PCOS

HUH??  PCOS is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and I have it.  What does that mean?  Well essentially it means that my ovaries are usually covered in cysts. These cysts can prevent ovulation and cause higher levels of androgen horomones. In many people it causes infertility along with a whole host of other symptoms including excessive hair growth, weight gain, irregular menstural cycles, darkening and thick skin and a bunch of other things. 

Let's go back to the beginning for me though.  In March of 2004 I went for my yearly physical and my doctor was, as always, very distraught with my weight.  He is not a very nice doctor and figured it was just because I was lazy and ate a lot of junk.  At this point I had gone to weight watchers, had gym memberships and tried everything I could think of but the weight would come off in the beginning and then I'd gain a few pounds, lose a few, gain a few and it would all equal out in the end.  I told him this and his answer was "I guess you better learn to like salad".  Not very supportive.  So his solution this time was that maybe it was the birth control pills I was taking.  He switched them to a low dose pill and sent me on my way.  Well that month is when all hell broke loose in my body.  I missed my next period which freaked me out because we were getting married that August and my dress had been bought and altered.  Well two home pregnancy tests and a lab test all came back negative.  What is going on???  Finally after 50 days I got my period.  I stopped the pills and waited to see what would happen.  From then until about October my periods were anywhere from 35 days to 60 days apart.  In October I went back to my doctor and he sent me to a Gynocologist.  Within 5 minutes and a very quick exam I was diagnosed.  Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.  By this point we were already married and had started to try to have a baby but with the unpredictable cycles it was very difficult.  What the doctor told us was that the best treatment for this was to work hard at losing some weight and becoming healthier.  He said that before he could start any treatment I had to be trying for a year.  So we went home, cleaned out the cupboards, bought a bunch of healthy stuff and started to make some changes. In December 2005 I went back to the doctor and he sent me for some tests and was going to book a dye test to make sure I didn't have any scar tissue blocking my fallopian tubes.  He said to call on the first day of my next cycle.  Well that day never came!!!  After about a year and half of trying along came Adryanna!!! 

After she was born my family doctor went back on his "you're too fat" rampage.  The difference this time was that he sent me to an Endochrinologist.  Immediately he knew what the problem was and did the bloodwork to confirm.  The PCOS was causing insulin resistance (a precursor to diabetes but really high insulin levels and normal sugar).  He put me on Metformin and away I went.  The first 6 months I lost 20lbs but then I got lazy:(  He said the medication would level out hormones and hopefully make concieving easier the next time around.  He was very right.  Before Adryanna I was off birth control for 20 months and nothing happened.  When we decided to try for baby #2 I went off birth control at the end of October and was pregnant at the end of November!!!

So why share all of this today??  Well because I obviously still have PCOS and still have many of the side effects.  Weight loss is hard, I carry tweezers with me everywhere incase another unsightly hair pops up and while my cycles are quite regular now they are anything but normal.  They cause tremendous bloating, horrible pain and well we'll leave it there.   The bloating can be so bad that it's not unusual for me to gain 5lbs or more the week before.  This explained why before diagnosis and treatment I would lose 4lbs in a month then gain it all back within a couple of days.  Then lose, then gain over and over again.  With treatment I still gain before but not so much and it is usually gone within a couple of day. 

This brings us to today.  This week I have been running more than usual, eating well and drinking lots of water but I knew when I stepped on the scale this morning that things wouldn't be good.  I was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't so bad.  My weight was 243.2 which is only up half a pound since last week.  I'll take that!!!  It can all be gone plus some by the end of this week.

It's vacation week too which I know for most people means more food and less exercise but for us it means more exercise because just about everything we have planned means walking.  It also means that I have more time for my runs and can do a bit longer runs during the week since I don't have a time limit. It's going to be a nice week.