PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome)

PCOS or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is a condition in which small cysts grow on the ovaries and cause an imbalance with the hormones.

Symptoms tend to be mild at first. You may have only a few symptoms or a lot of them. The most common symptoms are:

• Acne
• Weight gain and trouble losing weight
• Extra hair on the face and body. Often women get thicker and darker facial hair and more hair on the chest, belly, and back.
• Thinning hair on the scalp.
• Irregular periods. Often women with PCOS have fewer than nine periods a year. Some women have no periods. Others have very heavy bleeding.
• Depression 
• Obesity
• Sleep Apnea
• Acanthosis Nigricans (skin tags)
• Thyroid issues
• Infertility (due to lack of ovulation)
  
• Insulin Resistance
  

Every woman with PCOS has a different variation of this condition and may have some or all symptoms. PCOS is treatable with diet and excercise, but because of the insulin resistance that PCOS'ers usually have losing weight is a terrible struggle. There are also meds to help balance out the hormones. Limiting sweets, carbs, and refined sugars also help with insulin resistance. Exercising for at least 30 minutes a day can help.

Resources:

• http://www.womenshealth.gov/faq/polycystic-ovary-syndrome.cfm
• http://www.pcosupport.org/
• http://health.yahoo.com/reproductive-overview/polycystic-ovary-syndrome-pcos-topic-overview/healthwise--tw9104.html
• http://www.soulcysters.com/

Common Abbreviations

I have been a part of sites that comonly use abbreviations and I have gotten used to using them. To make it easier on some who are not familiar with them, here is a list of the common ones I will most likely use in my blog.

2WW - 2 Week Wait-time from Ovulation to when period should arrive
AF - Aunt Flo AKA menstruation/period
BBT - Basal Body Temperature
BCP's - Birth Control Pills
BD - Baby-dancing, or sex intended for conception.
BF - Breastfeed, or boyfriend
BFN/BFP - Big Fat Negative/Positive, on a home pregnancy test
BIL - Brother-in-Law
BM - Breast Milk, or bowel movement
BT - Blood Test
BTDT - Been There, Done That
BTW - By The Way
CD - Cycle Day
CF - Cervical Fluid
CIO - Cry It Out
CM - Cervical Mucus
CP - Cervical Position
CS or C/S - Cesarean Section
D&C - Dilation and Curettage; a procedure done to scrape out the uterus, after a miscarriage
DD - Dear Daughter
DH - Dear Husband

DPO - Days Past Ovulation
DW - Dear wife
EBF - Extended breastfeeding Or Exclusive Breastfeeding
EBM - Expressed Breast Milk
EDD - Estimated Due Date 

EWCM - Egg White Cervical Mucus

FC - Fingers Crossed

FF - Formula feeding OR Fertility Friend (a charting site)
FET - Frozen Embryo Transfer
FIL - Father-in-law
FMU - First Morning Urine
FT - Full Time
FTR - For The Record
FWIW - For What It's Worth
FYI - For Your Information
HPT - Home Pregnancy Test
HTH - Hope This Helps
HSG - Hysterosalpingogram: The x-ray "dye test" good for showing the shape of the uterine cavity and whether or not the oviducts are open.
IB - Implantation Bleeding
IC - Incompetent Cervix
IMHO - In My Honest Opinion
IMO - In My Opinion
IRL - In Real Life
IUI - Intrauterine Insemination
IVF - In Vitro Fertilization
JJ or J/J - Just Joking
JK or J/K - Just Kidding
JMHO - Just My Humble/ Honest Opinion
KWIM - Know What I Mean
L&D - Labor and Delivery
LMAO - Laughing My Ass Off
LMP - Last Menstrual Period
LOL - Laughing Out Loud
LP - Luteal Phase-the time from ovulation to menses

MC or M/C - Miscarriage
MIL - mother-in-law
NP - No Problem

NPC- Natural Progesterone Cream
OMG - oh my gosh, or oh my god
OPK - Ovulation Prediction Kit
OT - off topic
PG - Pregnant, or pregnancy
POC - Process of Conceiving

PCOS - Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
PPD - Postpartum depression
RE - Reproductive Endocrinologist
ROFL - rolling on floor laughing
ROFLMAO - rolling on floor laughing my Ass off
SA or s/a - sperm analysis
SAHD - stay-at-home dad
SAHM - stay-at-home mom
SAHP - stay-at-home parent
SD - sperm donor
SO - significant other
SIL - sister-in-law
TCOYF - Taking Charge of Your Fertility, the guide to preconception
TIA - thanks in advance
TMI - Too Much Information
TTC - Trying to Conceive
US or U/S - Ultrasound
VBAC - Vaginal Birth After Cesarean section
WAH - work at home
WOH - work out of the home

Top Things to NOT Say to Someone Who is Struggling with Secondary Infertility

This is a compilation of phrases that I have heard over the years of struggling and I really wish at at times I could post a banner of "What Not to Say to Someone Who is Struggling With Secondary Infertility"

"Don't worry, it'll happen when the time is right." ~ Are you kidding me? The time is right right now!

