After about 8 years of marriage, people start looking a little askance at your lack of offspring. They wonder if maybe you don't like kids, or maybe you're just too selfish and immature to have them. In our case, we were on the 5-year no baby plan. The five year plan stretched into a 7 year plan, with us both in grad school and having absolutely no money. We wanted to be stable, and not crazy busy and stressed. So, here we are, 33 and 40 years old, both with careers. The perfect time to have a kid. Except it didn't work out that way. I had a feeling something wasn't going to work right. I had had crazy cycles ever since I was a teenager. Weight gain, acne, no period for 4 months, then getting my period of 6 weeks straight. Then when I was 18, I started getting horrible pelvic pain. I was diagnosed as having ovarian cysts. The easiest thing for doctors to do was to put me on birth control. I know some women don't like to be on hormonal birth control, but for me, it was a magic drug. My cycles were normal. My weight was stable. My skin looked great. Once, in my 20's, I went off the pill for a few years. And all that crap came back. Weight gain, bad skin, pelvic pain, and crazy periods. Around this time, I got married, so I went back on the pill. Once again, the universe was in harmony.
Fast forward 7 years. We were finally in a place where it made sense to have a kid. We had careers, a house, some money in savings, we hadn't killed any of our pets yet. We were ready. I scheduled a pre-conception appointment with a doctor, like all the books say you are supposed to. Well, I'm not sure what I paid for, but there were no tests, no exam, no blood work. I told the doctor my concerns about going off birth control. She told me, "There's nothing you can do about that. Just try to get pregnant right away". So we tried. And....nothing.
Six months later, I was in for an annual exam (different doctor). She referred me to get an ultrasound, just to make sure I didn't have any fibroids, car keys, or alien babies in my uterus. During the ultrasound, the radiologist mentioned I had ovarian cysts. In my head, I responded, "No sh**, tell me something I didn't know. I've been dealing with that since I was 18". And then he pointed out on the screen (for the nurse's benefit, not actually mine), "Look at that. Classic string of pearls". I had no idea what he was talking about. Exam was over, I left.
About a week later, the nurse from the doctor who referred me for the ultrasound called. She said, "Because of your Polycystic Ovarian Disease and your Ovarian Dysfunction, we're referring you to a fertility specialist". My WHAT? Those were the first time I had ever heard those words. It's on my to-do list to write that doctor a note, and let her know she needs to find better ways to tell unplesant news to her patients.
Fortunatly, the doctor I got sent to (an RE) is great. He did lots of tests, and confirmed, yes, I do have PCOS. We formulated a strategy for getting preggo, and how to deal with a lifetime of PCOS.
If you've never heard of PCOS, just google it. Now imagine someone tell you that you have this syndrome. And it will scare the hell out of you. Apparently, one thing you can do to improve things, is to cut out sugar and refined grains. So, I've been doing that since late April. The first few months were hard, but it's gotten better since then. But it's going to be a battle. And it's never going to go away.
No comments:
Post a Comment