When I was at the age that most women menstrate (13-14) I never got my period. At this age you look at a lack of menstration as a blessing. I didn't worry too much about it, but I did feel odd that I wasn't getting my period with the rest of the girls in my class. I didn't see my first period until age 17.
From the age of 17 I very rarely had a period. I would get it about 2-3 times a year. At the age of 20 I finally went to see an OBGYN to see if they knew why I wasn't getting my period regularly. Without doing any blood test, ultra sound, or any other testing this OBGYN said I had PCOS. I had never heard of this before, but she gave me a pamphlet, prescribed some birth control pills and sent me on my way.
As I read through the pamphlet I read many things that said, "will have trouble getting pregnant," "Leading cause of infertility" and a list of nearly every symptom I had: irregular bleeding, acne, and overweight. I was confused, frustrated, and scared that there was a possibilty I would not be able to have kids.
I started taking the birth control to bring on a period. It did what it was supposed to do, but I was super depressed, crying a lot for no reason, and just felt horrible. I finally made the decision to stop taking birth control because I felt so awful, but I had no idea what to do for an alternative.
I went for serveral years jumping from doctor to doctor. I had doctors that told me that I would need to stay on birth control forever and at the same time I had doctors tell me that it's not a big deal that I'm irregular. I didn't know what to believe, but I knew without birth control my periods were horrible and heavy when they would come. So I found Ortho-tricyclen low to work the best for me.
In 2006 I had moved to Ohio for schooling and had to go to another dr. I went to a dr. that was able to tell me more about PCOS and I felt more knowledgeable, but I still felt confused. There is so much out there, but nothing has been researched. This doctor kept me on birth control and that seemed to be the only solution anyone could figure out.
After coming back to ND I found a dr. who actually had PCOS and I thought I'd finally found the place that would work. She explained that there are two typed of hormones that should be looked for in the blood FSH and LH. Your FSH should be higher than your LH, but in PCOS the these hormone levels are reversed. Also, the hormone receptros for estrogen are the same as those for insulin which is what causes insulin resistance in women with PCOS. She put me on the birth control Yaz telling me that this was the best birth control for those with PCOS and she also put me on 500 mg of Metformin.
I was 6 months from getting married when I had met with this doctor and I'm very lucky my husband decided to still marry me. The Yaz birth control made me crazy. I went from one mood to another in a matter of seconds. It was making me seriously depressed to the point where my fiance thought I was going to commit suicide. I had called the dr to ask if there was an alternative and she said stick it out for awhile to see if the moods subside. They never did and then I sat and watched commercials for law offices advertising that Yaz was found to have several severe side effects. I couldn't take it anymore and finally was switched to another birth control called Azurin. I was still up and down, but not as much and the metformin continued to make me sick to my stomach. Was this really the life I wanted to lead for the next 50 years? There had to be a better answer and I soon found what that was....
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