Littlebit, did you have a heel or finger scan? My endo says those are essentially worthless, my ob/gyn had put in the finger type equipment for measuring bone density and she was just 'shakin her head, mystified as to why. I wouldn't put much into results you were given if you had other than a Dexa scan. Then a second 12-18 months later so they can compare and see if you are one who just has less dense bones (as you may if Caucasian, small framed, female) or if you are actually losing. Don't panic yet ;) My own doctor not only wanted to begin with the 2 to compare, she wanted them done by the same tech and the same equipment for most accurate comparisons, she doesn't medicate casually.

I agree with Anettemartinrn, whether the original story of Kathy West is true or not is trivial. Ovarian cancer is true and the fact that it is almost a totally silent cancer is just as true. How do I know? I have it. And I had no signs in the beginning. Most of you will not recognize my name - I used to post here years ago and only recently began lurking again. Last fall, I started to have serious pain when having a bowel movement. Thinking I had Irritable bowel syndrome, I let it go for a few weeks before finally making an appt. with a gastroenterologist. It was only then discovered after a series of tests that I have advanced cancer. By the time I found out I had it, it had already spread throughout my peritoneal cavity. I immediately went to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer. The doctor told me most women 'present' as Stage 3 or even 4 because it's very hard to detect in the early stages. I had an extremely painful operation on January 2. They literally opened me from my groin to my rib cage, took every single organ out, and removed all the visible tumors. They were everywhere, my abdominal lining, my bladder, my colon (they had to resection a part of it), my diaghragm, and a tissue inside my abdomen called the 'omentum' which was also removed. I'm still not recovered from the operation, yet had to start my first round of chemo on February 5. I will have to go through 6 rounds of chemo. The first round has sucked; I cannot imagine what it's going to be like to go through the next 5. Once this cancer is in Stage 3, the return rate is really high and the 5-year survival statistics are not good. I can't even begin to express how depressed and angry I've become, how in fear for my life I am every single day, not knowing what's going to happen with me. I've never been sick in my life, always healthy. I ate right and exercised. I'm only 43 years old. I too was discouraged by my gynocologist from taking the CA125, because of the false positives. If I had the chance do it again, I'd take that CA125 anyway, false positive or not, even if I had to pay for it out of my own pocket. I would have insisted. I wish it would become a mandatory test.

I was a skinny girl, all the way to about age 30. Kidded until adolescence, then envied all through my teens. Lucky. Eat anything, not gain. Didn't exercise. It's high metabolism. But into my mid to late 30's I had to start exercising to not gain weight, if I wanted to continue the same eating habits. I see-sawed with exercise over the years since then. Then one day 3 years ago I discovered I weighed 175 lbs. My frame was used to 120 lbs. most of it's life, and this was a major burden. I bought an exercise bike, dropped carbs for 3 weeks. Re-introduced carbs gradually, to about half of what I formerly ate. Lost 30 lbs. Reality now is I have to exercise and not eat what I want to, have to be satisfied with 1/2 of what I formerly ate. I still eat anything.. just not much of it. 20 min. of hard cycling 3 mornings a week, just to keep my present weight of 145-150 lbs. Repeat to myself, eat quality, not quantity, quality, not quantity. I always thought it was metabolism, it being much lower now than when I was young. If it's hormones, does that mean when I go into total menopause, I'll not have to work as hard at cycling? ;-D

To Balthus, I am on FemHRT since Feb 2001 and have got along very well. I have no periods since being on FemHRT. I am 48 years old. No children as well, two benign cysts (some of those that come and go) in one breast, the other has calcifications. Basically all HRT's are trial and error. What might work for me, might not for you. My nerves are better. My sex life is better. I don't sleep well though, haven't in ages. Still have hot sweats, but not really bad. You've accomplished a lot by quitting smoking, exercising, cutting out alcohol, lowering your cholesterol. I'm sorry you are having a hard time finding employment. I feel that a lot of your symptoms are due to menopause, but a lot are due to your situation. I'll be praying for you. I found prayer helps a lot of things. It has helped to save my marriage during the difficult time when I was on OrthoPrefest which about drove me crazy with nerves and constant bleeding. The FemHRT has been good. A lot of people say don't go on hormones, but I am on the low end of normal with my bone density and a specialist in the bone density area told me to go on HRT. So good luck. This is a good site. You can read how others have gotten along on certain medications and also know that you aren't alone in all the symptoms whether they've been through hard times with finances or not.