PCOS and Me
Again I want to start off by saying I am not a professional in any way! I am just a women wanting to tell her story.
Today I will share my medical history for those who are interested. I was not all ways over weight. As a child my parents did everything they could to feed us healthier food, I didn't have a lot of junk or sweets. My mom was telling me the other day that, no matter what they did I just kept gaining the weight, I was hungry all the time. Fast forward to 6th grade, I was seen by an endocrinologist, and was tested for Thyroid issues, everything came back negative.
Even from the start my periods have all ways been irregular, I would get them fairly consistently in the beginning, but they would last a little longer then average. All this time my mom still concerned about my weight gain, but to no avail. I was basically told to watch what I eat and eat healthier.
Fast forward again to high school. In high school I did the Weight Watcher program with a relative of mine. I did everything I was told to do, I eat healthier, and even went to the weekly meetings. From this I lost about 75 lbs, but with in a month gained it all back. At first I thought it was because I just didn't have the will power to keep eating healthy. I often thought to myself, I'm not losing the weight or when I do I just gain it all back, so what was the point, and I would go and have a candy bar or ice-cream. During this time everyone in my life would tell me things like, just eat healthier and exercise, if you don't do both you won't lose the weight. I was very hard to explain to people that I have tried but nothing worked I would just again it all back.
Through out my school years I was made fun of for my weight, but I had a great group of friends who accepted me for who I was, and liked me for my personality. I am still friends with most of these people today. After graduating high school I went to college and even did an internship at Walt Disney World. Because of all of the walking around the park all most daily, I again lost a lot of weight, but it was only a 3 month internship. As soon as I came back home I had started gaining some of the weight back.
It is now 2008 and I had gone to my obgyn, for a routine check up, it was there that they found some small cysts on my ovaries. They told me I could have a condition called PCOS, but then just drained the cysts and never officially diagnosed me. It was also during this time that I started noticing some of the other symptoms of PCOS, and when my periods started to get more and more irregular. Instead of just going a month with out a period, or it coming later then normal, I wouldn't get one for two or three months. During this year I got married, and was living down in Southern Illinois. I moved back to where my parents live at the end of the fallowing year.
It was at that time that I was seeing my primary doctor, and telling the nurse practitioner about some of my symptoms, and she could see my medical history on my chart. She asked if I have ever been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. I told her I was told about it but never told that is what I had. She told me to go to an obgyn and they will be able to diagnose me. But during this whole process I was just referred to one doctor to another. At one point, I was seeing my primary, my obgyn, a nutritionist, and an endocrinologist on a monthly basis. All they focused on was the weight not really checking any of my hormone levels. It was all of them just telling me to lose weight and exercise. I was also told about possibly having bariatric surgery. After talking to my parents and husband, I decided that this might be a good move for me to lose the weight. I went through the whole 6 month process and was ready to schedule my surgery date, then my husband's work changed their health insurance carrier. I would have had to do the whole 6 months over again. We decided that maybe seeing different doctors, someone would figure out what is going on.
That is where Dr. K came in, he was an obgyn and a very cocky doctor at that. My mom went with me to the appointment, she goes with me to a lot of them, because she knows what a struggle it has been for both her and I through my life with the weight issues, He actually had the nerve to sit there and just tell me I need to lose the weight and to see a nutritionist. He even looked at my mom and very sarcastically asked her "What do you think your daughter has". We very calmly explained about PCOS and the research we had done about it. That same appointment I had an ultrasound done, he found what he thought might be a cyst, but even called a colleague in to make sure it wasn't just something wrong on the screen. I ended up having a 5 cm cyst but was told we would just keep an eye on it. Needless to say we took the cockiness right out of him and now he was on board.
He referred me to another endocrinologist who then put me on Metformain to help with the periods and weight loss. That was back in February of 2013, I went about my life happy to finally have some answers to questions about why my body doesn't keep the weight off and why I had some of the other symptoms. It wasn't until about 5 months or so later when they finally decided to do another ultrasound, that they discovered my 5 cm cyst had grown another 10 cm. I now had a 15 cm cyst( that is about the size of a baby toy called an O ball, see picture below). I was then referred to a gynecological oncologist, because Dr. K had never done surgery on one that big.
I then saw Dr. S and we had the first consultation and had scheduled the surgery for July 13 2013. We where told that they may have to remove my left ovary because of the size of the cyst. My mom and I where both devastated when they told us that they did remove the ovary, just leaving enough to help with hormone balance. I was very happy that I moved about an hour away and would never see Dr. K again!
