A Problem Unmasked

This entry addresses some minor feminine health issues I had to deal with whilst trying to conceive.  It is not graphic or highly descriptive, but I have given some general descriptions of the symptoms I experienced. This is a rather personal entry, and while I wouldn't deem it inappropriate for anyone to read, I ask not to be judged based on any health decisions I have made. (And, honestly, this is probably going to be the most boring entry.  If you want to know what happened in the end, read the last two paragraphs. :P)

The new year rolled around and we started trying.  I had joined an online pregnancy forum and had started my own thread in the "Trying to Conceive" posting section. A lot of the ladies on there were really helpful and made some fertility book recommendations. I picked up one of those books from the library and realized how ignorant of the whole conception process I really was. It gave me a nice little education! The problem was that my body doesn't go by the book; rather, it does its own thing.

As a teenager, I never, ever had regular cycles -- just five to seven a year, and they were always accompanied by migraines and vicious cramps, cramps that traveled down my legs and to my ankles as well as down my arms to my wrists. Once I was eighteen and they weren't any better, my mom made a doctor's appointment to see what could be done to address this issue.

The female doctor who performed my exam had an abstinence-themed poster in the examination room. She suggested use of the Pill for regulation and then lectured me on the risks of having sex even while on the pill, and then when, being a good Mormon girl, I assured her that I wasn't interested in using it as birth control, she didn't seem to believe me. Nevertheless, she put me on it and from that time until my husband and I had been married for three years and decided we were ready to try for a baby, I was on it. The Pill all but eliminated my horrible cramps and irregular cycles, but when the time came to stop taking it I knew that there must be a problem it hadn't addressed, only masked.

At the end of 2013 I stopped the pill and had the usual "withdrawal" period in early January. The month passed without another cycle starting. February and March passed. Nothing. I was not pregnant -- I had been testing every couple of weeks to make sure, even though I knew I wasn't. I made an appointment with my family doctor, and he referred me to an OBGYN, whom I visited in April. By then I had still not had a real period, and I was still definitely not pregnant.  Though I had hoped it wouldn't, I had seen this coming and worried what was wrong with me. This wasn't just a problem caused by being on the Pill for six years -- it had been a problem before, and it remained undiagnosed and unresolved.

I had done some research and determined the problem was likely either Endometriosis or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) based on my symptoms. Treatment for the former would potentially involve surgery to remove excess tissue from outside the uterus. The latter is one of the most common feminine health issues that affect fertility and is easier to address. The OBGYN agreed that it was likely one of the two, said I wasn't ovulating on my own, and wrote up a prescription that would induce a period. She told me to let her know whether or not it was painful and had me schedule an appointment to come back in several days.

The prescription worked and I had very little pain, which is how it always was while I was on the Pill. At my next appointment, the OBGYN had me go in for an ultrasound.

The ultrasound room was dark. It was interesting seeing the cone-shaped screen with my uterus on it. I thought to myself how wonderful it would be to someday see a little person in there. Then the technician adjusted the wand and I saw, one at a time, both of my ovaries appear on the screen. They were both covered in black splotches, and I knew in my gut what that indicated.

Sure enough, my OBGYN informed me that I had PCOS, which was why I was not ovulating on my own. She prescribed me to a generic form of Clomid, which causes the body to ovulate, and gave me a window of dates that Kevin and I should actively try to conceive.