"Everything happens for a reason." ~ Really? What is the reason that I have been struggling for so long for? Is there really a reason behind that one?

"Don't stress." ~ I seriously want to do some major bodily harm when I hear that one. Ok, yeah.....sure.

"I got pregnant on my first try." ~ Well good for you, not all of us are that lucky. But thanks for rubbing it in.

"I did ________________ to get PG, Maybe you should try ____________." ~ Yeah, cause I hadn't tried that trick yet.

"You're trying to hard." ~ Well, judging by my history, I'm not just gonna fall pregnant!

Had to add this one as this was actually told to me just last night. (12/16)  after a vent I posted on what is supposed to be a support site for women strugggling to conceive. I posted (see post I'm Tired...) and actually recieved this response:

"did she say CHILDREN?  She has babies and is complaining"? Just because I have 2 children already does not make my pain any less then someone who is struggling for one. I have pain and heartache as well. I know what it feels like to have that want, that you want more then anything in the world, and it always being out of your reach. I get it! Albeit, it may not be the same heartache as someone who is struggling for one, but it is still painful. It is even more painful to reach out on a place that is supposed to be supportive and receive that type of message. Thanks for the support lady!

The following are ones I have gathered from other women who also are struggling with secondary infertility. (meaning, they had one child just fine, and now are struggling to have another) I have left the names out as to respect their privacy.

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"So, what's the deal? No siblings for XXXX...that's so mean, every boy needs a brother!" -This one made me so sad.

"I bet it's because you are a vegetarian, that's why you can't get pregnant" -Oh Please!

"What are you going to do with that other bedroom now that you know you aren't having more kids" - what, like you want to rent it out? F off!

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"We're pregnant again!!!" announced by my cousin's wife pregnant with her 4th child (1st was born a few months before DS) AT MY BIRTHDAY PARTY.

"I just don't understand the big deal - all the OTHER kids in this class have siblings." when they were asked to write a story about their brother/sister in Kindergarten. He was told he could write about his dog after he told the teacher he didn't have one.

Random fertility articles left on my doorstep - like I don't already realize I'm the town freak with only ONE kid.

"So, have you given up yet?" Uh...no...

"Why did you buy a 6 bedroom house if you only have 1 kid?" Umm....we ARE still planning for more....

"What are you waiting for???" My typical answer is "God."

and my personal favorite...

"How can you possibly homeschool when you only have one child????" Umm...probably more adequately than YOU!!!!

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"Can't you just not think of them as babies yet?" Referring to my MC babies (from my brother!)

"Just relax and it will happen"

"There must have been something wrong with the babies, so you are better off losing them"

"Don't try so hard"

"My husband just looks at me and I get pregnant"

"God has a plan for you"

"The baby you end up with will be the one you are meant to have" (not a mean statement, but it doesn't really help)

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The worst thing I think I have ever heard came from the mouth of a seasoned OR Nurse...I had lost my 2nd at nearly 4+ months (heart malformation) and was giving pills to induce a m/c at home...after being a shut in in my own home for 3 days (waiting for the m/c) my Drs finally scheduled a D&C a week later. It was horrible waiting, looking slighty pregnant and obviously wanting the healing to begin...the D&C was unsuccessful and I had to go in for another a few days later...As the nurse was preping me for surgery, I started to cry. She sighed loudly and said "Why are you crying"...I shrugged and said "I am sad"...she said "It's a routine surgery, it's not like they left an ARM in there or anything!" My mouth just gaped open, I had no response. To this day I think about that cold hearted statement and cringe. Awful thing is, she continued to tell me about her healthy children and how one day, when it was meant, I would be a mother too...awful woman.

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Many people seem to attribute infertility with stress. "try not to think about it/relax" has been said more times than I can count. My sister thought that I should "have a few drinks to relax around THAT time". My dad suggested Valium because apparently, that's how I was conceived. My MIL said not to worry, it took her 9 months to conceive (i.e. #2 and #3 are 18mo apart).

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"Oh you do not know how it is, you do not have kids"

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"Maybe you just tested too early"

Said to us right after our MC, when they found out they were pregnant... "don't tell them our names, they might steal them!"
"no don't worry, we're pregnant first"

Right after my 2nd MC...
"I've had 2 MC also, don't worry 3rd time's a charm!"

