Hello All!
My name is Heather. I am 22 years old. I live in Northern Indiana. I am married to a wonderful husband whom I love dearly since 6/7/08. I have battled many medical conditions in the past 5 years. It all started when I turned 18. My mother "forced" (insisted to the point of threatening) me to go on the Depo shot; even though I was not sexually active and planned to keep it that way. Immediately I started gaining weight. Around about my 3rd shot, my fiance noticed a rash forming around my eyes. I self medicated with some cortisone cream. Around Christmas, my rash was horrifying. It looked as if my face was melting off and felt like it too. My family doctor thought maybe it was an allergy and prescribed Prednisone to help me. It only made it worse. My eyes were swollen almost completely shut and the rash had spread to my whole face and neck. My doc said I needed a specialist and sent me to a dermatologist. By this point my face was awful looking and I had gained about 70 lbs in a matter of months.
I saw that dermatologist for nearly 3 years with no real help. With my parents being completely fed up with the lack of help and almost weekly doctor visits, I demanded to go to either the Mayo Clinic or the University of Chicago.
At the U of C I found the help I was looking for. It turned out that I had been missed diagnosed and treated for the entire time, I was diagnosed with seborrheic dermatitis that is CAUSED BY ALLERGIES! 3 years before anybody bothered to test me for allergies. What do ya know? I am allergic to everything. Trees, dust, seafood, pollen, mold, ragweed, everything else...oh, and the kitchen sink.
Several allergy medications and multiple light treatments later, I am on the road to recovery. But, before I left U of C, I was referred to an endocrinologist. She was to try to help me figure out how I gained 170 lbs in 3 years.PCOS runs in the family. After several tests, she determined that I showed the symptoms, however my ovaries and not been affected with cyssts yet. Our first course of treatment was Yaz, metformin, and and a C-Pap for Sleep Apnea. At my highest weight I was 317 lbs. I currenty weigh 275 and my goal is 175.
My husband and I want a family but we are waiting until I am healthy again. I came to this group looking for some weight loss support. You know, husbands are great and they try to understand what we are going through. But, the bottom line is they don't understand. How could they? Men don't have ovaries!
So to all of you lovely ladies out there, stay strong! I hope together we can beat this PCOS at its own game.
Thanks a lot for reading my ranting!
New to PCOS and this group!
