My Life Long Journey as a PCOS Warrior!

DISCLAIMER: Any recommendations suggested in this post are of my own. Always make sure to check with your doctor before starting anything new with diet and/or supplements. I am not a physician or board certified; I am only a registered nurse sharing her own experiences. These safe practices ensure you are not doing any additional harm to yourself without first consulting with your doctor.

PCOS, or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, has become much more prevalent in recent years among women. Unfortunately, this syndrome has just now begun to have studies done without much in the way of definitive, consistent, and positive results. There hasn’t been a “cure-all” introduced yet, and likely won’t be in the near future as this condition is very complex and varies from individual to individual.

According to Cleveland Clinic (https://my.clevelandclinic.org), Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is defined as “a common condition that affects your hormones. It causes irregular menstrual periods, excess hair growth, acne, and infertility. People with PCOS may be at higher risk for certain health conditions, like diabetes and high blood pressure.” Reference- https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/8316-polycystic-ovary-syndrome-pcos

…yikes, right? Sounds like real fun. Unfortunately, more and more women in the U.S. are being diagnosed with this condition every year. And many more who go undiagnosed. Common misconceptions like trouble with trying to conceive and irregular periods are not the tell-tale signs for all women that may have PCOS. This is such a complex syndrome that it varies from person to person. Allow me to share my story with PCOS:

I played sports most of my life, all the way through college. I was a little bit of a late bloomer in having my first menses, I did not start until age 15. I had no issues with my period during my teen years and early to mid-twenties- I had painful periods, yes, but just thought this was a normal part of having a period. My periods were extremely regular; I was in excellent physical shape and had no reason to suspect any issues otherwise. This was until about the age of 26 years old.

Around 26, I started noticing my hair was thinning at a rather alarming rate. In the past, it was nothing for me to have some hair fall, as I have very dark and curly hair… but it had always been thick. My hairdresser took note of this too and asked if I’d ever had my thyroid checked. I had also been putting on weight little by little but just had attributed that to getting older and no longer playing sports like I once did. I went to my primary doctor, she ran a full panel of blood work, including a thyroid panel. Shockingly enough, thyroid panel was normal, iron and blood levels were normal… everything was just… normal.

My primary asked if my family had a history of any hormonal issues with my mother or grandmother. Nope. Both were fertile myrtles having kids. Haha. So, I went about my life as usual. The weight kept slowly coming on, the hair fall continued to increase. And then, I started noticing unwanted hair in my chin and belly button areas. Even being a nurse, I did not know much about PCOS and hadn’t really thought about it or delve into it, so I didn’t think much of it.

That was until I tried to conceive. My wife and I tried to conceive a child using IUI (intra-uterine insemination). My periods at this time were still regular. My OB did a transvaginal ultrasound and the results were… alarming, to say the least. My OB showed me the ultrasound images… there it was, both of my ovaries were COVERED in cysts. She asked about my symptoms: the weight gain, unwanted hair, hair loss… all of it confirmed, she then and there diagnosed me with PCOS.

I was so confused. I had never had an irregular period IN MY LIFE. A common misconception, not every woman with PCOS will have irregular periods. Not every woman with PCOS will have weight gain, hair loss, unwanted hair, etc. Every single woman with PCOS will have different symptoms of it or maybe no symptoms at all… and it’s not discovered typically until conception or there is a health problem.

So now, where to go? I did go through with IUI attempts, miscarried once (which was devastating for me and my wife), and failed to have a baby. At this point, I was 30 years old and going through a lot of life changes. I worked a stressful job as a nurse for almost 8 years at this point. I was a full-time mom of 2 kids and a zoo of animals. My father was sick with cancer. All in the same year. Lots of stress. My mental and physical health was not well.

This is when I decided to really dive into research about PCOS and what it entails, read others’ stories, and try to find a way to manage it as naturally as possible. I consulted with my primary doctor, who has always really listened to me and my concerns, and off I went down the rabbit hole.

