I'm going to ask

[shelly]

I am 42 years old, and have always considered myself male, but have felt female too since I was young. I began to grow breasts when I was 12, even though I was not overweight. My breasts are currently 38c and are a lot of work to cover in public. I have regular piercing cramps about evey two months that are debilitating. Sometimes the cramps have been followed by a strange tan colored discharge in my feces or they are followed cold/flu like symptoms and weight retention.

I have normal body hair, but cannot grow a full beard. I have to shave about every 2 days. My testes are normal sized as measured on an orchidometer, but my left teste is different. I can feel a "ball", but also have tubage and which ends in a lump at the end. When I have my cramps this teste is very sensitive and I feel the pain up under my ribs just as if I had been kicked in the "boys" the stabbing pains are about 2" under the navel at about 45 degress to the left.

The thing that is throwing me off is that I am fertile. My wife has gotten pregnant 3 times, one of the pregnancies was twins. The boy of the boy girl twins has a very small penis and what appears to be vaginal lips that resemble a scrotum.

I doubt KS, because of the size of the testes, and the fertility. I doubt xyxo mosaic because I am 5'10". And I doubt MAIS because I have these cramps that appear to indicate some kind of internal female anatomy. Dare I suspect ovotestes? I have also suspected chimerism because I have different sides to my body. My left eye, nostril and lips are a little different. Also, I only get the cramps on the left side, and I have vericose viens in my legs, only on the left side.

pics included

Thank You
Mike/Michelle

[neko2]

Sounds familiar. The cold/flu symptoms is due to the immune system attacking the retained menstrual flow. The tan colored discharge is bilirubin, which is the breakdown product of the blood.

I've had similar symptoms for years, been to many doctors, and never got a straight answer. I eventually went on birth control pills to cut down on the cramps, which seems to work pretty well. Unfortunately that's about all I can suggest...

[shelly]

I see that you seem to identify with "what ails me". Do you have ovotestes? I'm sorry that I don't know that already, I'm new here. By the way, some people have called me nuts when I describe these things to them, thanks for not being that way with me.

Shell

[shelly]

I want to make it clear that I am not seeking anyone to "diagnose "me online. I am just trying to compare notes with people who have certain conditions so that when I go to a Dr. I can tell him/her what I think is going on so I don't have to pay for unneeded tests.

I will say one thing for sure, if my cramps come back on schedule this time I will get an ultrasound instead of a karotype, because I can solve a lot of questions (hopefully) by just having someone take a "looksee" down there.

I cannot believe that all these years I just thought I had an ulcer or irritable bowel syndrome, or ?? (which is how I explained away the blood in the stools) I've consumed tons of Rolaids and Malox and Equalactin (which gave no relief for 3 days...hmm.) I didn't even suspect periods until I asked my wife where she gets her "pains" and for how long and our symptoms matched perfectly, same spot about the same duratin, 3 to 5 days. Sometimes they are worse and I can't get out of bed, some days they are more of a nuisance. It can vary but they do keep coming back, though I am only now starting to calendar them as I think I know what I am dealing with.

It's just that I had never even heard of intersex until Sept. '06. When you are told that there are no such things as hermaphrodites and that there is only male and female, and that breasts are only gynecomastia, you get creative in explaining away the breasts, feelings and cramps. My hair and skin are soft as a babies. I just believed the Dr's when they said that I only had gynecomastia, and that I only felt like a woman inside because I was making a feminine identity as a result of having breasts. They didn't want to hear that I had felt like a female since I could remember, BEORE I got breasts and none of them offered to take a blood test or karotype or anything.

As a result, for years I have been experiencing fatigue and incresed breast growth along with this regular cramping, pnemonia and frequent bronchial infections. I wish just time the Dr would have looked at me and said "you're not crazy those are symptoms". I have basically pieced this all together on my own as a result of research and comparing notes with others.

As I said, I don't expect anyone to be an expert, just to share their stories with me. Thank you too, for the kind replies already offered

M/M

[neko2]

If you're trying to avoid paying for unneeded tests, then you're probably not going to get much for your money with an ultrasound. If you're having a lot of pain, the pain is probably due to endometriosis. The actual structures that the endometriosis came from are likely to be relatively small, and probably not visible with the ultrasound. MRI would be preferable to ultrasound in locating such a small structure, if you want to go that route, but the primary goal of the MRI should be to look for signs of endometriosis (eg inflammation or fluid accumulation). If mullerian duct remnants (uterus, fallopian tubes) can be seen too then that's a plus, but is not always possible.

[shelly]

Hey thanks for the info. As you can see, I really need more info and what you said is very helpful. As I said, I have never calendared my "pains" but started last month. I thought that they should occur every two months because only my left teste is different, but as it occurs they started again yesterday, 24 days since the last ones. That is kind of scary to me because I have always attributed them to stomache pains or such. Now that I am paying attention and documenting things I noticed a distinct tenderness in the breasts and pains in the pelvic area and general abdominal discomfort accompanied by tenderness in the left teste. Anyway, if they occur on schedule two more times I think I'll have a good case and good documentation to see an M.D. and see what's going on. It's all kind of scary and sureal, but also good to know that I am probably not falling apart and not crazy after all as I have felt both male and female since I can remember. I have spent so many years feeling lazy and helpless that I have such big breasts, and have even loathed myself and it's kind of nice to know that maybe I didn't let myself go after all. Especially since I am not overweight and I still have 38C breasts.

Thank You
MIke/Michelle
Thanks again

[neko2]

Well, let me ask you what is your goal here? Is it that the monthly pains are debilitating and you need treatment for this? Or is it more of a curiousity of "why am I like this?"

If treatment is the goal then get a blood test done to check hormone levels. If estrogen levels are high, as would be expected from your large breasts, then ask about medication to reduce the estrogen and see if that improves the symptoms.

If its curiousity then look into the imaging studies and chromosomal analysis.

[steve/lisa]

Have you took your son to a DR.to find out if his testes have desended,hope they have? Mine had to be surgery taken down and still got gonadalblastoma and seminoma cancer early in life cause of that problem but that was just me,now you have testes and either an ovotestis or teste on left side and a (just guessing now cause i don't know you yet.) maybe smaller teste on right side ????.well if you read from a chimera site i know of ONLY true herm's are capable of having both male and female tissue.PERIOD? Do you know if a right ovary is their??Because I had a small right teste (removed first)and a left ovotestis removed with seminoma on the teste side of it it was inlongated,and a full female tract inside with a right ovary in a-typical position,But my penis is whats blocking the drainage as it was moved up and sewn in place at birth.and seven wks ago during an ultrasound looking for whats causing pain on left side he thought possably their is ether a large cyst or a ovary on the left,(just what I needed to know s---)Anyway I'm red-green colored blind in one eye,I'm RH+ from a RH- mother had (HDN) at birth and survived it,I have very high hip bones no adams apple (looks like a females) very soft skin no acne problems ever was almost hairless untill the tostesterone injections for 10 yrs but I'm not growing hair very fast at all shave once every 3 to 4 days 2 wks on legs and what a head of hair grows very fast.I'm tall 6 ft and slender as heck,So you mit what to read info on this site also comments,and answers.I will send site info to you by e-mail O.K.Anyway if you have both tissue's your most likely a tr.herm.As far as fertility well their are about 2 dozen cases I'm one that had children (my daughter was concieved when i was 15 yrs old she matches my 2 ed cell line blood type and dna) and their are others that had kids even later in life but in my case after 18 or so i had sperms with no tails and such undeveloped ones,but I have learned every one is different.
Anyway must write my new post now I'll send e-mail with site for you. Lisa.