I don't normally brag on myself or my victories so this will be a bit odd but my doctor just called so I MUST share the victory!!
One: The Metformin that my doctor prescribed is not having hardly any side effects this time around. The first time I was on it, I was having extensive stomach pains and diarrhea (TMI I know but someone out there might be having the same problem) so we gave it a break. I started it back up after a 6 month break and it is doing great! No side effects whatsoever! Yay! Also the Aldactone is not having the diuretic symptoms I was warned about, which is again, great!
Two: My doctor called with my bloodwork results. My testosterone has gone down pretty significantly since my last blood test and since being on birth control for about 3 months. I was at a 188 (!!) and now I'm down to 132 (!!). It is still very high but I would say that this decrease of over 50 is a huge gain for me! My free testosterone went down to a 9.2 (normal range peaks at 6.4 I believe). All of my other work for glucose, triglycerides, etc. came back in normal range which is great! He also told me on my ovaries from the ultrasound, I do not have any cysts but, as he told me in the appointment when they were doing the ultrasound, my ovaries are huge! It's normal when you have that high of an amount of testosterone running through your body. I'm just so elated!!
I think for me, this is a huge victory. I know I didn't do much other than pop a pill for 3 months but I am just so excited that my body is functioning how it should be to get the levels down. Now to work on getting them down even more so I can start popping out babies hahah!
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Weight Loss
So for the readers out there who think they may have PCOS, are doing research on PCOS or have PCOS and are reading for comfort, I'll give you a news flash: Weight is hard to get off, if not almost impossible!
When my symptoms started getting worse, I noticed that I started to slowly gain weight. Now, two years later, I'm about 35 pounds heavier. I have recently (about 6 months now) taken a break from working out and haven't noticed any gain in weight in that time period. I used to go to the gym about 3-5 days a week, depending on my schedule that week. I would work out for about 1-2 hours, and possibly taken a Zumba or Yoga class. I have always been pretty muscular from sports and I haven't seen any decrease in strength, just a gain of weight. It is frustrating when you work so hard and have good eating habits, only to get bigger! My weight was near impossible to get off... I would step on the scale and would only see maybe a one pound decrease (if I was lucky) but it never stayed down because your weight fluctuates by 5 pounds each day. It didn't used to be this way! In high school (mind you that wasn't very long ago), I was able to run or do some conditioning twice a week and the pounds would fall off... We ate fast food a lot then because mom was sick and we had to be ten thousand places so we'd eat fast food almost 4-5 nights a week... I watch what I eat now, eat very healthy and don't eat a lot of junk food so it made no sense to me.
I can remember starting to feel very self conscious about my weight increase, something that never happened before. I have always felt confident and loved the way I looked but I suddenly felt that going away. It made me sad.
I was told by my doctor that many women who have PCOS have struggles with their weight. I am not obese, just a bit overweight but I would like to fix this. My doctor also told me that when my hormones become more balanced, it should be easier to get my weight off like it was just a couple years ago. I am hopeful this is the case because I would love to be at a healthy weight, I would love to be able to fit in my favorite jeans and not have to buy new ones because none of my clothes fit. I want to not feel like I have to tug at my shirt when I sit down to hide my stomach. I am becoming more comfortable in my body at it's current size but I don't want it to be this way forever.
I am going to document my struggles with weight, my ups and downs, what works and what doesn't and hopefully you can take that journey with me! We can lose it together and be healthy, happy, PCOS women! I know (and I hope you do too) it is going to be a long journey, it might take a year or more for me to lose what I want but I am willing to wait!
Please, as always, share your comments, suggestions, things that worked for you, things that didn't and any questions you have!! I invite open conversation and candidness!
When my symptoms started getting worse, I noticed that I started to slowly gain weight. Now, two years later, I'm about 35 pounds heavier. I have recently (about 6 months now) taken a break from working out and haven't noticed any gain in weight in that time period. I used to go to the gym about 3-5 days a week, depending on my schedule that week. I would work out for about 1-2 hours, and possibly taken a Zumba or Yoga class. I have always been pretty muscular from sports and I haven't seen any decrease in strength, just a gain of weight. It is frustrating when you work so hard and have good eating habits, only to get bigger! My weight was near impossible to get off... I would step on the scale and would only see maybe a one pound decrease (if I was lucky) but it never stayed down because your weight fluctuates by 5 pounds each day. It didn't used to be this way! In high school (mind you that wasn't very long ago), I was able to run or do some conditioning twice a week and the pounds would fall off... We ate fast food a lot then because mom was sick and we had to be ten thousand places so we'd eat fast food almost 4-5 nights a week... I watch what I eat now, eat very healthy and don't eat a lot of junk food so it made no sense to me.
