My fertility journey started in 2009. I went to my yearly and was talking to my doctor about the troubles I was having loosing weight. I had gained A LOT of weight in 2 years and had recently joined a gym, trying to change things with no luck. He started asking me questions on my eating habits and exercise. When I told him I was eating healthy and exercising 4-5 times a week with no results, he looked at me like I was a big fat liar. I wasn't, I was just big and fat and wanted to know why. After a series of questions, he came to the conclusion that I had PCOS. He gave me a brief description, told me I would never have kids, put me on birth control and sent me on my way.
Now, If you have researched infertility for more than five minutes; I am sure you have heard of PCOS. For those who have not, here is a description of this nasty little asshole of a syndrome.
Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disorder that affects 5-10 percent of women of reproductive age. The main symptoms of this syndrome are polycystic ovaries, insulin resistance, obesity, hersutism (excessive hair growth on the face, chest, abdomen and anywhere else a lady doesn't want hair), thinning hair, sleep apnea and reduced fertility.
Fast forward 2 years. I met my wonderful husband, we bought a house, we had a wedding pintrest would be proud of. It was time for babies. We tried and tried, nothing happened. I knew in the back of my mind what that terrible doctor had said. I found different doctors. Hated them. Found different doctors. They said nothing would happen until I lost weight. I knew that, but the insulin resistance made this seem nearly impossible. They gave me Metformin, it made me horribly sick. I stopped taking it and gained more weight.
We are now at last year. I found my glorious doctor. I love her. She was the first one that got it. The first one that actually did a full work up. Her approach was to heal the PCOS; once that was under control, the babies would come. She gave me a stack of prescriptions, a list of supplements, a strict list of things to do and a pap. Things started to get better, and then I got a phone call. My pap came back with bad news. I had precancerous cervical cells, and needed to have a LEEP procedure done to remove them. Once I had that done, I had a small breakdown. I turned into a negative nelly. I stopped taking my medications. I gained MORE weight.
And now we are at now. It took some time, but I am slowly pulling myself out of my self-pity-never-gonna-be-a-mama funk. I started taking my medications again, and started making some life changes to finally kick this thing. First, I cut out dairy. This was by far the hardest thing for me. I fought this for a long time. I mean, come on. I live in the midwest, dairy is in everything. Well, I finally did it and I have never felt better in my life. Then I cut out wheaty starchy carbs. Felt even better. Then I read about how this low amylose diet is helping all these PCOS women finally get a hold on things. That is where I am at today. Low amylose is basically no sugars, no wheat,, rice or oats, no root veggies besides onions, no bananas. I have been at this for one week, and so far it has been a lot easier than I expected. So far, I have lost 4 pounds. 4 pounds in 1 week. You have no Idea how happy I am that something is finally working and getting me one step closer to the baby my husband and I want so desperately. I have a long way to go, but I am getting closer every day.
So this is my journey. Join me as I try to beat this thing for good and finally get that BFP that we all deserve.
