Holiday Shopping Thoughts at Fussy Busty

I just ran across this excellent guide to buying lingerie for a significant other at FussyBusty. Definitely check it out!

I especially applaud Mr. Slawson for taking into account  lesbian couples! It is really great to see people acknowledge the existence of queer people. I do quibble a with the assumption that a lesbian will necessarily know more about feminine* lingerie than will a man. In fact many lesbians, especially masculine* types, do not wear bras or other “feminine” lingerie. Some of them never have. So, they wouldn’t actually be more familiar with lingerie than most men would be. However, I think it is natural for a non-lesbian, especially a straight person, to not be aware of these things: most straight people are not aware of the intricacies of lesbian culture.  And again, I really appreciate the author’s inclusiveness.

So, if you are thinking about buying lingerie for your significant other who wears it, check out these tips! They will ikncrease the chances of your partner actually wearing what you buy for her this season 🙂

* Although I am a gender/queer person, I am not a person who thinks that we should demolish the terms “masculine” and “feminine” or that those terms are oppressive. “Masculine” and “feminine” are not words which define men or women. They are words which describe ideas and concepts involving the way we perceive gender. Eliminating those words doesn’t change the way we perceive and think about gender; for that we have to do the actual work of changing the way we perceive and think about gender.

A little update

I am in end-of-semester crunch in what has been a very difficult semester. But I wanted to pop in to leave an update. I’ve meant to for awhile, but something is always distracting me.

I have been taking a drug called MetforminER since mid-September. This is a drug that has long been used for diabetes, but it is also good for people like me who have Reactive Hypoglycemia or have become Insulin Resistant. (In my case, the RH led to IR, so this is a good drug for me to try.)

Metformin is a drug with many potential side effects, and they can be life-disrupting. I’ve seen this first hand. The way that most doctors (including mine) want you to take Metformin is to start with the lowest dose (500mg) and work your way up to the highest dose (2000mg.) So that is what I did: I started at 500mg, once a day, and started working my way up. I found that some of the worst side effects took a week or so to subside, so I would basically take 10 days to two weeks between raising the dose, to let my body adjust.

At first things were great! Within the first week or so on Metformin I was sleeping better, and I could tell that my blood sugar was more stable, my boobs shrank a little, and I dropped a little weight. I just felt more comfortable in my skin all-around. Things continued to improve until I got up to about 1500mg. Then I felt a little worse . . . but I thought maybe it was a matter of my chronic illness. Finally, in early November, I got up to 2000mg. And then I spent two terrible weeks being almost incapacitated. I was exhausted, I could barely walk, I was gaining weight and craving sugar, I was in a lot of pain. After two weeks of that I said “To hell with this,” and lowered my dose back to 1000mg. It took three days for my body to equalize, and then suddenly I felt a lot better! That was a week ago, and for now, I am sticking with 1000mg a day.

One of the possible side effects of Metformin is hypoglycemia. Typically this isn’t expected to happen in people who are not diabetic. But at 2000mg, I had all the symptoms of severe hypoglycemia, for two weeks! I’ve concluded that 2000mg is just too high of a dose for me.

I have more to report, and I hope to report it soon, but now I have to write a paper. But after that, I have plans for making a site for people like me, who have had more than one hormone disorder. If you are a person with disrupted hormones or an interest in hormone health, I would especially like to hear from you.