That brings us to present day. I was talking to a friend of my mother, who has a daughter with PCOS, she told me what she did to lose the weight, balance the hormones, and got pregnant fairly soon after doing this. She old me that she stopped eating Dairy, Soy and Gluten. She also sees a holistic doctor. I talked to my husband about this, because we would try all most anything to conceive, it has been about 7 years of trying and nothing happening. I am excited to say that August of 2016 I started by giving up Gluten, and lost about 10 lbs, the next month I gave up Dairy and lost another 10 or so lbs, Finally October I gave up Soy, this one was a little harder to give up, I didn't realize how many foods contain soy. Things like a can of Tuna contain soy. It is also sometimes difficult to find gluten free and soy free foods, most companies replace the gluten with soy. Oh I should mention at my highest I weighted 330 lbs. I am now down 40 lbs and feel great. I also really like my new obgyn, things are starting to look up.
I know this is a lot of information! I wanted to write this post for 2 reasons. 1. To show others the struggles I have gone through with weight loss. 2. To tell other women out there, to be your own advocate when it comes to your health. You are the only one who truly knows your body. If something is not right, don't put it off, if you are not getting the answers you want or you think are incorrect, keep pushing. Also if you have someone willing to fight for you then take them with to your appointments. I am a very shy and quiet person when it comes to doctors and medical stuff, I needed my mom there to say well we did this and it didn't work. She has been a great cheerleader for me during all this.
The next blog will be all about me and my husband, and how we met, and how he plays in this whole journey. I would also love to hear from you guys, what questions do you have or what would you like me to write about in a future blog, please leave a comment below!
Until Next Time!😍💋💋
Allie 💜
Twitter: Myinfertilityjourney (@myinfertilityj1)
Facebook Page: Ourinfertilityjourney2017
Email: myinfertilityjourney2017@gmail.com
Instagram: myinfertilityjourney2017
Snapchat: alexdickrsn86
Today I will share my medical history for those who are interested. I was not all ways over weight. As a child my parents did everything they could to feed us healthier food, I didn't have a lot of junk or sweets. My mom was telling me the other day that, no matter what they did I just kept gaining the weight, I was hungry all the time. Fast forward to 6th grade, I was seen by an endocrinologist, and was tested for Thyroid issues, everything came back negative.
Even from the start my periods have all ways been irregular, I would get them fairly consistently in the beginning, but they would last a little longer then average. All this time my mom still concerned about my weight gain, but to no avail. I was basically told to watch what I eat and eat healthier.
Fast forward again to high school. In high school I did the Weight Watcher program with a relative of mine. I did everything I was told to do, I eat healthier, and even went to the weekly meetings. From this I lost about 75 lbs, but with in a month gained it all back. At first I thought it was because I just didn't have the will power to keep eating healthy. I often thought to myself, I'm not losing the weight or when I do I just gain it all back, so what was the point, and I would go and have a candy bar or ice-cream. During this time everyone in my life would tell me things like, just eat healthier and exercise, if you don't do both you won't lose the weight. I was very hard to explain to people that I have tried but nothing worked I would just again it all back.
Through out my school years I was made fun of for my weight, but I had a great group of friends who accepted me for who I was, and liked me for my personality. I am still friends with most of these people today. After graduating high school I went to college and even did an internship at Walt Disney World. Because of all of the walking around the park all most daily, I again lost a lot of weight, but it was only a 3 month internship. As soon as I came back home I had started gaining some of the weight back.
It is now 2008 and I had gone to my obgyn, for a routine check up, it was there that they found some small cysts on my ovaries. They told me I could have a condition called PCOS, but then just drained the cysts and never officially diagnosed me. It was also during this time that I started noticing some of the other symptoms of PCOS, and when my periods started to get more and more irregular. Instead of just going a month with out a period, or it coming later then normal, I wouldn't get one for two or three months. During this year I got married, and was living down in Southern Illinois. I moved back to where my parents live at the end of the fallowing year.
It was at that time that I was seeing my primary doctor, and telling the nurse practitioner about some of my symptoms, and she could see my medical history on my chart. She asked if I have ever been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. I told her I was told about it but never told that is what I had. She told me to go to an obgyn and they will be able to diagnose me. But during this whole process I was just referred to one doctor to another. At one point, I was seeing my primary, my obgyn, a nutritionist, and an endocrinologist on a monthly basis. All they focused on was the weight not really checking any of my hormone levels. It was all of them just telling me to lose weight and exercise. I was also told about possibly having bariatric surgery. After talking to my parents and husband, I decided that this might be a good move for me to lose the weight. I went through the whole 6 month process and was ready to schedule my surgery date, then my husband's work changed their health insurance carrier. I would have had to do the whole 6 months over again. We decided that maybe seeing different doctors, someone would figure out what is going on.
