Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)

Hey Everyone!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I had my youngest sister over and it was really fun to catch up with her and hang out since I don't get to see her as much now that I'm married and don't live at home.

In today's post I wanted to talk about something that isn't really fun or easy for me to talk about and it's the reason my weight loss journeys have never gone so well.

In February of 2016 I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS for short. I had gone to the doctor in February because I was going to be getting married in April and my soon to be husband and I wanted to start a family right away. I had always had irregular cycles so I wanted to see if there was anything the doctor could do to help my cycles be a little more normal so it would be easier to get pregnant.

The doctor asked about my history and sent me in to get an ultra sound done on my ovaries to see what was going on, she also had some blood test done to check different hormones and such in my body.

After the test and ultra sound came back I went back into the doctor to discuss what she had found out and what she thought. I was pretty optimistic at this time (naively) because I was young and had always been pretty healthy. Everyone I knew had gotten pregnant fairly simple and quickly so I just assumed I was the same.

The doctor came in and told me that she thought I had PCOS based on the cyst found on my ovaries and some different levels of hormones in my blood. Along with the fact that it was hard for me to lose weight and some light adult acne that I had. She then told me that the average couple takes a year to conceive so there was nothing we could do until a year had passed. She then handed to two sheets of paper on PCOS and told me to come back in a year if I was wasn't pregnant. That was it.

Knowing what I do now even typing this makes me mad because I know there is so much more to PCOS than what two slips of paper can tell me.

I digress...I seriously thought it was no big deal and went home. Telling my family and best friend the news and saying how it wasn't a huge deal and that if we weren't pregnant in a year then I would go back in and see what they could do.

After we got married I started doing more research on PCOS because I figured I should probably do some more research and really see what this syndrome was all about. What I found was shocking and made me make an appointment with a different doctor to find out more and see if there was anything she could do to help. 

When I went to the new doctor she right away said that PCOS is a big problem and not only does it cause infertility but also an increased risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. She said that doctor and experts were now saying that they are diagnosing people with infertility after six months of trying. My previous doctor honestly had no idea what she was talking about.

My new doctor put me on Metformin; which is used as an oral diabetes medicine but is found to help women with PCOS ovulate! http://www.advancedfertility.com/metformin-pcos-pregnancy.htm and Spironolactone; which is supposed to help with the testosterone levels that are usually higher in women with PCOS http://youngwomenshealth.org/2014/02/25/spironolactone/.

I was supposed to take two metformin a night and one spironolactone a day along with B12, D3, iron, folic acid and a prenatal. I've been on these two medicines for the past three months. On Wednesday September 14th, I have another appointment to talk about how the pills have been doing and where we go from there. 

Unfortunately, they haven't been working so great as far as I can tell. Instead of getting a more regular cycle and ovulating (neither things that were happening before), my cycle has been crazier than ever and I still haven't ovulated. I have though had my cycle five times in the past month/month in a half and that isn't really something I'm into. 

We'll see what my doctor says Wednesday but I'm less than convinced that these pills are working for me the way they're supposed to. Hopefully my doctor thinks things are going good and that we are closer to have the baby and family that we want.

Until Next Time,

Christina

If you want to know more about PCOS please go to http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/pcos/basics/definition/con-20028841 to learn more.