Anyone else in the same boat?
Just wanted to share my story to see if there is anyone else out there as far gone as me... When I search various sites I see people without a period for a year or so.. but not like 15 or more like me... want to know if I am too far gone to ever get my body right again. Hope to have another child one day soon.
I'm 34 years old and have had PCOS since I was a teenager. I never really in my life had regular periods. When I started my period at 11 I had 1 and then nothing for a few months. Then I would get sporadic menstruation until I was 14, when I was given birth control to regulate me. Of course on b/c I did get a/f, however I was irresponsible with it and would forget to take my pills, then double up and was all over the place. I eventually stopped taking the pill all together but my periods did not return. I went to a couple doctors and they told me it was fine, and that I should go back on the pill if I am sexually active. Also I had a lot of stress in my life as a young person. I was in foster homes and had recently left my abusive father and non existent mother, which they said that the stress of my situation could cause irregularity, but would eventually return once my life and stress levels settled. But as years went on, no periods occurred unless I took birth control. As I got older I decided to stop the birth control all together because I was never really consistent with it and I was worried I was messing myself up worse. Several years went by with no periods at all. I went to a few doctors who told me that it was nothing to worry about and that if I was looking to get pregnant then they would find alternative solutions, but if not then I could either take birth control or continue on as I have been doing. 1 doctor gave me provera to induce a period and said that I should take this every 3 to six months if no natural period occurred as the lining of my uterus would need to shed otherwise I would be at risk of cancer. So I did what she advised. But then I moved to a different province and no longer saw that doctor. I got married and then decided that I needed to get my issues worked out if I wanted to have children. I found a family doctor in my area, she diagnosed me with pcos and then gave me metformin. I took this for a little while but it made me very sick. I was sick of vomiting after a month so I went back to her to see about alternatives. She referred me to an obgyn who then gave me chlomid I did 5 cycles of chlomid with provera with no success. I was thoroughly depressed and decided to give up. Another several years went by and my pcos symptoms got worse and worse. Oily acne prone skin, excessive unwanted hair etc. Of course this made me more depressed. I decided to try laser hair removal and they told me my hair in some places were red'ish toned so they recommended me to shave. I did this for a year, of course this made the hair worse. I went through 12 laser sessions which helped some what, but not enough to ever make it all go away, and within a few years was back worse than ever.
I did a lot of research on pcos and went to my family doctor to see about going to an endocrinologist as I read about them successfully helping people with pcos. I know that I would not be able to afford ivf with a fertility clinic and decided this was the next best option. They took my blood and did some analysis and then advised that they could help me with a drug called "gonal f". There were some risk factors for twins or triplets, and also if taken to long or if given too high of a dose could cause ovarian failure so they requested that I commit to ultrasounds and blood work every a few times a week to make sure this would jot happen. Within 2 cycles I was pregnant. I was thrilled and so was my husband! I had also been told that after having children my body may naturally start to ovulate and menstruate on its own.
Unfortunately this did not happen but at least I have my sweet baby boy, who is now 5 years old.
When my son was 3 I decided that I wanted to try to loose some weight. Also I should mention that I was never really obese when I was younger and started with pcos symptoms, I was at 120 lbs. Which is not typical for pcos. As the years went on though my weight went up every year. At full term pregnancy I stepped on the scale at the hospital and weighed 199 lbs.
After my son was born and done breast feeding I weighed 176 lbs.
My weight went up and down and as I was saying when my son was 3, I was 32 I decided to try the ideal protein diet. When i started this diet i was exactly 199 lbs, which is what I had weighed when I was full term pregnant. I had heard this diet also made you very fertile which was a bonus if I could loose some weight first.
Within 1 week on this diet I actually had a natural period. I was thoroughly shocked!!! Please keep in mind that I had not had a natural period without medications or birth control since I was 13 or 14.
One of the doctors had told me that loosing some weight may help fix pcos symptoms. Honestly, I did not really believe it as I have had this issue since I was very thin, it wasn't until much later in life that I became considered obese. (More than 20/30 lbs over weight) I started researching again and found that a lot of doctors were starting to learn more about pcos and low carb eating. I wish I would have known this year's ago!.
I was thrilled to find something that was working for me. Within 2 months I lost 28 lbs. However my financial budget could not support me continuing with this diet and also eating packaged foods twice a day was really getting to me. I decided to try to continue eating low carb on my own with natural foods, not quite paleo, but similar. However it wasn't long before I was back to my old bad eating habits. I had no idea that my nutrition was the culprit all along. Since I was young I drank pop and juice and milk, very little to no water, and always ate a higher carbohydrate diet. Not on purpose, I just did not know about nutrition. I ate lots of fruit and some vegetables. But I have always eaten lots of breads, pasta, potatoes and junk food. Not so much a sweets person. I let another year pass without eating properly and of course no period. My husband and I do hope to have another baby, however I am going to be 35 this year so if it is going to happen I would like it to be sooner than later.
I decided to go back on ideal protein, however again I could not afford it, so this time I did a lot of research and am now eating low carb naturally. I have had 1 natural period and some spotting. It has been 4 months since I started eating low carb again and I have lost 39 lbs. I think I may have ovulated this month. We got busy a few times around the time that i think I ovulated. I am really hoping that I am pregnant or that my period is coming. Either way I would be happy. However I ended up blowing my diet the other day, and now I am worried that if I am not pregnant then I just destroyed my chance at a/f... need to get back on track...
Anyways sorry for the long post, just wanted to tell my story and see if anyone else has the same issues as me. If so I would love to hear from you!
Last edited by sarahg1980; 06-26-2015 at 02:36 PM.
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