And on a somewhat related note, when I told a coworker I was pregnant (she knew about my 2 other MCs), the first thing she asked was "was it planned?" before giving a "congrats"

I don't get that one at all! We had clearly been trying for a long time.

I'm Tired....

I seriously need to vent, cry, and let out my frustrations, all without judgements. I don't feel I have a safe place to vent without having to worry about others feelings or how they are gonna take it. So, this is not meant to offend anyone, I just have a bunch of bottled up emotions that need to come out before I explode. So, read further at your own will.

I am tired of this rollercoaster ride. I'm tired of taking supplement after supplement only for nothing to come of it. I'm tired of having to restrict my diet in an attempt to help my body. I'm tired of thinking about my fertility before I do, eat or drink anything. I'm tired of feeling alone in this journey. I'm tired of my body not working how it should be. It has betrayed me! I'm tired of the comments and questions from family members who do not know the situation and think I am being selfish by not providing my daughters with extra siblings. I'm tired of feeling the pressure to hurry up and get PG so I can have my babies before I start menopausing. Women in my family start menopausing in their 30's! No pressure there right? And drumroll please, how old am I? Yep, you guessed it, 30! I'm tired of seeing PG women everywhere. I'm even more tired of seeing the ones that should NOT be PG, and here I am suffering with secondary infertility. I'm tired of them rubbing their unwanted PG's in my face. I'm tired of people who do have kids how they treat their "shitheads" and "fuckers." Is that really a nice thing to call your child? And your PG with your 2nd? Lovely! Really, give that kid to me, it will never get called those hurtful, mean names and will be loved forever!!! I'm tired of feeling tired. There are times that I get down (right now) and just want to throw in the towel in my TTC journey, but then I look into my children's eyes and who could not want more of them? I want a house full of children, I love the laughter, the fun times with them, teaching them new things, and helping them grow into their own person. I love that! That is what gives me the strength to continue on. It doesn't change the fact that I am still tired!

Ok, I think that is it for now. I'm sure more feelings will come rushing to me again. Will leave that for the next vent!

Recommended Reading

This is going to have to be a post that will be updated throughout as I find more books to recommend. (thank you April for this idea)

Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler ~ This hands down is the BEST book you will find with so much info about the woman's body and how its works, down to how to chart, what your charts mean, and everything in between. I highly recommend this be ALL woman's first reading if they want to learn about the working's of a woman's body.

The Infertility Cure by Randine Lewis, Ph. D.

Recipes for the Endometriosis Diet by Carolyn Levett ~ This book is awesome for women who want to do the Endo diet but don't know where to turn as far as what they can still eat. Has a bunch of suggestions on substitutes, recipes and ideas. I recently found this book online in e-book format, so you can read it for free! ~ http://www.endo-resolved.com/support-files/endo_e_book.pdf

Charting Basics

Charting is actually a very simple thing to do, only takes a few quick seconds in the morning and some observations of symptoms throughout the day.

To start charting you will need a Basal Body Thermometer, not your average thermometer you have around the house. It has to be a Basal thermometer. To get your accurate Basal Body Temp (BBT) you will need at least 3 hours uninterrupted sleep. Before getting out of bed, taking a drink, anything, take your temp. You an either use oral or vaginal temps. (I do both) The reason a person might check theirs vaginally vs orally, is if that person was an open mouth sleeper. Open mouth sleeping could effect your temps. So a vaginal temp would be more accurate. Take your temp and record it and your wake up time.

Over time you will see a pattern with your temps. Before O, your temps will stay low, they might see saw up and down or they might just stay stable. Each person's temps will be different and they can even vary from cycle to cycle for the same woman. Usually halfway into the cycle, the temps will rise and stay elevated for about 2 weeks. The day before the temp rise would be Ovulation. Usually there are additional signs that your body gives that correlate with ovulation. Egg white consistency cervical fluid, the cervix will be open, very high and soft. All of these symptoms can also be charted so that the exact day of ovulation can be pinpointed. By the time you see a shift in temps, Ovulation has already occurred, so it is important to avoid or continue having sex, if you are trying for or avoiding a pregnancy.

There are many charting websites out there that can be helpful when charting BBT's. Most will even help pinpoint ovulation. This kind of takes the guess work out of trying to find out when you ovulate. Some are better then others, but mostly is a preference per person.

Here are links to ones I have come across during my journey:

FertilityFriend.com (FF) ~ Has a basic membership that is free but doesn't come with all the perks of being able to get support on the support groups (a huge perk when TTC) and many of the extra features that Fertilityfriend.com has to offer. I personally use the free version, although I do not like it, and find that it is not all that accurate in it's first prediction of O and coverline. By the time I am due to see AF (aunt flow) is when it actually corrects itself. Go figure.

