But here goes.. In February I was hit with 4 letters that I had no idea what they meant.. PCOS.. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or Polycystic Ovaries. I will spare you all the details that led to this diagnosis. When I got a call from my OBGYN, it was her nurse and she said "Jill we think you probably have PCOS" I said, umm excuse me what? {Famous last words} Looking back now, I probably was yelling at her because she got really quite and started stuttering. Immediately, I said, WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT AND WHAT IS THAT. I instantly thought I had cancer, I have had a fear of cancer since I was old enough to know what it was. This led to an ultimate "Jill meltdown". My doctors nurse was so sweet trying to console me as I stood outside my office crying uncontrollably. She immediately worked me in to see the doctor that afternoon. Again, sparing the details, I became very informed.
Some facts: PCOS effects 1 in every 20 women of child bearing years and around 5 million women in the US! I'm not going to bore you with a zillion statistics but click here if you want to learn more. Medical professionals don't really know what causes PCOS, many think genetics plays a big part. However, this doesn't apply to me {as far as I know} I am an only child and my mom nor grandmother have ever had this. PCOS has several symptoms such as Hirsutism, which is increased hair growth in areas women wouldn't naturally see it, weight gain in the stomach, irregular menstrual cycles, pelvic pain, skin tags, dark spots on the skin, etc. Wait for it, I had none of those either!!! Not.A.Single.One. So my immediate question was what makes you think this, and how do we know for sure. A couple of weeks later I was scheduled for a pelvic ultrasound to know 100%. Anyone that knows me knows I'm very nosey when it comes to medical things, I want to know what someone is seeing, what it means, what to look for, etc. So my initial request was to know every single thing that they saw on that scan, the ultrasound tech finally said, ok this is what you need to pay attention to. The infamous, "string of pearls". I still to this day wonder why such a name was given to something that is nowhere near as beautiful and innocent as "pearls". This is a 100% indication of PCOS. So there you have it, it was confirmed and that's what I had. My doctor then explained the relationship with PCOS and insulin, gave me a prescription for Metformin and told me I needed to cut out all carbs or at a minimum try to be gluten free... HOLY COW BELLS, no carbs for this pasta loving girl.. Needless to say I ate broccoli for the first time this year, tilapia for the first time this year.. Green beans and Quinoa... yup, I enjoyed my small food option world prior!
Here are some photos showing a healthy ovary and a PCOS ovary..
So you may be thinking A) how did I not have any symptoms but yet I have PCOS.. Well I wondered that too. My doctor explained that since I had been on birth control for many years, that had basically masked several of the symptoms and had kept the PCOS under control.
I started researching, reading, talking to other women and I was pretty shocked when a lot of women didn't know what I was talking about. But then again, why was I so shocked, I knew nothing about it until a couple of weeks prior! Those that were aware didn't really understand the severity. At one point, I don't think I even fully understood. It is not something life threatening, but it can effect several things with your body!
I started looking on social media for PCOS groups, forums, discussion boards or anything that I could find to talk to other women going through what I was going through. I had never been "sick" with something that could not be fixed or that I couldn't just "get over". I didn't find many outlets unfortunately, which led me to the thought of, I really want to talk to other women about this, I want it to not be so hush hush or so unknown.
Yes, I am one person and I don't expect to conquer the PCOS world by storm, but what I want is for women to feel like it's ok to talk about it, to ask questions about it. To be prepared and aware.
My biggest concern after coming to terms with what was going on, was will this effect me being able to have children?!? Many things come up for debate at the Garza house, but two things were never up for negotiation, children and the VOLS. I was told by several that they took Metformin and were able to get pregnant on their own.... not everyone is that lucky.... I will dive in to that in a later post!!
There is a great Facebook page called PCOS Diva and I find all the posts that Amy makes are very informative. She is a licensed Health Coach and she does a great job teaching about healthy eating, clean eating but also motivating and making those of us struggling with PCOS feel not so alone in the world! I would highly recommend "liking" her page!!
For now, I am managing. From the outside you would never know there was anything wrong with me. I don't feel any different, I don't look any different.. But I am more aware about how the things I eat effect my PCOS. I love pizza {I'm probably going to have it for dinner tonight} but I am immediately tired, a carb coma!!
If you take nothing away from this LONG post, take away this: Never feel like you are asking too many questions to your medical providers, don't always rely on the internet because while informative, it is the internet and anyone can post on it! If you think you have symptoms of something, consult your doctor.. You might think the question is silly, but it could lead them to ask you other questions and you to quickly find out what was wrong and get the proper treatment!!
Feel free to comment below with questions, concerns or words of wisdom!
Until next time... oh yea, GO VOLS!!!
