Now that you're way more familiar with my inner-workings than you ever needed or wanted to be, I guess we'll continue the story. :o) A week after I'd started back to work I had my appointment with the OB/GYN to figure out what was wrong. While I was glad to finally be getting somewhere I was really afraid of what she was going to tell me, or worse yet, tell me there was nothing wrong and to just keep trying. The more info I give the nurse about my medical history, she makes notes, and then decides to go check with Dr. T about whether or not to do an ultrasound to check my ovaries. The symptoms I had described were along the lines for a specific fertility disorder that can be identified through bloodwork and ultrasound. It didn't take more than a couple of minutes before she came back and said to follow her to the US room because the doctor definitely wanted to see what was going on.
The US was pretty quick and painless, and it was sort of interesting to see everything up on the screen. The US tech was showing me the other various organs that are visible when doing one, and I was sort of intrigued by everything there. As she's pointing out each ovary and my uterus I began to notice things on each of my ovaries. Now before I go any further, I have to tell you that even before I had the appointment to meet with Dr. T I had spent many hours on my own researching potential fertility problems, their symptoms, treatments, etc in hopes of self-diagnosing. After my US I pretty much knew what Dr. T would come in to tell me, and my suspicions were right on target.
The US was over, and I went back to my exam room to wait for Dr. T. When she arrived she told me exactly what I was expecting to hear. I had PCOS or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. PCOS is one of the most common fertility problems in women. What's even more surprising about it though, is there are probably many more cases that go undiagnosed than actually diagnosed each year. PCOS has a whole list of symptoms that can be related to any other number of health problems. Each of the symptoms associated with PCOS could be treated individually by different specialists. It isn't until a woman has trouble conceiving that the diagnosis of PCOS is actually considered and finally made. She told me that I don't look like the textbook PCOS patient, but my ovaries tell an entirely different story. Each one was covered in over half a dozen small follicular cysts and my ovaries were enlarged as well. Both are tell-tale signs of PCOS. She gave me the news, and I think was surprised that I wasn't more upset by the diagnosis. When I told her that was my suspicion all along, and that I saw the cysts on the US screen and pretty much self-diagnosed then and there she laughed and told me that she was impressed. Maybe I went into the wrong field...hmmm..anyway. We talked at length about what PCOS is, why it causes fertility problems, and ways to treat it. We were going to start out with a diabetic medication called Metformin to help regulate my insulin levels. Many PCOS patients have insulin resistance problems which then cause the rest of the hormones to produce incorrectly, thus throwing off ovulation and the monthly cycle. I was to take my Metformin for 4 months and then go back to see her in December. She said it was entirely possible for the Metformin to work on its own and restore my cycles. There was even potential that it would work well enough that I could be pregnant by the time I went back to see her in Dec.
I left the appointment extremely glad I pushed to see her. The problem with PCOS is that it's very very difficult for a patient to get pregnant without some sort of medical intervention. It could be something as simple as Metformin, or it may take a more involved route, as we soon would discover. The other problem with PCOS is if left untreated it can lead to a whole host of other serious medical problems down the road. One of the easiest ways to treat it is for the patient to be on birth control, forcing a monthly cycle and keeping the hormones in check, but since we are trying to have a baby, obviously birth control pills are counterproductive. Metformin is the other typical treatment, specifically if you're trying to get pregnant. If only Metformin had been the miracle drug we were hoping for...
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