Ovusoft.com ~ I LOVE this software!!! This comes in software format and now a free online version is available on its site. I don't have any experience in the online version, but only have great to say about the software. It was a one time fee, (I think of $35) and it is yours forever. Unlike FF, in which you have to pay monthly/yearly membership fees to get all the perks. You also can get support on Ovusoft's website, although right now they have gone through some changes and is still dealing with the bugs.

Mymonthlycycle.com ~ I never cared for this one as entering in temps was a multi click process and if you wanted to see your chart, you had to pay a fee, similar to FF.

Femilia.com (formerly known as Mycycle.com) ~ This one was alright, another one that is multi clicks to input temps, but it worked nonetheless. It does not interpret your chart based on your BBT temps, so you need to be more experienced in chart interpreting to know what you are looking at and for.

There are many more out there but these are the ones I have experience with.

Endometriosis

What is endometriosis, you ask? It is a condition in which the lining of the uterus called the endometrium flows up and outside of the uterus and attaches itself to organs. It can be found anywhere in the abdomen from the intestines to the bladder, to the fallopian tubes, and even on rare occasions, the lungs. These lesions respond to the woman's menstrual cycle as it would if it was in the uterus. It thickens, breaks down and bleeds. Since there is no where for it to go, this leads to internal bleeding, causes scar tissue, cysts, adhesions (abnormal tissue that binds organs together) and infertility.

The symptoms of endometriosis can be all or some of the following:

Pain During Sex

Pain Before or During Periods

Painful Urination or Bowel Movements During Period

Infertility

Pelvic Pain

Excessive Bleeding w/Clots

Bleeding Between Periods

Frequent or Constant Periods

Nausea, Vomiting, Fainting, Dizzy Spells, or Diarrhea—particularly just prior to, during, or after Periods

So as you can see, it can cause a whole lot of PAIN! The only way to really be diagnosed with it, is to have a laparoscopy done. This is a procedure in which a scope is inserted into the abdomen and the doctor is able to view if there are lesions on the organs. At that time, they may also be removed. However, a laparoscopy is not a permanent fix for endometriosis and it can can come back.

Birth control pills can be used to help keep the lesions at bay and possibly reduce them in size. There is also a chance the lesions will return after the BCP is discontinued. And obviously if you are trying to get pregnant, Birth Control Pills would not be the thing for you.

To learn more about endo,  click on the links below.

http://www.endometriosisassn.org/ Endometriosis Association

www.mayoclinic.com/health/endometriosis/DS00289

http://www.endometriosis.org/treatment.html ~ This one has a whole plethora of information as well as alternative treatment info. I love this site for all of its information it has on it.

http://www.endometriosissurgeon.com/AboutUs/DrRedwineandStaff/108294.aspx ~ Dr. Redwine, one of the world's leading experts in the treatment of endometriosis, located in Bend, OR. Valuable info on this site as well as resources.

A Little Background

A little background: I am a 30 year old mom of 2 gorgeous girls (Cheyenne and Emma) and a wife to a wonderful husband, Lance. I found out when I was 15 that I was pregnant with my daughter Cheyenne. Surprise!! I was not ready then to be a Mom then, hell, I was still a kid myself. Having her made me grow up more then I would have ever thought. I went on to finish high school, while working full time and caring for a very sick baby, due to her being born premature.


I married my high school sweetheart, Lance, the weekend of my 21st birthday. We had decided a couple years prior to our marriage that we wanted to expand our family. Little did we know the struggles that would ensue trying to do so.


Month after month, year after year, lead us to more doctors appointments trying to figure out why my body was just not cooperating. The basic thing that a woman's body is designed to do, mine wasn't doing. It was like my body had missed that memo. I was diagnosed with numerous things from ovarian cysts, to abnormal uterine bleeding (which is a fancy diagnosis when the docs don't know WHY you are bleeding), to endometritis, then finally endometriosis. I was put on countless BCP's (birth control pills) to try to regulate my cycles to no avail. The BCP's only made me a cranky person to be around and a whole truck load of horrible side effects.


We finally gave up hope that we would ever get pregnant again. Once we came to that realization, we gave away all of Cheyenne's baby belongings and I began to focus on my family and myself. After 10 years since our first decision to expand our family, we discovered I was pregnant with Emma. Since her birth we decided that we might as well try for another as soon as possible not knowing if I could ever get pregnant again. Which leads me to today. Almost 2 years later and still not pregnant.


During our struggle I have dedicated alot of my time to researching woman's reproductive ailments, ones that pertained to me or not, natural remedies to these ailments, the basic workings of a woman's body, charting and pretty much everything in between. I was convinced by a friend (thank you Joanna) that I needed to find a way to share this knowledge with others, and I could not agree more with her.