Symptoms of PCOS

Some people don't understand PCOS and what it can cause. It doesn't just affect your ovaries, but your whole body. About 56% of women with PCOS are overweight or obese. Not everyone but it is very common. And those of us that are overweight have an EXTREMELY difficult time just to lose a pound. We can't completely blame the PCOS, but it is definitely a factor.


The symptoms of PCOS can vary from woman to woman. Some of the symptoms of PCOS include:

• Infertility (not able to get pregnant) because of not ovulating. In fact, PCOS is the most common cause of female infertility.
• Infrequent, absent, and/or irregular menstrual periods
• Hirsutism (HER-suh-tiz-um) — increased hair growth on the face, chest, stomach, back, thumbs, or toes
• Cysts on the ovaries
• Acne, oily skin, or dandruff
• Weight gain or obesity, usually with extra weight around the waist
• Male-pattern baldness or thinning hair
• Patches of skin on the neck, arms, breasts, or thighs that are thick and dark brown or black
• Skin tags — excess flaps of skin in the armpits or neck area
• Pelvic pain
• Anxiety or depression
• Sleep apnea — when breathing stops for short periods of time while asleep

Of the above I have the following:

•  Infertility due to anovulation
• Absent or infrequent periods
• Hirsutism of everywhere listed but back and thumbs
• Cysts on ovaries
• Acne, oily skin, and dandruff
• Weight gain/obesity
• Hair has DEFINITELY thinned since high school
• Occasional skin tags
• And maybe some anxiety

As you can see, I don't have all of the symptoms and others may not have the same ones I do. But PCOS is definitely a contributor to all of these. AND just because you have the symptoms doesn't mean you have PCOS. If you think you do you need to get checked by a physician.

Shannon Gets a Surprise and Plans Her Next Step

Yesterday was CD64.

Before I continue, did I tell you I did the parsley tea?? No? Ok... So I tried the tea. Got down one glass (with some sugar while holding my nose). Then didn't drink anymore. That was 2 weeks ago..

For the past week I had been complaining to Steph about my boobs being sore. Annoyingly sore. Since I don't get period warnings I was HOPING it would be a sign of pregnancy, regardless of the bloodwork results from CD 26. She insisted that maybe my period was about to start.

Who won??

Well... yesterday AF arrived.

As disappointed as I was, I was wanting it to come so I could move on.

Because my doctor hasn't called me back and I'm too busy/offended to call HER, I decided that this cycle I am going to try the GNC Fertility Blend for Women. I thought about buying the men's too, even though his numbers are AWESOME, but that is yet ANOTHER $40 for something I can't guarantee he would even take.

So, $40 for 1 month (90 pills = 3 pills per day) I will take these pills and plan on adding my vitamins back into my diet too... I've been so discouraged lately (for the past month) that I haven't even bothered with taking them either.

If I'm not pregnant with this cycle, I will call the doctor again and up my dosage of Clomid.

I also plan on tackling DH so we can sit down and discuss or fertility plan. This road looks like it is just getting harder and I want to have a plan set.

Disappointing Month

August was not as good as I expected it to be.

I had really high hopes when I shouldn't have.

My OPKs were coming back super close to the control that I was sure I ovulated.

My ovulation bloodwork was the Friday before my birthday and the pregnancy bloodwork was the Friday after.

I hoped that would bring me luck.

Everything seemed to be pointing out that August would be great and the Clomid 100mg would work and I'd have a great birthday month!

But alas, nothing turned out how I hoped.

Ovulation bloodwork: Negative.
Pregnancy bloodwork: Negative.

And I am at the same spot I was in spring of 2009 when we stopped the clomid after 100mg. Just the feeling that it isn't going to happen. Disappointed failure and that treatments worth pointless.

I have to remind myself that it isn't going to be easy and that I have to keep going. That isn't as easy as some might think. I wish I could get pregnant like most normal people and not worry about if I will even get AF to get pregnant (I am currently on CD52... further proof I didn't ovulate).

I'm now 26. I know that most of my friends aren't married or they don't have kids and may not for years. But I also know that most of them don't have these complications.

I don't know what to do anymore.

You can pray for me but please don't tell me to pray. I know that most of our readers and writer's are very Christian but I am struggling with what I believe and have been for a while now.

"I'm still not sure what I stand for, oh
What do I stand for? What do I stand for?
Most nights, I don't know...
Well, that is it guys, that is all - five minutes in and I'm bored again
Ten years of this, I'm not sure if anybody understands"
Some Nights - FUN

Introducing Sheila!

We have added a new blogger to our group. Again, we are still taking more writers, just email me at sivywright@gmail.com with you email information.

