I’ve been feeling rough for several weeks now. It seemed to start right after the doctor increased my antidepressants, so initially I reduced the overall increase, and after that didn’t help stopped them altogether because sickness and diarrhoea were both indicated as possible side effects.

As the holiday progressed things got worse, including a increased light-headedness.

I decided to arrange an appointment with the doctor.

I ended up seeing the same doctor who I’d seen about my surgery and treatment. She is sweet, but I have suspected her of either transphobia or just being a bit rubbish, so I was a little nervous about seeing her.

She asked me how I was, and of course, I explained about the sickness that started after I began the higher dose of antidepressants, how I initially tried to ramp up the dose more slowly, before stopping the antidepressants altogether due to sickness.

I said that my tummy had been quite upset, and there’d been a lot of gas, both trapped and not-trapped, a lot of near -misses with regards to sickness and a couple of not-so-near misses with regards to the other end. I was sat in a pair of lightly soiled underwear after a fart turned out to be a little bit damp. Ugh.

I also mentioned the light-headedness.

She told me to go back onto a low dose of the antidepressants and see whether the sickness and diarrhoea pass on their own. There were too many variables changing at the same time and it was quite likely that I had a bug – and there are a few nasty ones going around at the moment.

She also suggested that I take Dioralyte to help rebuild by electrolytes.

My pulse was normal, as was my oxygen saturation, however my blood pressure was a little lower than it should be (100/80, when it should be nearer to 120/80). That could explain my dizziness.

She also asked about my testosterone. I told about the phone call with the endocrinologist and how they’d told me to testosterone book blood tests for about six hours after taking my Testavan, since the last blood test had showed me to have even higher blood levels than produced by my testicles – and I thought I was on half a dose!

The doctor then said “you see why I didn’t want to prescribe you testosterone myself?”

I concede that she does have a point: she wouldn’t know how to accommodate for me taking blood tests at the wrong time nor could she advise on when I should take the gel or book in tests. Nor could she be comfortable with me taking a lower dose of testosterone than the recommended dose.

Yes, doctor, I am sorry: you were right! I needed to see a specialist.