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Another DES Son speaks out and tells his story…
Hello I’m a 58 year old male to female transsexual whose mother took DES following two miscarriages. I first learned about DES in 1989 during a seminar on Clear Cell Carcinoma. I worked as a Registered Histologist, Cytologist, and Pathologist Assistant for 18 years in Histopathology and we were baffled by clear cell PAP smears showing up. It’s a rare cancer of the vagina. Besides being Trans, I was diagnosed with Hypogonadic Hypogonadism at the young age of 35 which baffled my endocrinologist why it was showing up at such a young age. I was clinically sterile by age 37 despite fathering two children just a few years previously. I also have juvenile diabetes Type 1 and hypothyroidism. From my own research, I firmly believe my hypogonadism and transsexuality is due to the DES prescribed my mother in 1954 during her pegnancy with me. I have fought gender identity issues since I was 5 years old and it has been hell living everyday with it. So far all the research has been directed at DES daughters, but we DES son’s have been effected with serious complications in our lives. I feel that more effort needs to be directed towards the son’s. Thank you Kathryn
A Courageous DES Son’s Story….
After 49 years of my life, I sat back and took inventory. This is when I put all the pieces together and remembered talks with my Mother from 40 years prior. I became overly interested in finding out all I could regarding DES. That was over a year ago, after contacting several interest groups and attorneys looking for DES information. I finally came to realize that nobody really was concerned about the DES Sons but only the Daughters. At least I did get answers to things that I had blamed myself for, for so very long. I did nothing wrong, nor did our Mother. She was only following the advice of a doctor. As far as I know, that is what we are all taught to do.
My Mother had 2 miscarriage’s after having my Brother born 5 years before I was born. I remember some time when DES was in the news, I asked Her if She had taken the drug. She got VERY upset with me and told me about the miscarriages, “if I would not have gone to the doctor every week and got shots YOU wouldn’t be here!” That was the only time we ever spoke of it.
I was born in 1963, at birth it was noted that I had undescended testicles. My parents were informed to bring me back after 6 months and at that time they would perform the surgery. 12 years later I was old enough to know something wasn’t right. I asked my Dad if His “area” was the same. I got a very strong “NO!”. Later after my Folks talked, they said I needed to see a Dr. because I was supposed to have this corrected when I was a baby. It is called it a bio lateral orthopectus…excuse the spelling. That was done at age 12.
As soon as I completed high school, I went in to the Military. I was 18 and looked 12 to 13 years old. After my first tour I reenlisted. At 5 years in the U.S.Navy I was an E-5, I was a non-commissioned officer. I had approx. 30 men that worked for me. Again, I don’t even shave yet…. For those who don’t know what the living quarters are like onboard a ship… let’s just say there is no privacy AT ALL. Now I’m about 23 to 25 years old. Still maybe 15% into puberty, Showering, changing clothes…. People whispering.
It forces me to become the meanest Leading Petty Officer to overcome the daily challenges of authority/leadership.
At age 32 I had a Navy medical officer ask if I was dyslexic? I told him that I had know idea (I was always told that I was lazy and did not apply myself) . After giving me a battery of tests the Dr. said I was extremely dyslexic and after talking a while and explaining my issues regarding puberty. The Doctor wanted to send me to the Naval hospital for more tests. I had an appointment with the head of Endocrinology. After several more tests, I was to meet up with the Navy Capt. for the results. I was diagnosed with Kallmann’s syndrome. I needed to receive shots of testosterone every 2 weeks for the rest of my life because my body was not making any.
At that time, age 32 I was still getting carded (ID’d) EVERY TIME. 10 years later…. I now look like I’m 45 to 55 years old, my weight and body mass had doubled. For the first 3 years I had to self inject testosterone into the butt while looking in a mirror. Not an easy task, not to mention that I wanted to get back at so many people for being flat out mean to me. So I was using more of the testosterone and going to the base gym daily.
I retired from the service in 2001. Now I was on patches for testosterone replacement and my levels were normal.