That is where Dr. K came in, he was an obgyn and a very cocky doctor at that. My mom went with me to the appointment, she goes with me to a lot of them, because she knows what a struggle it has been for both her and I through my life with the weight issues, He actually had the nerve to sit there and just tell me I need to lose the weight and to see a nutritionist. He even looked at my mom and very sarcastically asked her "What do you think your daughter has". We very calmly explained about PCOS and the research we had done about it. That same appointment I had an ultrasound done, he found what he thought might be a cyst, but even called a colleague in to make sure it wasn't just something wrong on the screen. I ended up having a 5 cm cyst but was told we would just keep an eye on it. Needless to say we took the cockiness right out of him and now he was on board.
He referred me to another endocrinologist who then put me on Metformain to help with the periods and weight loss. That was back in February of 2013, I went about my life happy to finally have some answers to questions about why my body doesn't keep the weight off and why I had some of the other symptoms. It wasn't until about 5 months or so later when they finally decided to do another ultrasound, that they discovered my 5 cm cyst had grown another 10 cm. I now had a 15 cm cyst( that is about the size of a baby toy called an O ball, see picture below). I was then referred to a gynecological oncologist, because Dr. K had never done surgery on one that big.
I then saw Dr. S and we had the first consultation and had scheduled the surgery for July 13 2013. We where told that they may have to remove my left ovary because of the size of the cyst. My mom and I where both devastated when they told us that they did remove the ovary, just leaving enough to help with hormone balance. I was very happy that I moved about an hour away and would never see Dr. K again!
That brings us to present day. I was talking to a friend of my mother, who has a daughter with PCOS, she told me what she did to lose the weight, balance the hormones, and got pregnant fairly soon after doing this. She old me that she stopped eating Dairy, Soy and Gluten. She also sees a holistic doctor. I talked to my husband about this, because we would try all most anything to conceive, it has been about 7 years of trying and nothing happening. I am excited to say that August of 2016 I started by giving up Gluten, and lost about 10 lbs, the next month I gave up Dairy and lost another 10 or so lbs, Finally October I gave up Soy, this one was a little harder to give up, I didn't realize how many foods contain soy. Things like a can of Tuna contain soy. It is also sometimes difficult to find gluten free and soy free foods, most companies replace the gluten with soy. Oh I should mention at my highest I weighted 330 lbs. I am now down 40 lbs and feel great. I also really like my new obgyn, things are starting to look up.
I know this is a lot of information! I wanted to write this post for 2 reasons. 1. To show others the struggles I have gone through with weight loss. 2. To tell other women out there, to be your own advocate when it comes to your health. You are the only one who truly knows your body. If something is not right, don't put it off, if you are not getting the answers you want or you think are incorrect, keep pushing. Also if you have someone willing to fight for you then take them with to your appointments. I am a very shy and quiet person when it comes to doctors and medical stuff, I needed my mom there to say well we did this and it didn't work. She has been a great cheerleader for me during all this.
The next blog will be all about me and my husband, and how we met, and how he plays in this whole journey. I would also love to hear from you guys, what questions do you have or what would you like me to write about in a future blog, please leave a comment below!
Until Next Time!😍💋💋
Allie 💜
Twitter: Myinfertilityjourney (@myinfertilityj1)
Facebook Page: Ourinfertilityjourney2017
Email: myinfertilityjourney2017@gmail.com
Instagram: myinfertilityjourney2017
Snapchat: alexdickrsn86
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| This was the size of my cyst! |
That is a big cyst! On another note, eating solely from the fresh fruit and vegetable isle is quite healthy and should keep away all those things you don't need. Processed foods - stay away!
ReplyDeleteI am trying my hardest to stay away from processed foods. It is more difficult then I thought it would be but I have a great support system at home :)
DeleteThat is a huge cyst! What incompetence! I know the feeling though - being shuffled from doctor to doctor to doctor. I'm glad someone finally did something. I can't wait to follow along with your journey!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the support :) I wish someone would have done something earlier but they where all focused on losing the weight and not really looking at the whole picture. But the doctor I currently go to is amazing and actually has a background of dealing with PCOS. Most of the doctors I saw had no clue what PCOS was.
Delete