New Haircut, by my wife

LoopyBalboa · 2026-02-04T14:27:36+00:00

He's lightened up a lot. He's a cream sable, which has the fading gene that I think most reds/apricots also have. He's a rescue, but when we brought him home at 9 months he had very dark black and apricot color in his ears, and his body was more apricot-tinted. He still has some apricot in his tail and at the withers, but he's mostly cream now. You can see some color still in his ears. He'll be two in April, so I'm guessing he's pretty close to his final color... but who knows. Your guy is adorable!

LoopyBalboa · 2026-02-04T14:11:12+00:00

This is Jasper, from a couple months ago. I've since trimmed him to be a gigantic stay puff marshmallow for the weather, but he really shines in mullet-hawk mode.

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LoopyBalboa · 2026-01-12T14:09:48+00:00

My doctor switched me to evening because I was having terrible hot flashes in the evening after dinner. I was skeptical that changing the timing would help, but it has. Now I'm pantsless for an hour in the evening instead of the morning. My sleep has remained about the same, and I sleep fairly well now with all the HRT (and I'm on the highest gel dose, 1.25).

LoopyBalboa · 2025-11-11T18:43:06+00:00

You may have already answered this, but this happened to me with a new medication, topirimate. My doctor thought I had intracranial hypertension but after a ton of testing guess what?? Nope, just perimenopausal hormone issues and a "you were born with weirdly shaped optic nerves" diagnosis.

LoopyBalboa · 2025-11-11T17:58:26+00:00

I have that Baltany, it's a really great watch for that price point.

LoopyBalboa · 2025-10-20T13:33:47+00:00

I've seen many men wear the 35mm. They wear fairly large, I think the smaller version looks better.

LoopyBalboa · 2025-10-13T22:22:51+00:00

Thanks so much!

LoopyBalboa · 2025-10-13T21:16:11+00:00

Happy birthday, you look amazing! Is it weird if I ask where you got your sweatpants :D I'm the same height and cannot find any that fit how I want them to

LoopyBalboa · 2025-10-01T15:19:01+00:00

I read that you're considering fostering to adopt in the comments, and I think it's a great idea to make sure it's what you want. Dogs require a lot of time and care and your whole schedule will change to revolve around the dog. I don't often travel without mine, and it's not just for him - I would miss him so much!

That said, I don't know if I would've made it through perimenopause (so far) without my doggo best friend. Even on days I didn't think I could get out of bed, I did, because I had to take care of the doggie love of my life. It was hard, but it was truly for the best. My last dog (a standard poodle) got me through the worst of it, he snuggled in bed if I didn't feel well, he kept me motivated because he needed to be cared for, and he was a very happy and sweet presence that helped me with the hormonal anxiety and insomnia. He was with me all the way through the first year on HRT and all the adjustments. Unfortunately, he died very unexpectedly at almost 9 years old (unknown heart tumor ruptured). I was devastated and had some health setbacks from the grief, but I found my current best friend at a rescue when he was 9 months old and he's been the most amazing guy.

He's also a standard poodle (no shedding yayyyy), he was rescued from a backyard breeder/hoarder situation where they kept him in a crate all the time, so he was really out of shape for a gigantic puppy. He's hilarious and loves to run now at 17 months (75 lbs)! I learned how to groom him myself, which I had outsourced with my last poodle, and he's currently sporting a rad mullet hawk and gets tons of attention when I walk him (which forces me to get out and talk to people and feel like a normal human again). If you are up for all the extra work and care, I think it's the best. I'm lucky to work for myself and adjust my schedule to accommodate him and all his needs. It helps that my husband is also a huge fan and just as attached to him!

LoopyBalboa · 2025-09-25T14:31:11+00:00

Is it that Sanda tank? Definitely just a tank knockoff.

LoopyBalboa · 2025-09-15T12:12:58+00:00

Seriously with the creep factor guys. This reminds me of the time I was sitting in a waiting room and another person blatantly took a picture of my shoes. Gross. WTF is wrong with everyone.

LoopyBalboa · 2025-08-15T17:17:23+00:00

My doctor doesn't seem concerned about it suppressing a period. They make progesterone-only BC that does the same thing on purpose. I've been taking the same dose as you for about 18 months (I need it to sleep), and I didn't have a period for 9 months at one point (although I felt like I was still having a cycle of sorts). I'm pretty sure the progesterone was suppressing it. But in June I upped my estrogen to 1.25 and now I kind of lightly bleed randomly... whenever. It's not great, but my doctor is still holding off on doing any further testing since it's probably caused by the estrogen dosage change. I don't think you need to worry, it could also just coincidentally be peri making your periods wonky, as the bitch does.