I can remember starting to feel very self conscious about my weight increase, something that never happened before. I have always felt confident and loved the way I looked but I suddenly felt that going away. It made me sad.
I was told by my doctor that many women who have PCOS have struggles with their weight. I am not obese, just a bit overweight but I would like to fix this. My doctor also told me that when my hormones become more balanced, it should be easier to get my weight off like it was just a couple years ago. I am hopeful this is the case because I would love to be at a healthy weight, I would love to be able to fit in my favorite jeans and not have to buy new ones because none of my clothes fit. I want to not feel like I have to tug at my shirt when I sit down to hide my stomach. I am becoming more comfortable in my body at it's current size but I don't want it to be this way forever.
I am going to document my struggles with weight, my ups and downs, what works and what doesn't and hopefully you can take that journey with me! We can lose it together and be healthy, happy, PCOS women! I know (and I hope you do too) it is going to be a long journey, it might take a year or more for me to lose what I want but I am willing to wait!
Please, as always, share your comments, suggestions, things that worked for you, things that didn't and any questions you have!! I invite open conversation and candidness!
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
My story.
Well folks, it is official now, as of this morning I have gotten 100% confirmation that I have PCOS (my mom has been saying for a while that I was diagnosed when I was younger but no other doctor has said this since).
This blog was created to not only track my progress for personal reasons but to hopefully help someone with their battle and/or realize they may have PCOS.
Let's start at the beginning:
I was born, came into the world just as most others do. I was very healthy and happy baby, very few problems... My mom says I was a happy, quiet, non-crying (unless necessary which was rare) baby. I was a happy toddler with few problems and definitely not as many as my other siblings that came after me. I am the oldest of 4 kids (I technically have 6 siblings but was only raised with 3 of them; my older half-brother was adopted away before I was even born and I just recently learned about him and I have two step-brothers who are in elementary school). When I was about 6 years old, my mom noticed that I started growing breasts and pubic hair, she felt this was VERY odd for my young age so she took me to the doctor. I was not an overweight child so the breast growth and need for a bra caught her off-guard (most overweight young girls have large chests but probably wouldn't have it if they were at an average weight). They said I had a hormonal imbalance but didn't know how bad because children have such varying degrees of hormones and they didn't know if I was going through puberty early. They dismissed the signs and I guess we dealt with it (honestly I don't remember, I just go off what mom has told me).
I started my period at 10 years old (a few months away from being 11), which is pretty average, most of my friends started at 11 or 12, so I was pretty right on time. As time progressed, my periods were getting heavier and heavier, I would have be regularly irregular (meaning for being young and just starting its pretty normal to have irregular periods until you get a little older and it evens out and comes once a month). Mine were coming every other month, sometimes once a month, occasionally once every two months... Just depended I guess. Mine got way heavier though, I can remember bleeding through a Super tampon in 2 hours and leaking out of the maxi pad I used as a "pantyliner" in case of not being able to use the restroom at school. It was terrible! Needless to say, I got VERY used to wearing hoodies to school in case there was a crazy leak and it needed to be covered up by wrapping it around my waist.
In the late summer of 2001, on the day of my 7th grade orientation, I woke up in severe pain with blood everywhere. I went directly to the restroom and didn't leave until it was time to go. It wasn't even worth using a tampon because it would fill immediately. I was in severe pain, so bad that I couldn't move without it getting worse. We opted for me to go to the orientation but stay in the car so she could just get my schedule and supply list and then leave because the bleeding slowed down slightly (I remember wearing one of those old lady diapers to prevent messes). We didn't even make it to the school which was 2 minutes from my house before she called the ambulance and had them pick me up at my school (embarrassing!). They couldn't figure out the problem but gave me pain meds, time and allowed the blood to slow before they sent me home. This pain/bleeding happened again my sophomore year of high school but this time I just decided to stay home instead of have my parents pay for another hospital visit with no answers... Time and the hot tub helped that day.
During my high school years, I would have a period every three months but I never mentioned this to my parents so I never really got treatment. My mom was very sick for basically my whole high school career so I didn't want to burden her with my issues (seeing as how she had many of her own), didn't feel like it was an issue my dad would know anything about and I didn't think anything was wrong since this was normal for me (I guess I thought it would even itself out by the time I got in my 20's).
