PCOS a path to diagnosis

PCOS a path to diagnosis

Warning: this post is all about menstruation and can be "real" at times.. be warned.

PCOS... What is it? to be exact it is...
 Polycystic ovary syndrome is one of the most common endocrine disorders. It is a genetic disorder that can be inherited from either parent.  PCOS produces symptoms in approximately 5% to 10% of women of reproductive age and is thought to be  the leading causes of female infertility.


The principal features are anovulation, resulting in irregular menstruation, amenorrhea, ovulation-related infertility, and polycystic ovaries; excessive amounts or effects of androgenic (masculinizing) hormones, resulting in acne and hirsutism; and insulin resistance, often associated with obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol levels.


In lighter terms.. you have hormone imbalances that causes your eggs to not release, giving you little to no cycles and little to no fertility.  The hormone imbalances also cause those other symptoms which vary from person to person but can be acne, hair growth, obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol. This hormone imbalance also makes it severely hard to loose weight and correct or avoid obesity diabetes and high cholesterol. 

This is the story of me and my dark passenger (dexter reference). 

I was officially diagnosed with PCOS in March of 2008.  I had been married for 1 1/2 years, and we were NOT trying to get pregnant.  This is how my story differs from many PCOSers out there.  Most people do not find out about infertility until they give baby making a try.  I consider myself one of the lucky ones.. we were not trying and would not be trying for quite a while.

How did the diagnosis come about?  Well lets start from the beginning with a full menstrual and symptom history.

Age 11 1/2. 6th grade - first aunt flow visit
Age 12-14  7th-9th grade-  Very irregular periods some light and spotty, some like a gore horror movie something in the vane of Carrie at the prom.  But the key here was irregular.. I got my cycle maybe 3-4 times a year.. I was not worried about pregnancies or nor was I anxious to have this event every month.. so no doctor visits for me.
Age 15-17 10th-12th grade- Still same symptoms as above, but now a little weight gain around the middle, I was also very active, swimming, softball, volleyball, plus lots of academic clubs and teams so as most young girls hear from people, your period can be irregular when very active.. so this is what I thought was going on.
Age 18-21 College- Enter birth control (bc).. my first cycle was horrible, i thought I was giving birth and there was enough blood to be the truth.. actually now looking back I just hadnt had a cycle in so long I must of had lots of stuff built up. But then the regularity came.. a period every 28 days, I could even predict it down to the time of day and it was very light and only lasted 3 days.. ahhh all was right in the world.  However, I was in college for a science degree.. lots of bad habits formed in the way of eating and not being active, so the weight gain started to become more and more. Also, major migraines which i had all my life, but durring college they were frequent and terrible, lots of vomiting from pain during this time of my life.
Age 21- Prepping for marriage. I started having skin issues, darkening around my neck and my underarms. I hoped I could get a cream and it would go away before the wedding. I went to the college nurse practitioner and she mentioned PCOS and said I should go to a gyno. But that it was not fixable by a cream.  Well at this point in my life, with no health insurance, a senior in college planning a wedding.. i really didnt care nor had the motivation, nor did I even know what PCOS was.. so I didnt go.  She also did not explain PCOS and I did not do any research on my own.
Age 21-23 Marriage-  Remember those migraines?  well they got even worse.. but now I was done with the all nighters in college and had a husband with health insurance.. so off to the doc I went.  Many lifestyle changes had to be made for the migraines (which i still to this day do and they help). One change that was made was to take me off oral birth control.. i actually dont remember the science behind this.. but we did it, and this was important to my future PCOS diagnosis.  So a whole year went by.. we used alternative forms of bc.. but during that year I did not have one cycle.. not one.  So off to the doc (who is just a family doc not a gyno).. he sends me to a gyno..  and of course with my history of skin coloration, weight gain, very irregular to no cycles.. she doesnt even have to blink before she says... PCOS.  She then actually gives me the whole explanation of what it is and suddenly my whole medical history makes sense, and I agree that I fit the bill.  But to confirm she sends me back to my family doctor for blood tests and then a tech place for ultrasounds to look at the ovaries.  Well I am sure you know by now, they came out positive .. and so here I am 23 years old .. still slightly newly wed, not even trying for a baby.. and I get told I have PCOS and my chances are slim now because I do not even cycle on my own anymore.  She tells me if we are not into trying for a baby for a while, I should go back on bc to control my cycles and other symptoms, so we do a very low dose bc , I get a pat on the butt and get to go home and tell Rich.

So I tell him.. I really cant remember the reaction.  Honestly I dont remember my reaction.  Frankly we were not in the position to be thinking about children, but I knew I wanted them someday.  So I think this is when I moved into my denial phase.

The next phase in this story will be the subject of another post.  I wanted this one to be just about the diagnosis and initial reactions.