I started to look into “why” and the more of the onion that I peeled back the more it was making since. Undescened testicles, anemic, endocrine disrupting problems, dyslexic, hypogonadism, urethral meatal stenosis, extreme depression, Kallann’s syndrome, AADDS and also left handed. All symptom’s related to DES exposure.
This is a quick overview of what I have found out regarding DES. I would like to also add that in my investigation, that my younger Sister is also a surviving from DES exposure. She too has a long list of issues related to DES exposure.
The DES Tragedy takes many forms……
DES Info is interested in featuring guest posts from everyone in the DES community. We understand that the media tends to focus on just DES Daughters. We want to help change that conversation.
If you are interested in writing a guest post, please send it to us at desinfo411@gmail.com.
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We love hearing from our readers. For the fastest response, kindly contact us via email at desinfo411@gmail.com, instead of requesting a response from us via the “comments section” under items.
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Mother’s Day is always a difficult day for many DES Mothers and Daughters — and Eli Lilly is to blame for that.
It is time for Eli Lilly to do the following:
1. Make a formal apology for the DES drug disaster.
2. Follow through on their (good-faith) promise to settle the remaining cancer cases of DES Daughters who have suffered from breast cancer as a result of DES exposure.
3. Conduct an ongoing public campaign in an effort to reach out to women and men exposed to DES so they can be proactive in advocating for their future health.
4. Similar to the book Eli Lilly published years ago to educate physicians on the “benefits” of prescribing DES to their patients, the Company now needs to publish a book to educate physicians on the side effects associated with being exposed to DES in order to properly care for their DES exposed patients.
Send the tweet below to media and breast cancer influencers ASAP (Twitter addresses listed below, under the two messages):
#EliLilly ruined Mother’s Day for millions but refuses to admit DES breast cancer link. We need #AnswersThatMatter @LillyPad!
Twitter addresses to tweet ASAP:
From Pgs 79-80 – Note DES Info has put important quotes in BOLD.
United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, D.C. 20549
Form 10-K Annual report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012
Commission file number 001-06351
Eli Lilly and Company
Note 15: Contingencies
We are a party to various legal actions and government investigations. The most significant of these are described below. It is not possible to determine the outcome of these matters, and we cannot reasonably estimate the maximum potential exposure or the range of possible loss in excess of amounts accrued for any of these matters; however, we believe that, except as specifically noted below with respect to the Alimta Hatch-Waxman Act patent challenges, the resolution of all such matters will not have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position or liquidity, but could possibly be material to our consolidated results of operations in any one accounting period.
Diethylstilbestrol Product Liability Litigation
In approximately 90 U.S. lawsuits against us involving approximately 90 claimants, plaintiffs seek to recover damages on behalf of children or grandchildren of women who were prescribed diethylstilbestrol (DES) during pregnancy in the 1950s and 1960s. Approximately 80 of these claimants allege that they were indirectly exposed in utero to the medicine and later developed breast cancer as a consequence. We believe these claims are without merit and are prepared to defend against them vigorously.
Product Liability Insurance
Because of the nature of pharmaceutical products, it is possible that we could become subject to large numbers of product liability and related claims in the future. In the past several years, we have been unable to obtain product liability insurance due to a very restrictive insurance market. Therefore, for substantially all of our currently marketed products, we have been and expect that we will continue to be completely self-insured for product liability losses. The DES claims are covered by insurance, subject to deductibles and coverage limits. There is no assurance that we will be able to fully collect from our insurance carriers in the future.
Terrific piece in today’s Huffington Post that ties DES to the World Health Organization’s recent “global threat” announcement about hormone-mimicking chemicals:
As you all know, DES Info strives to get you info as soon as possible. Sometimes the info we receive from our sources is a little “off” — but at least we’re trying to share news with you. It beats silence every time.
Below are two clarifications about today’s hearing:
* Aaron Levine, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, and Julie Oliver-Zhang made the motion for the trial to take place on June 25. We will know next week whether that motion has been granted.
* The trial will take place in Boston before Judge Bowler.
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DES Info 