I've been debating about airing out my dirty laundry. But I feel like I need this for me (and others with my struggle), so I'm going to do it even if it's a scary thing to share.
Like on a Monopoly Board, let's begin at the start space. September 2011 the hubby and I decided to go off birth control. We weren't too concerned about getting pregnant at that time because I knew that I probably wouldn't cycle on my own based on my history. And of course I was right. I didn't have a cycle for months.
Now, I'm going to share something embarrassing, so please be sensitive. A few months after stopping my bc I noticed some dark hair showing up on my face. I didn't even tell my husband because I was so ashamed and embarrassed. This is when I decided I couldn't take it anymore and I needed to go talk to my ob-gyn.
I went to visit my fabulous ob-gyn in April 2012 and tell her my symptoms. She starts to connect all the dots, especially when I told her about the abnormal hair growth. With my history as a young girl- never getting a period on my own until the gave me medicine and having to be on bc to regulate my cycles- she told me that she thought I had PCOS- Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.
So I have to come back to get blood work, which is one of the ways they test to see if you have PCOS. I also had to get an ultrasound of my ovaries, which is the second way they detect it (your ovaries will be enlarged). And of course after the testing came back it showed I had PCOS.
But of course something else was curious. I had extremely high levels of testosterone. Yup. I felt like a man. My ob-gyn assured me the levels were not even nearly as high as a man would have, but it was cause for concern. So off she sends me to an endocrinologist.
My endocrinologist took about 4 weeks to get in to see. Very frustrating, I wanted some results. But she was very sweet. She confirmed the PCOS and ran some extra tests to see what was going on with the testosterone. Results came back with no major alarms. She gave me Provera to make have a cycle. Which I might add was horrendous because it had been so long. I also started Metformin to start to regulate my body.
At this point, I've had one cycle because of the Provera. I'm waiting to see in the next week or so if the Metformin is doing the trick and hopefully I'll cycle on my own. If that doesn't work, I'm going back to see my ob-gyn in August to discuss adding Clomid help me ovulate.
I'm not sure if anyone will read this blog. But if you are struggling with PCOS, I feel for you. I feel like a lot of women are walking around with it and have no where to talk about it. So this is my way of talking about it.