Unfortunately, this problem only got worse. I slowly started getting less periods. I got increased facial hair, darkened arm hair, increased speed of hair growth on my legs and underarms. I got a PAP in 2011 and the doctor wanted to do some blood work and found out my testosterone level was twice what it should be. She put me on birth control but my migraines increased significantly so we switched the medication. I ended up getting off of the medication because I had a couple months with no insurance and didn't have the money to pay out of pocket for it.
Well I ended up bringing these issues up to my gyno and he decided to prescribe Metformin and Orthocyclene. I chose to only go on the Metformin since the last birth control I was on caused me to gain about 20 pounds (doc said it was because the hormone change made me more hungry and I must not have noticed it)... I don't need to add another 20 pounds! Well I tried the Metformin for about 5 months and it didn't do anything, I only had one period and no change in weight. I was due for a period anyways, it was 6 months afterall! In July, a visiting doctor (my doc was on summer vaca) noticed my facial hair and darker arm hair so she ordered more blood tests... testosterone went up to 119! Ugh! Well I didn't like her and decided to see my primary care doctor ordered blood tests in late September because she noticed my hair got darker on my face and arms. Well the results came back and testosterone went to 188!! I started birth control in October in order to lower this. I followed up with her in mid-January and she recommended I go to a Reproductive Endocrinologist. I made an appointment immediately and saw him today.
Today, February 12, 2014, I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Dr. Thomas looked over my paperwork, looked at me and said "You have polycystic ovary syndrome." I am pretty sure I almost cried. I don't know why. Maybe because I associated PCOS with not having kids. Also, I know it has no cure and I will have to live with this for the rest of my life. He said he has to do an intravaginal ultrasound to confirm this but everything I stated points to PCOS. He was also concerned with my quickly increasing testosterone, he said it could mean I have a tumor. My latest blood test taken today will determine if I need to get my adrenal gland check out... He doesn't think I have one because I don't have the other symptoms of it but that doesn't mean its completely ruled out yet. He did the ultrasound and found that my ovary is very enlarged (symptom of PCOS) and saw the fibroids or something like that in excess. Today he told me to stay on my birth control, started me on Aldactone (100mg) and Metformin XR (2000mg per day). As time goes forward and my most recent test come in, I will update.
I am hoping to use this blog to document my good and bad times with PCOS, medications I'm on and what works, symptoms/side effects, and all of that fun stuff. I hope I will be able to help someone or bring comfort to those who are just diagnosed... Who knows maybe someone will find a new treatment or something that works.
Current Weight: 184
Current Height: 5'5"
Current Medications: Orthocyclene (1 pill/day), Metformin (2000mg/day) and Aldactone (100mg/day)
Current Symptoms: Weight gain, occasional brief, sharp stabbing pain on left or right side near ovary, facial hair, medium brown arm hair, excess dark hair on stomach, breasts and about 5 random, dark hairs on shoulder/back.
Current Feelings: Hopeful, Thankful, Inquisitive, Scared, Embarrassed, Vulnerable and Relieved.
This blog was created to not only track my progress for personal reasons but to hopefully help someone with their battle and/or realize they may have PCOS.
Let's start at the beginning:
I was born, came into the world just as most others do. I was very healthy and happy baby, very few problems... My mom says I was a happy, quiet, non-crying (unless necessary which was rare) baby. I was a happy toddler with few problems and definitely not as many as my other siblings that came after me. I am the oldest of 4 kids (I technically have 6 siblings but was only raised with 3 of them; my older half-brother was adopted away before I was even born and I just recently learned about him and I have two step-brothers who are in elementary school). When I was about 6 years old, my mom noticed that I started growing breasts and pubic hair, she felt this was VERY odd for my young age so she took me to the doctor. I was not an overweight child so the breast growth and need for a bra caught her off-guard (most overweight young girls have large chests but probably wouldn't have it if they were at an average weight). They said I had a hormonal imbalance but didn't know how bad because children have such varying degrees of hormones and they didn't know if I was going through puberty early. They dismissed the signs and I guess we dealt with it (honestly I don't remember, I just go off what mom has told me).
I started my period at 10 years old (a few months away from being 11), which is pretty average, most of my friends started at 11 or 12, so I was pretty right on time. As time progressed, my periods were getting heavier and heavier, I would have be regularly irregular (meaning for being young and just starting its pretty normal to have irregular periods until you get a little older and it evens out and comes once a month). Mine were coming every other month, sometimes once a month, occasionally once every two months... Just depended I guess. Mine got way heavier though, I can remember bleeding through a Super tampon in 2 hours and leaking out of the maxi pad I used as a "pantyliner" in case of not being able to use the restroom at school. It was terrible! Needless to say, I got VERY used to wearing hoodies to school in case there was a crazy leak and it needed to be covered up by wrapping it around my waist.