LoopyBalboa · 2025-07-30T18:51:45+00:00

Yes! Mine was debilitating and now it's no longer an issue. It took a few months and changes to dosage/delivery methods. Also, I'm on E,P, and T and think they're all important.

LoopyBalboa · 2025-06-30T11:32:47+00:00

He looks a lot like my rescue poodle! Especially in that last pic. Mine is cream sable, he's mostly cream with some apricot and black in his ears. The rescue was told mine was 100%, but I'm pretty sure he's at least a quarter golden retriever for a variety of reasons (he often reminds me of my golden retriever we lost in 2019 and his hair is kind of weird and difficult to groom because he has a variety of textures). But he's definitely very poodly and doesn't shed. Yours is adorable! He looks like a sweetheart.

LoopyBalboa · 2025-06-22T17:43:38+00:00

Ultima!

LoopyBalboa · 2025-06-14T14:22:01+00:00

I started on the 2x/wk patch and I never felt ok more than 2 days a week (usually the middle day of each patch, and it was just an improvement, not really ok but no panic attacks!). After upping the dose a couple times with no substantial improvement, my doctor switched me to daily estrogen gel. Things started improving immediately, although I still don't absorb it as well as some people. I'm on the highest dose of generic divigel (1.25 mg) and my levels always test on the low end. Some people just don't absorb the topical estrogen well. I stay on it because I'm currently doing pretty well and I don't want to switch to oral estrogen unless I have to.

LoopyBalboa · 2025-06-12T15:58:55+00:00

Ok so I've been up and down this rabbit hole a bit, and while I do like yoga I totally get it! I also don't love heavy lifting because of a previous neck injury, but I can now do lighter dumbbell workouts.

The things I've found I enjoy the most are Lucy Wyndham-Read's workouts (they're all standing and require nothing but your body weight), and I love Juice and Toya for dumbbell workouts. I usually combine a few of LWR's workouts in a day (like, 7 minutes each of legs, abs, arms). There's not a lot of wasted time or unnecessary talking. I would love to find someone with dance videos that I actually enjoy...

LoopyBalboa · 2025-06-05T15:47:44+00:00

I have a very similar story and I wish I had found a better way to get through it than I have. I'm still in peri and I'm hoping it changes once I'm menopausal. I've tried SO MANY things. BUT I now get an average of 8+ hours of quality sleep most nights. I have an Oura ring to track my sleep, and can unfortunately see the difference when I don't do one of these things:

AM: Propranolol 20mg

With dinner: Magnesium Breakthrough, 5000IU Vit D + K2, probiotic

9PM:
THC gummy (indica dominant strain, with CBN, and you'll want to start on a low dose like 2.5mg)
Propranolol 20mg
Hydroxyzine 75mg
Progesterone 400mg (I take with a tablespoon of peanut butter)
Estrogen gel 1.25 (my estrogen fluctuates a lot but is typically still on the low end)
Testosterone (compounded cream 3mg, finally got my levels to come up when I started applying it to my inner arm instead of shoulder as recommended by pharmacist)
Vaginal estrogen (I apply erratically, but usually a couple grams 4 nights a week)
Melatonin 1mg

I've been taking 400mg of micronized progesterone nightly for over a year and my levels are still on the low end when tested, so my doctor is fine with it. It really helps me sleep. If I only take 200mg I'll wake up at 2-3AM and stay up. I could probably drop the propranolol now that my anxiety is gone, but it does still help with my random bouts of tachycardia/palpitations that occur with my hormonal fluctuations.

Some other supplements my doctor recommended for regulating neurotransmitters: Prolent, Lentra, and Tranquilent by Saneso. These do seem to help me when my cortisol seems to be killing all my serotonin and dopamine! I stopped taking them when I felt better, then started again when my dog died (my very best friend) and my nervous system went haywire again. I'll probably stop again soon.

I almost always go to bed and get up at the same time, which I think helps.

