Today it's been one month and a couple of days since I quit taking estradiol supplements as well as the anti-conception pill. The endocrinologist warned me at the beginning of this period that I might experience the symptoms of a woman going through menopause. The assumption being that my body produces very little estradiol by itself.
At this point I can state with certainty that that assumption has been proven false beyond any shade of doubt. I went through the same range of ovulation symptoms during the last week of last month, and one week later I began to experience the usual abdominal cramps, culminating around the tenth of the month. Today was the worst day of all so far in this month's cycle.
While at work today I nearly experienced a fainting spell, with me momentarily feeling dizzy and nearly blacking out. Twice today that I had to go to the toilet to defecate it felt as if something got torn apart down there, which I assume is the vagina's lining which has become irritated and possibly inflamed, with pressure from the rectum right next to it causing the incredible pain. As usual I'm also experiencing diarrhoea again, apparently due to some intestinal disruptions during my menstrual cycle.
Through this pain I have also recalled many periods in my past as a teenager and before I started on hormone replacement therapy that I had such pains as well, albeit less severe. What seems to be different this time is that something around the beginning of 2015 seems to have triggered the ovarian tissue, which I apparently possess, to start producing significantly more estradiol.
Reading up on estradiol more, it is well-known that an overdose of estradiol in one's body can cause linea nigra to appear, as well as kick FSH/LH levels into overdrive, since estradiol has a positive feedback loop with FSH/LH, as part of the hypothalamic-pituitary events [1]. This seems to explain all of the weird things of the first blood test's results.
The one confirmation I am waiting for is with the second blood test, which I assume to show even higher estradiol levels than the first one, despite me being off HRT, due to it being natural estradiol levels in both cases and with the latter test being performed from blood drawn on the 29th, which should have still been during the ovulation period with the expected higher estradiol level.
It all fits very well, though. Obviously I have something which pretty much has to be a normal menstruation cycle, regardless of whether I am on HRT or not. The estradiol overdose which would occur by taking estradiol on top of the natural level I seem to possess would cause the migraines, the linea nigra and a number of other symptoms. Depending on confirmation from the second test's results, it could conclude that I'm quite a normal woman in that regard at least.
Hopefully reconstructive surgery can reconstruct the vagina so that I can menstruate normally, evacuating the produced fluids and thus avoid this incredibly painful last stage of my menstruation. How everything else is configured internally with respect to female reproductive organs beyond the vagina I do not know. I assume the ovarian tissue is just that, a relatively unformed mass of tissue, with no discernible uterus to speak off either. Apparently it does function well enough that fluids seem to end up in the vagina at least.
On the positive side, I do not seem to have any need for HRT any more, and that I am slowly beginning to feel more and more like a normal woman. On the negative side, even with proper medical help at this stage it's still going to be a highly painful time. I really hope that a lot of progress can be made on this over the coming months.
Maya
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estradiol#Female_reproduction
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