One of the biggest issues many women with PCOS face is hormonal imbalances and insulin resistance. This is where the weight gain and hair issues come into play. If severe enough, the irregular periods will come along as well. And mine did eventually, with the more weight I gained, the more irregular my periods became. The go-to treatment for all of this is… you guessed it. Birth control. This is something I absolutely did NOT want to do. As I believe the risk of taking birth control outweighed the benefit for me. (Notice I said “for me.” Some people need birth control and that’s okay too!) Risk for blood clots, hormonal changes from taking it, weight gain, acne, migraines. Yeeeaaa… not what I wanted. And I didn’t need to take it for literal birth control… seeing as I’m married to a woman 🙂

So, we ran another full panel of blood work and added a hormonal panel, and my doctor wanted to start me on spironolactone and metformin. Spironolactone is a diuretic, or fluid pill, that is designed to pull excess fluid off the body. It can help with blood pressure, yes, but it has an off-label use of reducing androgens in the body. Increased androgens or male hormones like testosterone in the body causes the hair fall, unwanted hair in areas. There are drugs men take to lower male hormones in their body when they are at risk for prostate cancer or enlarged prostate. Finasteride. An option, yes, but there are not enough studies supporting long-term effects of women taking this drug, especially during childbearing years. Not enough for me to say yes to taking this drug.

Stay with me, I know this is getting lengthy 🙂

My doctor then prescribed me to take spironolactone and metformin after the blood work. Spironolactone for the androgens, metformin for the insulin resistance and ovulation. I will make a post soon explaining these drugs for PCOS soon, explaining everything about them in detail. My blood work was perfect… no diabetes, not even borderline, fasting blood sugar was normal, blood pressure normal… by all accounts, I was completely healthy. Which is good, of course! The only blood work that came back abnormal was my testosterone level and cortisol- both of which were elevated. I began taking both meds and had no major issues or side effects. They have helped my symptoms, slightly.

Lowering cortisol is important in this, as well. Lowering cortisol means lowering stress, which is easier said than done while being a hospital bedside nurse, full-time mom, and just the normal stressors of life. I was tired all the time, wanted to emotional eat a lot, had very low self-esteem, and just hit a wall where I felt like I could not function. My wife was very concerned about my well-being (thank God for her in all of this). I was very stubborn, but it finally hit the point with my mental state I discussed it with my doctor and we began anti-depressants. I will openly talk about this because the stigma revolved around mental health is still rather taboo at times, even to this day. I have no fear or shame in requiring extra help for my mental state. The medications helped tremendously, and I feel like I could function normally again.

I was feeling better mentally, but physically, not much changed. The medications help with symptoms, but wasn’t a cure-all (which I wasn’t expecting it to anyway). Now, it was time to fine tune my diet and exercise. I had tried about every diet plan under the sun. Keto, low calorie, low carb. 3 meals a day, 5 smaller meals a day. Nothing was working. I would lose about 10 pounds and plateau, become frustrated, and would get down on myself and quit altogether. Figured it was easier to be fat, but I just felt miserable all the time.

My body was fighting against itself. Hormones were out of whack, insulin resistance out of control. The problem with PCOS is that it’s twice as hard for women like us to lose weight than women without PCOS. This was a HUGE learning curve for me. For my entire life, I had been in shape and could drop weight like there was no tomorrow. Now, in my 30’s, not so much. It was so discouraging and infuriating, it felt like a constant losing battle.

I was not about to give up. With the support of my wife and kids, I would (and still am) trialing and error different things to seem to work with my body and how it felt when I did. Follow along in my PCOS Warrior posts and I will go in depth about diet and exercise and how it’s helped my symptoms and made me a better ME.

It’s still a work in progress. I am now 36 years old and still learning new things about my body and PCOS every day. More studies are starting to be done on PCOS with the hopes that, in the future, we will have better ways to manage it. I have managed to lose weight and feel much better… but my battle is far from over!

I hope that by sharing my story, it helps others who are struggling with PCOS. My ultimate goal is to acquire a safe and open community of women who can come together and share their stories and ideas in how they have lived and continue to live with PCOS. Together, women can rule the world, I truly believe it! Our bodies are beautiful beings, and we must protect and love them at all costs.

Always remember, you are beautiful no matter what! You are seen, you are heard, and together we can make it through! 🙂

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for future post on PCOS. I will tag them in their own category on my blog page. Please subscribe! And please feel free to share your stories and suggestions with me!

Remember… Do good, Bee well, Bee happy. Ciao, my busy bees!

References: Cleveland Clinic website; https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/8316-polycystic-ovary-syndrome-pcos