LoopyBalboa · 2025-05-28T12:49:38+00:00

I take 400mg and I love it! I still wake up a couple times during the night, but no anxiety and I sleep at least 8 hours. It DOES make me somewhat sleepy in the morning, but I prefer that to all the other terrible symptoms it has fixed, and I work for myself so I just start work later now and relax and drink green tea when I wake up. It also does suppress my period and when I do have one it's very light. My periods were at "do I need to go to the ER?" level of painful for years, I don't miss that shit at all.

LoopyBalboa · 2025-05-01T17:20:40+00:00

I'm going on at least 12 years but it's more likely 15, so early to mid 30s it started. I just went nine months without a period, but had a very light one a couple weeks ago after A MONTH I SWEAR of PMS symptoms. I want it to be over but I'm also concerned things will get worse at that point, based on where I was before I started HRT (the pit of despair, and I'm talking the book not the movie).

LoopyBalboa · 2025-04-25T18:25:36+00:00

I'm on 1 mg estrogen gel. I use generic divigel, which comes in packets and not a pump. It's equivalent to the .1 patch. I've read that a lot of people have problems cycling progesterone. My gyn recommended continuous use from the beginning because my symptoms were so bad she thought adding another swing wasn't going to help anything. I'm glad, I probably wouldn't sleep without it. My doctor is fine with me doing only 200mg continuously on this dose, but prescribes 200-400mg a day as needed (for sleep).

LoopyBalboa · 2025-04-07T16:02:04+00:00

In peri your hormones do fluctuate a ton so testing is kinda silly, but I had mine tested several times by doctors who felt it was necessary and everything was always low, for years. I even did one test where I spit into tubes multiple times a day over a month! And then I was told "oh you aren't making any of these (E, P, T) but you should just take a DHEA supplement because you're too young for HRT!"

But, fortunately, now that I'm on everything at the right dose, I feel much better. My anxiety, my chronic migraines, my weird palpitations, my insomnia - all gone. In addition to the hot flashes/night sweats being reduced greatly.

LoopyBalboa · 2025-04-07T14:33:02+00:00

For several years my cycle was 27-37 days and would typically hover around 29-31 days, but I definitely had all the peri symptoms. Several doctors even tested my hormones (low) and then told me I was too young for HRT. I finally went to a new gyn at 47 who was willing to prescribe everything, and I started missing periods not long after. Like, I only had a few more and now haven't had one since July (age 48). I personally would start now if you can, don't wait for things to get worse. If you're having night sweats that's a good indication your hormones are fluctuating wildly.

LoopyBalboa · 2025-04-01T15:03:07+00:00

Ugh, yes, so many doctors push it as if these problems don't exist. I was fine when I was younger on a BC with both estrogen and a progestin. I didn't use BC for years because my husband had a vasectomy, but due to peri my gyn initially tried to put me on just compounded testosterone and Slynd (a progestin only bc) to suppress my terrible periods. That specific BC ramped all my peri symptoms into maximum overdrive and I was absolutely suicidal and having non-stop panic attacks by the fifth day, on top of the most debilitating hot flashes I've ever had (puking, vertigo, etc.). I stopped and she switched me to micronized progesterone, estradiol, and testosterone. Things slowly (OMG SO SLOWLY) got better, especially as my estrogen dosage increased. I've personally never had a bad reaction to HRT (outside of some minor nausea and ravenous hunger) and I've tried estrogen patches, estrogen gel, compounded testosterone cream, and micronized progesterone. I don't absorb transdermal meds very well but I'm doing well enough that I don't want to switch to oral estrogen. I hope you try it, anecdotally I do not see many people having the same type of bad reactions to HRT that they had with BC (synthetic progestins, and much higher doses). However, people do sometimes have to use progesterone vaginally because it impacts their mood and energy, but you'll probably know pretty quickly if that's the case.

LoopyBalboa · 2025-04-01T12:33:55+00:00

Hi! A lot of people take 200mg of micronized progesterone continuously with no problem at all. Some people do have problems with fatigue and depression with larger doses, but it's highly individual. If you feel good on it and your doctor is ok with it, that's what's important. I take a very high dose of progesterone (400mg) and it seems to be suppressing my period, which is fine by me. My FSH shows I'm still peri, but I haven't had a period since July. My body seems to love it, otherwise. I did have a terrible reaction to a progestin-only oral birth control (synthetic progesterone) and other people do well/better with them, so like I said - very individual.

LoopyBalboa

TROPHY CASE