PCOS Is Not My Friend: The Cycle

It's been a few months since I wrote about how I was faring since my PCOS diagnosis. It's sort of interesting, because I'm writing about my experience with it from a non-TTC point of a view; most of the research I've found online so far have been through women who are struggling with the infertility aspect of it. Since I'm not up to that stage yet, I'm focusing on it from a health perspective - particularly on some of the symptoms that I've been experiencing since the diagnosis, as well as some that I had potentially experienced before it as well.

If you're not keen on reading about lady-cycles, periods and all that jazz, I recommend skipping today's blog post.

{Image source here}

The biggest symptom for me, and the one which led me to the doctors knowing that something definitely wasn't right, were my periods - or lack thereof. When I was younger, I never had a regular cycle, it would come and go whenever it liked, and I would experience really heavy bouts of bleeding and cramps that would leave me bedridden at least once every month or two. It was for that reason that I was put on the birth control pill at a fairly young age {I think I was 14?} and had been on it ever since.

Being on the pill was something I grew up with, and I never really had any problems with it, but back in 2008, my supply was running low and I decided to stop using it. I'd been on it for such a long time that it was only to be expected that getting a 'natural rhythm' back to my cycle would not be the easiest thing in the world, so I was patient. I waited. And I waited. And waited some more.

My first period after stopping the pill was long and painful - a good few weeks worth. It was awful. After that, the same mess started again: months of waiting for one to arrive, followed by weeks of feeling like death. That continued, until I was back home & went for the blood tests and pelvic ultrasound which found the cause.

It's kind of ironic, isn't it? When I was younger, I didn't mind missing a period - who wants to deal with that anyway? And now, I'm praying for a more regular cycle and find myself getting disappointed when the 'normal' timeframe comes and goes, yet again. And then, when the time comes for us to start actively trying, I'll be once again crossing my fingers that my period WON'T arrive, to show us that we've managed to fall pregnant. It's a vicious cycle.

I was diagnosed in April. I've been on Metformin tablets and I've been working on weight loss - two things combined that are supposed to play a major part in having a more regular cycle and monthly ovulation. At its worst, my cycle was around 90 days long. For most women it's between 24-35 days. I've been tracking myself since last year, and my current average cycle length has dropped down to 73 days. It's still well, well over what it should be. Since April, I've had my period twice. I'm currently waiting on one, and am on day 48 as we speak. If you go by the average, my next period isn't due until October.

I feel so disappointed in myself as a woman. I always used to know something wasn't quite right, but when they stuck a label on me and released me into the wild to do my own research, the severity of it really hit home. I never used to know enough about ovulation to care about what it is or when I experienced it - and now, I'm twenty-six and petrified that things still aren't working. I use a program on my iPhone that helps me track my cycles and at the current average, it's forecasting that in 2011, I'll have 4-5 periods.

I read somewhere that a healthy fertile woman only has something like a 25% chance of everything working at the right time and a pregnancy resulting in each ovulation cycle. At this rate, I'll have less than half of those opportunities; which is a scary thought. I know you might think I'm being ridiculous being this worried now, when we are not even trying for a baby right now, but I can't help it. I'm a worrier, that's how I roll.

I'll be blogging more about this over the coming weeks (possibly even months/years!) but I always like to hear feedback and advice from fellow bloggers, if you have it. Hopefully I'll have more positive things to say as the journey progresses, as it's only really been five months since I was officially 'diagnosed' with the syndrome. I hope the statistics become more promising as the months continue. And at this point, I'll continue tracking everything until I'm back home in Sydney in December for my follow up appointment - and we decide what happens next.

Coming soon in the PCOS chronicles, the other joys I've experienced so far. Are you ready for this?