It took me almost 13 years for me to get a diagnosis. When I first got my period, I was young, younger than a lot of my friends I remember it perfectly, I was in Roy Rogers having lunch with my mom, when I SWORE i just peed myself, so I went to the bathroom... nope didnt pee, but there was blood...So I did what any-other 10 or 11 year old does, I shoved some toilet paper in my under wear an went back to eat my lunch and then go see a movie. Got home changed, found one of my moms pads grabbed it continued on with my day, this lasted literally 24 hours if that, which I super happy about. It came back the next month normal, by then my mother found out I had my period, so we had the "talk", i still totally felt like a freak.
The next month when it did come back, it was normal, nothing crazy about it, I had some minor cramping, or what you would call normal. Month 3? never happened... Month 4? never happened, month 5 and 6... never happened... I only said something my sister and she told me it was normal, that my cycle could already be changing and since I was new to my new womanhood pants, I went with it. It did finally come back, and it came back with a vengeance, I would be curled up in a ball in pain, my mom would make me excessive amounts of tea, I took more teen midol then i care to remember.
Fast foward to about 16 or 17, Im an athlete played sports, one day I told my mother i had this obnoxcious pain in my pelivs area, she told me to watch it, see if it got any worse, it never got WORSE but it certainly took for ever to get better, so.. off to the Dr. we went. He had me lay down, he felt the area, and said I had a hernia, it was nothing serious but to take it easy on the sport front for a bit...so i did. Periods were still the same, they were heavy, they were painful, they were HORRIBLE! Id have to yell from the bathroom for my mother to bring me a change of clothes, Id ask to be sent home from school, my mom would keep me home because the pain was SO unbareable, plus i always seemed to get sick right around my period... and not like vomit, like SICK broncitus, fevers, the whole 9.
Fast foward to age 25, I am dating my now husband, and working in a family practise, as a medical assistant, the past few years I had noticed somethings about me, that just didnt seem right, like exsessive hair growth, that i still had what was referred to as teen acne, still having obnoxcious periods, that no matter how much weight i lost, i still had chub around my mid section, not to mention I had just had a miscarraige about 2 months prior. The dr. was talking to a patient about her testosterone levels, that they were high, higher than when any females should be, he mentioned PCOS and they would do more testing... and I had my own personal AH HA moment. I went right into my co-workers office and told her to draw my blood... we did testosterone, glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, folate, iron, you name it, we tested for it.
Results came in, and I almost hit the damn floor. My testosterone levels were HIGH which would explain the hair growth, my iron and folate were low, which explained my ALWAYS being tired, my cholesterol and trigs were HORRIBLE! My trig's were as high as if i was an alcholic, or ate an entire loaf of white bread a day, at that moment I was a walking heart attack, with boarderline diabetes HOORAY! the next day i went to my personal dr. she looked at the results, and was shocked, but said that it explains so much about me, it explains my weight, my acne, the hair, the constant depression and doom and gloom, she had me go see and endocrinologist as soon as i could, who inturn agreed with the Dx, and put me on metformin, explained the side affects, and sent me on my merry way, diagnosis in hand. Me and metformin do not get along, I can not take it, so i went on herbal meds, and they worked wonders.
I guess i should add here, that I am italian, so the hair growth easily could have been because of that, well Ill have you know, i have possibly the least hairy italian family this side of the east coast. But me? i felt like an ape. the dx was a bit of a set back for me, I was told I may never be ableto carry my own child, that if i didnt get things in check i was bound for an early heart attack. This set me into an even more serious depression for awhile... meanwhile my sister is pregnant, and as happy i am for her... im pissed not at her.. at the unfairness of it all.
If you have been playing along, youll see that the "hernia" wasnt a hernia, it was a cyst a BIG one that my peds dr felt. Ive been to the ER since my dx with horrible pains, only to be told I had a cyst that measured more than an 1inch long, and 1/2 inch wide... hello big. I was told my depression was due to my being an unmedicated ADHD, that my weight was only attributed to my eating, and that my super painful period was normal, that every woman is different.
I am 27 years old now, with a beautiful little girl, i havent had a stroke or a heartattack yet, and I am going to work on this not happening anytime in my near future. My diabetes isnt in check, i know this by how i feel, and that my eye sight seems to be worsening, when my perscription hadnt changed in about 10 years....
