Friday, September 24, 2010

Background on what brought me to this place in my life

Hello all, I was diagnosed with PCOS in the beginning of this year and it answered a lot of questions I had about my body. Let me first say that I had to push to be tested for PCOS. I had many of the symptoms for it and yet no doctor thought it was important to test and treat it. Here are the symptoms I had:
  • sever acne since 4th grade (if you can do the math that is 11 years with acne)
  • abnormal hair growth (one place being my face)
  • Not having a period until 16 and then having a lack of periods since then
Through the first two doctors the answer always was "if you don't want to have a child now then take birth control and we will just check to make sure you don't have diabetes or cardiovascular disease" and then they would send me on my way. It took me changing doctors three times before I found one willing to do the tests but after the tests were done and they concluded I did indeed have PCOS, they still only wanted to put me on birth control pills.
Here is my problem with birth control pills:
  • first off it is just covering up the problem and is not working with my body to try and get it to ovulate on its own in preparation for when I want to have a child
  • second off birth control pills do not work with my other symptoms
  • third problem is that I am catholic and I would like to try and find other options if at all possible than birth control to deal with PCOS
So some of these issues would not be such a BIG issue if I had not gotten married this past summer and my husband and I are looking at having children once I graduate December 2011. We wonted to know what were the chances we could have a child. I talked to many friends about our problem and then someone at church introduced me to the creighton model.
With the creighton model you chart your fertility and then by the results that you have on your chart, doctors can treat you while working with your body. It seemed like it was worth a try so I started the creighton model in May and low and behold have not had a period that whole time so I was referred to a doctor that works with the creighton model and that brings you up to speed with where I am today. I had my first doctors appointment yesterday and finally worked with a doctor that acknowledged PCOS and wanted to treat every part of it including starting to try out different methods to try and get me to start ovulating on my own.
It is extremely refreshing but also has stirred up a lot of emotion. The doctor said it will be very hard for me to get pregnant and that even if I do I have a high chance for miscarrying. That makes me want to start trying to conceive today! but then my husband pulls me in and reminds me that I still have school to finish. I feel like people do not understand my worries and my need to start now no matter the circumstances because they do not have PCOS that may make them infertile. The most important thing in my life is having a family so I feel like I am between a rock and a hard place. The doc has given me a couple of options:
  1. Start trying to conceive by taking progesterone three days after I ovulate for 10 days and taking Clomid to help me ovulate while taking vitamin B6, folic acid, and Metformin
  2. Hold off to start trying to conceive until April 2011 and just take progesterone day 18-27 of my cycle to help me have a period for good health while taking folic acid and Metformin
  3. Hold off to start trying to conceive until April 2011 and just take progesterone day 18-27 of my cycle to help me have a period for good health while taking folic acid, Metformin, and take SPIRONOLACTONE to help with acne and abnormal hair growth but be VERY careful NOT to have a child while on it because it is harmful to the child in pregnancy (reminder that with the creighton model it is basically natural family planning)
So which option should I choose??? On one hand I am only 22 and in school and then on the other I want a family and do not know how long and how hard it will be to conceive with PCOS. So what should I do???? Also with option 3 there can be negative side effects but the selfish part of me wants to take it because I am SO sick of looking in the mirror and feeling ugly because of having a face full of acne! I do not know anyone with PCOS so I do not know what is recommended with this condition. Anyway I have typed a lot here so I will leave with some questions for you
Do you or someone you know have PCOS and how have they treated it?
If you were me would you start trying to conceive now or wait until school is over?
Please share your stories because I think it can be empowering to feel like you have a network of others that are in the same place as you are in life!

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