT, eh?

So I bit the bullet and filled my HRT prescription. I wasn't all that satisfied with my prescribing doctor, but all the doctors I've spoken with are pretty much in accordance that I need estrogen. You know, bone loss, dementia, Parkinson, and other risks of going without it.

So I went and got some.

You know in case I actually came out of my depressed state long enough to risk adding hormones to the mix.

But then I read through the 'brief summary of important information' that came with the pills. It really was rather lengthy.

There were lots of comments about telling doctors that you are 'on birth control pills' at least 4 weeks before any surgery. Funny all those years on the pill I never realized that it was so important for everyone to know this... hmmm

But the comments that I did not find funny at all were:

• “don't use if pregnant or think you are pregnant”
• “don't get pregnant while using this medicine, if sexually active use non-hormonal contraception eg Condoms” (boldface theirs, the only other section in bold on the entire leaflet was advice to NOT taking birth control as well as HRT)
• There is also a helpful note that 'This is not a contraceptive medicine.”

Condoms --- you got to be joking! That is a pretty big side effect for me, right up there with risk of rare blood clots and remembering to eat daily reminder of your body's lack of estrogen.

I was assuming that my doctor understood that I was hoping against hope to get pregnant... I mean she did ask, as a side note, if I was having any trouble with grief. She said that HRT shouldn't impede ovulation if you end up miraculously ovulating. She shared her opinion about donor eggs. So clearly in my mind, she heard at least part of what I was saying, and I assumed that she could make the jump that if woman is considering going on the donor egg wait list she PROBABLY is not using condoms or other non-hormonal means of avoiding pregnancy.

As you can imagine this was a slight distraction to my day. I skipped out on work. I bought ice cream. I waited in line to buy tickets to the 3 pm movie. I lied to my receptionist when they called asking if I was willing to come back to the office to help with what turned out to be a needless task. I said yes, and walked back to the office. Probably not a great movie, oh well.