so i'm just going to take a minute to explain PCOS for anyone who isn't sure what it is (disclaimer: i am not a doctor; this is just my boiled-down, easy-to-explain-and-understand version). poly-cystic ovarian syndrome is a condition that starts in the endocrine system. basically, my body does not respond to insulin like it should. something about this affects other hormone levels in the body, particularly androgens. there are a host of symptoms that a person with PCOS can experience, but doctors basically look for three major ones: irregular or absent periods, higher than normal levels of androgrens, and ovarian cysts (hence, the name). higher androgens affect the release of fully developed eggs and these "bad eggs" stay in the ovaries and can become cysts. without ovulation, hormones that regulate menstruation are absent, resulting in absent or irregular periods. i've got the first two symptoms--and i'll probably be tested for the third sometime soon.
i've dealt with irregular periods my whole life...well since i got period anyway. in high school, i can remember there being times when i'd go 3-5 months without a period. now, before you tell me how lucky i was not to have to deal with having my period, let me tell you, it was no picnic. i worried all the time that my period would come in the middle of class. or in church. or while i was out with my friends. and when it finally would come, it was awful. when i finally saw a gynecologist, her solution was just to put me on birth control. there was no testing. just a pill. which my mom vehemently rejected. so i had several more years of irregular periods before i finally went on birth control the summer before i got married. my doctors told me this would get me back on track and when i finally went off it, i would probably be regular. looking back, i'm so frustrated that i didn't do a better job advocating for myself. when i went off birth control last year (partially because we wanted to get pregnant; partially because i realized how terrible birth control is), i definitely was back into a regular cycle...my kind of regular. i went right back to not having periods for 3 months at a time. when i went back to my (former) gynecologist, she refused to take my word that i wasn't pregnant, as if i was incompetent to know for myself. when she tested and confirmed what i had already told her, she just put me on provera to induce a "period". that's when i switched to my current doctor. i was frustrated that no one was doing anything to figure out why i didn't get my period. everyone just wanted to throw pills at me. once i got the diagnosis, i was put on another pill. this time, hopefully it's the right one. i'm on metformin, a drug that is supposed to regulate my body's response to insulin, hopefully regulating all my other hormones as well. i was told from the get-go that it might take a few months. but i am not a patient woman. every time i use the restroom, i hope to see that my period has come. if i've gotten my period, that means i've ovulated and things are working again. so every day i pray that today might be the day i get my period. i feel like i might be the only person in the world hoping for my period so that i have a chance to get pregnant; most women hoping for their period are hoping because they don't want to be pregnant. not me. bring it on. i even promise not to complain if i get cramps.
No comments:
Post a Comment