In the late summer of 2001, on the day of my 7th grade orientation, I woke up in severe pain with blood everywhere. I went directly to the restroom and didn't leave until it was time to go. It wasn't even worth using a tampon because it would fill immediately. I was in severe pain, so bad that I couldn't move without it getting worse. We opted for me to go to the orientation but stay in the car so she could just get my schedule and supply list and then leave because the bleeding slowed down slightly (I remember wearing one of those old lady diapers to prevent messes). We didn't even make it to the school which was 2 minutes from my house before she called the ambulance and had them pick me up at my school (embarrassing!). They couldn't figure out the problem but gave me pain meds, time and allowed the blood to slow before they sent me home. This pain/bleeding happened again my sophomore year of high school but this time I just decided to stay home instead of have my parents pay for another hospital visit with no answers... Time and the hot tub helped that day.
During my high school years, I would have a period every three months but I never mentioned this to my parents so I never really got treatment. My mom was very sick for basically my whole high school career so I didn't want to burden her with my issues (seeing as how she had many of her own), didn't feel like it was an issue my dad would know anything about and I didn't think anything was wrong since this was normal for me (I guess I thought it would even itself out by the time I got in my 20's).
Unfortunately, this problem only got worse. I slowly started getting less periods. I got increased facial hair, darkened arm hair, increased speed of hair growth on my legs and underarms. I got a PAP in 2011 and the doctor wanted to do some blood work and found out my testosterone level was twice what it should be. She put me on birth control but my migraines increased significantly so we switched the medication. I ended up getting off of the medication because I had a couple months with no insurance and didn't have the money to pay out of pocket for it.
Well I ended up bringing these issues up to my gyno and he decided to prescribe Metformin and Orthocyclene. I chose to only go on the Metformin since the last birth control I was on caused me to gain about 20 pounds (doc said it was because the hormone change made me more hungry and I must not have noticed it)... I don't need to add another 20 pounds! Well I tried the Metformin for about 5 months and it didn't do anything, I only had one period and no change in weight. I was due for a period anyways, it was 6 months afterall! In July, a visiting doctor (my doc was on summer vaca) noticed my facial hair and darker arm hair so she ordered more blood tests... testosterone went up to 119! Ugh! Well I didn't like her and decided to see my primary care doctor ordered blood tests in late September because she noticed my hair got darker on my face and arms. Well the results came back and testosterone went to 188!! I started birth control in October in order to lower this. I followed up with her in mid-January and she recommended I go to a Reproductive Endocrinologist. I made an appointment immediately and saw him today.
Today, February 12, 2014, I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Dr. Thomas looked over my paperwork, looked at me and said "You have polycystic ovary syndrome." I am pretty sure I almost cried. I don't know why. Maybe because I associated PCOS with not having kids. Also, I know it has no cure and I will have to live with this for the rest of my life. He said he has to do an intravaginal ultrasound to confirm this but everything I stated points to PCOS. He was also concerned with my quickly increasing testosterone, he said it could mean I have a tumor. My latest blood test taken today will determine if I need to get my adrenal gland check out... He doesn't think I have one because I don't have the other symptoms of it but that doesn't mean its completely ruled out yet. He did the ultrasound and found that my ovary is very enlarged (symptom of PCOS) and saw the fibroids or something like that in excess. Today he told me to stay on my birth control, started me on Aldactone (100mg) and Metformin XR (2000mg per day). As time goes forward and my most recent test come in, I will update.
I am hoping to use this blog to document my good and bad times with PCOS, medications I'm on and what works, symptoms/side effects, and all of that fun stuff. I hope I will be able to help someone or bring comfort to those who are just diagnosed... Who knows maybe someone will find a new treatment or something that works.
Current Weight: 184
Current Height: 5'5"
Current Medications: Orthocyclene (1 pill/day), Metformin (2000mg/day) and Aldactone (100mg/day)
Current Symptoms: Weight gain, occasional brief, sharp stabbing pain on left or right side near ovary, facial hair, medium brown arm hair, excess dark hair on stomach, breasts and about 5 random, dark hairs on shoulder/back.
Current Feelings: Hopeful, Thankful, Inquisitive, Scared, Embarrassed, Vulnerable and Relieved.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)