PCOS sucks, I have a great support system, 2 friends who have it, one who has 4 children, and is super skinny, the other is my best friend, younger than me, but struggeling as well. I have a husband who still doesnt full get it, but buys me alli for christmas, and weightloss games for wii, he tries. Ill do this...with them But its my own personal fight, my own personal hell that I will come out of, a better, healthier and hopefully skinner me.
The next month when it did come back, it was normal, nothing crazy about it, I had some minor cramping, or what you would call normal. Month 3? never happened... Month 4? never happened, month 5 and 6... never happened... I only said something my sister and she told me it was normal, that my cycle could already be changing and since I was new to my new womanhood pants, I went with it. It did finally come back, and it came back with a vengeance, I would be curled up in a ball in pain, my mom would make me excessive amounts of tea, I took more teen midol then i care to remember.
Fast foward to about 16 or 17, Im an athlete played sports, one day I told my mother i had this obnoxcious pain in my pelivs area, she told me to watch it, see if it got any worse, it never got WORSE but it certainly took for ever to get better, so.. off to the Dr. we went. He had me lay down, he felt the area, and said I had a hernia, it was nothing serious but to take it easy on the sport front for a bit...so i did. Periods were still the same, they were heavy, they were painful, they were HORRIBLE! Id have to yell from the bathroom for my mother to bring me a change of clothes, Id ask to be sent home from school, my mom would keep me home because the pain was SO unbareable, plus i always seemed to get sick right around my period... and not like vomit, like SICK broncitus, fevers, the whole 9.
Fast foward to age 25, I am dating my now husband, and working in a family practise, as a medical assistant, the past few years I had noticed somethings about me, that just didnt seem right, like exsessive hair growth, that i still had what was referred to as teen acne, still having obnoxcious periods, that no matter how much weight i lost, i still had chub around my mid section, not to mention I had just had a miscarraige about 2 months prior. The dr. was talking to a patient about her testosterone levels, that they were high, higher than when any females should be, he mentioned PCOS and they would do more testing... and I had my own personal AH HA moment. I went right into my co-workers office and told her to draw my blood... we did testosterone, glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, folate, iron, you name it, we tested for it.
Results came in, and I almost hit the damn floor. My testosterone levels were HIGH which would explain the hair growth, my iron and folate were low, which explained my ALWAYS being tired, my cholesterol and trigs were HORRIBLE! My trig's were as high as if i was an alcholic, or ate an entire loaf of white bread a day, at that moment I was a walking heart attack, with boarderline diabetes HOORAY! the next day i went to my personal dr. she looked at the results, and was shocked, but said that it explains so much about me, it explains my weight, my acne, the hair, the constant depression and doom and gloom, she had me go see and endocrinologist as soon as i could, who inturn agreed with the Dx, and put me on metformin, explained the side affects, and sent me on my merry way, diagnosis in hand. Me and metformin do not get along, I can not take it, so i went on herbal meds, and they worked wonders.
I guess i should add here, that I am italian, so the hair growth easily could have been because of that, well Ill have you know, i have possibly the least hairy italian family this side of the east coast. But me? i felt like an ape. the dx was a bit of a set back for me, I was told I may never be ableto carry my own child, that if i didnt get things in check i was bound for an early heart attack. This set me into an even more serious depression for awhile... meanwhile my sister is pregnant, and as happy i am for her... im pissed not at her.. at the unfairness of it all.
If you have been playing along, youll see that the "hernia" wasnt a hernia, it was a cyst a BIG one that my peds dr felt. Ive been to the ER since my dx with horrible pains, only to be told I had a cyst that measured more than an 1inch long, and 1/2 inch wide... hello big. I was told my depression was due to my being an unmedicated ADHD, that my weight was only attributed to my eating, and that my super painful period was normal, that every woman is different.
I am 27 years old now, with a beautiful little girl, i havent had a stroke or a heartattack yet, and I am going to work on this not happening anytime in my near future. My diabetes isnt in check, i know this by how i feel, and that my eye sight seems to be worsening, when my perscription hadnt changed in about 10 years....
PCOS sucks, I have a great support system, 2 friends who have it, one who has 4 children, and is super skinny, the other is my best friend, younger than me, but struggeling as well. I have a husband who still doesnt full get it, but buys me alli for christmas, and weightloss games for wii, he tries. Ill do this...with them But its my own personal fight, my own personal hell that I will come out of, a better, healthier and hopefully skinner me.