When I went to clinic in August, I complained about my very (read: VERY) sore nipples. Dr Rolfe has been more than amazing the last year with working with Beautiful and me to get on just the right regimen for my unique situation that I created for myself over the last decade of on/off treatments and over two dozen courses of home IVs. One of those treatments was testosterone injections after my symptoms indicated and blood tests verified that I had the testosterone levels of a geriatric patient, causing lethargy, crying watching reality TV, and an extreme loss of appetite and muscle tone.
I was prescribed 600mg per month about 18 months ago. Due to recent manufacturing shortages, I had my injection dosage changed from bi-weekly shots to weekly shots of a lower concentration to keep my monthly dose the same and attempt to keep my levels more… level.
When we were on vacation in June, I started to notice that my chest was getting somewhat pressure sensitive over my nipples, but I brushed it off as some temporary thing or even my imagination; I’m not sure what at the time because my memory sucks. By the time we got back, it was getting worse and worse. For the sake of information for anyone reading this with similar symptoms, here is how I’d describe it:
- pressure pain under my nipples
- taking a guess at the shape, I’d say they are Spaghetti ‘O shape and size
- they eventually caused me to look… perky (not cool for a guy, right?)
Like I said in the previous update, test results showed an increased hormone level, so we reduced my shots to 400mg/mo. I haven’t noticed any difference in my energy or appetite related to that, but the issue appears to be related to something entirely different: my appetite medicine.
I was taking high doses of my megestrol (Megace) while we were on vacation and for a few weeks after. When we moved things around the kitchen and the megestrol found itself in the cabinet, I kept forgetting to take it. Two things have happened since that move:
- my appetite went way, way down
- my man boobs have stopped hurting, almost entirely
Last week I read about someone taking a pill form of megestrol, so I asked if we could switch me so I could put it in my pill container to better stick to taking it. The answer was no because it would take a lot of pills to make up that dosage and after telling them I didn’t care about that, they learned I hadn’t been taking it with a subsequent pain reduction. I guess that got wheels spinning and I’ve now been cut off from it because megastrol was my actual cause of my man boobs, not the testosterone!
Why? Because it is a synthesized version of progesterone. I haven’t found the side-effect listed on any pages for the medicine, but since it’s progesterone, the pieces sure fit together. I’m sure glad we caught it before I experienced vaginal bleeding! /guffaw!
It’s great to know the cause and to have stopped taking something that was causing pain, but now I’m faced with coming up with my own appetite. More on that task later.