Here is a little background that Sheila wrote for you guys:::

I am 23 years old (I know, still kind of young) and my husband and I have been married since August of 2008. My husband is 25. I went off birth control and have been TTC since October of 08. I technically haven't been diagnosed with infertility yet out of fear of going to the doctor (I realize now that was a very stupid mistake and I have my first appointment the 17th). I have very irregular periods and many female problems. My family history doesn't help, my mom had cancer and died when I was 15 years old. The cancer was very rare, but it is said it can be hereditary. Almost every woman on my moms side has or has had endometriosis,  suffered through miscarriage and has had a hard time conceiving. Both my sister and my mother have lost full term babies (my niece due to my sister having von willibrand disease and other complications, and my moms baby (my sister) having spinobefida. My aunt (my mom's sister) tried for many years before she got pregnant with
 my cousin and my grandma was said to be a twin but the twin didn't make it. My grandma on my dads side tried to get pregnant with my dad for nearly 15 years and finally had my dad when she was 34. My mother in law has thyroid complications and I carry a lot of the same symptoms. I also researched and have a lot of symptoms of PCOS. So needless to say, I will not be surprised by anything the doctors may find. Although I can't bring forth a lot of answers to people right now due to not knowing myself, I will always be there to support anybody through anything they may be struggling with. Thank you for letting me be a part of the group with open arms =)

Waiting... and Waiting...

I don't know if any of yal have had this kind of problem with Provera...

I finished the dose on Tuesday evenings and as of today, Saturday evening, I am STILL waiting for my period. Normally AF starts within 1-2 days after I finish the pills.

I want it to hurry up and come (rare for a girl to say that, I know!) so I can start my Clomid 100.

The worse thing is, I stay paranoid about my period hitting since I don't cramp a lot during AF. Thus it can hit me unexpectedly. UGH.

Have any of you had this type of problem before??

Silent Blogger

When starting this blog with a few friends, I had initially intended to be an informer of PCOS and infertility but didn't know when I would be doing fertility treatments myself. DH and I had decided we would wait til Aug 2012 and go from there on what we wanted to do. Either wait 2 more years until nursing school was over or just steam ahead.

Sometimes other people's decisions affect our own.

As we all know, Mother's Day was last weekend (sorry for the reminder!). Saturday evening the night before, I FINALLY heard back from the nursing school I applied to. I was rejected for the Fall 2012 semester start. Just what I wanted to hear on that weekend, as though it wasn't bad enough.

I didn't know how to react to that. I had expected it, deep down, but still hopeful. Kinda like how I feel whenever I do fertility treatments. Didn't expect it to work but hoped it would.

DH reassured me that everything was ok and this and that. They next morning he picked his words carefully and explained that he viewed it as a sign. Postponing school with no choice, his mom moving out (which isn't happening now...), and summer coming so his second job wouldn't be as stressful was like the pieces coming together. We need to focus on building our family.

So, Monday morning I called my previous OB doctor that also does minor infertility treatments and set an appointment. I expected the standard 2-3 month wait like the first time I went. Imagine my surprise when they said I could be in on THURSDAY!

The days passed and I got giddy and nervous and finally I was at her office.

She is a nice doctor. The only way I can describe her is that she is very professional and sometimes that makes me feel awkward because she doesn't tend to small talk or converse unless promoted, especially if she is entering notes on the laptop (they have a computer file system there). Me, being the socially awkward person in an awkward 1-on-1 situation provided plenty of small talk hoping to make both of us relax and she talked a little more... Anywho...

We discussed my options and she agreed that we would start clomid 50 mg once this cycle of BC was done. Luckily I had decided to start taking it back in January so that ended up cutting off three months of wait time. She also sent a prescription for metformin since it tends to help the clomid out.

I'm excited. AF should start in a week and we will go from there.

How do I feel about all this? Excited. BUT I don't think it will work. I'm hopeful that it will but don't  think it is probable. I guess I'd rather expect the worse so the letdown isn't as hard. We shall see :)

OH! And my insurance doesn't cover ANY infertility, not even clomid so the breakdown:
CVS Pharmacy
Clomid $19.09 for 5 pills (50 mg each) which breaks down to $3.818 per pill
Metformin $1.30 for 1 month (covered by insurance)

Last time we went through this (Spring 2009) Clomid was $18 a pill and generic was $1.80 (Walmart). We decided to just go ahead and splurge on brand name this time :)

My birthday and the future

So my birthday was pretty good. My period started ON my birthday as expected, bummer because it means I'm not preggo but awesome because it's month 3 of regular cycles.
We took a trip to the outlets and my hubby just gave me money to freely spend. I really only got a shirt and some pants because I wanted a bike that he told me he was planning on getting me and didn't want to spend too much. Plus I really just wanted to go to the outlets to walk around. We avoided the baby and maternity stores but had fun. Then we went to my favorite BBQ place for an early dinner.

On the way home we started talking about the future. At the end of last year he told me he wanted to get back into it after my birthday. So we were talking about it and reality started setting in on how much it's really going to cost. Not only is it medicine and the procedure but we will both have to take time off of work, and I don't get paid time off...

So Monday I called the doctors and told them we were ready. They said I would go on BC for a month and meet with the anesthesia tech and then we would start everything on my next cycle. *gulp* Ok, so it's kind of quick for me and my job, and time off and I need to prep them for all the time I was going to be out. So I think my next cycle we will do it! I'm so nervous! We aren't going to tell anyone because my family can be... Stressful.... I know they mean well but just about every single person in my circle is more hurtful than helpful at this stage... Another post for another day...
Anyways, I'm really excited, I need to check with my doctor because we are going on a trip in may, which is kind of why I've been telling everyone June is when we'll start. Idk we'll see what the doctor says. :-)

-MrsRed

AF has ARRIVED

Gotta love when the Provera ends and then you wait....

But, couple days later AF showed up. Now to let 10 months of no AF get out of my system.

BC is to start on Sunday.

~Shannon