Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Medication
Okay so back to my friend PCOS...
SO I took myself to the dreaded gyno and I explained to my doctor the headaches, the hair growth, the intense bleeding. His response was to place me on bith control, and Metphormin. 500 mg, twice a day. Now I am not medicine savvy, I hate even taking tylenol. But I followed along. The birth control was great. It shortened my periods, reduced the flow and even helped with the headaches for a while.
Metphormin on the other hand, was the God damned devil. I was told I could crush the med because it was not time released and I have mental issues with pills. So the metphormin was supposed to stimulate weight loss, cut out facial hair and help regulate my insulin. I am not diabetic but the PCOS made me insulin resistant.
Well all went fine for about a week. I was having diarrhea but I expected that based on the side effects warning. What I was not expecting was the vomiting after eating every meal, especially any form of carbs. If I ate pasta, it came directly back up and violently. Also my ears were ringing and my face would become flushed and hot. It was a disaster. My blood sugar dropped extremely low and I would feel like I needed sugar so I kept tiny tubes of frosting in my purse. I decided after almost passing out at the wheel of my car that this just was not working. I felt hopeless and I felt like a failure. All these other women were having amazing results online with metphormin and here I was, not able to take it. My hands were tied.
I stopped taking the metphormin and continued on the birth control. My headaches eventually came back worse then ever. I still have to call in to work frequently because of the immense throbbing and vomiting that follows my "period migraines." My doctor recently gave me 9 doses of generic Immitrex to take at the onset of a headache, so far they have helped but if I don't take it immediately it is worthless.
I called my doctor today because the hair growth seems to be getting even worse. I could literally grow a mans beard within two days. Shaving makes it worse, plucking is out of the question because of the large portion of my face that it covers, and laser hair removal is too expensive. What is a girl to do? Nair my face? Nope. Too sensitive of skin. So my doctor gave me a 50 mg, 3 times a day medication to try. It is a generic form of a Spirolactone {not sure exactly of the name}. He said the results are slow but it will work. Here's to hoping...
Monday, May 10, 2010
Sunday, May 9, 2010
The History So Far...
Let me start off by introducing myself. I am a 23 year old female from New York. I work full time at a major mortgage center, working on foreclosures. I live with my girlfriend, we will refer to her as Aiden. I have yet to tell my mother of my "gay" relationship, as she is not open or accepting. My father died when I was 16 of pancreatic cancer. I have 2 half brothers and 1 half sister from my fathers previous marriage, who I do not speak with. My only other family is my Obsessive Compulsive Grandmother.
The most major factor in my current life is my ongoing struggle with PCOS, or Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome. Let me give you the history thus far on my ovaries and all their major malfunctions.
I was never a heavy kid, I was a little thicker then average, but I wasn't "fat." My mother and father noticed that after picking me up from camp after a week at the age of 11 or 12 that I looked "different" as my father said. I had gotten my period that week. From this point on my parents were baffled by my rapid weight gain. I was not an over eater, I was active and I was on the swim team and also regularly cleaned stalls at the barn where my horse was boarding. My parents never were big on doctor visits so my weight gain began to increase, but nothing was done about it. I went through my adolescent years as just being fat.
My periods were beyond irregular. I would not get a period for months at a time only to be followed by a month of abnormal hemorrhage like bleeding. I was not taught much about getting a period. At the age of 12 I didn't realize that I should not be bleeding so much that I could fill a toilet with blood in under 4 minutes. I would wear 3 overnight pads and still bleed through my clothes.
Another thing that no one seemed concerned about was the intense facial hair that seemed to be popping up all over my face. I was growing hair on my chin, neck and sideburns so rapidly that I daily had to remove the hair by my own means. Not exactly what every girl dreams of. The hair was course and dark and if I plucked, waxed or shaved it one day, it would be back with a vengeance the next. I began to grow "tuffts" as Aiden lovingly refers to them on my lower back, along with sporadic but intense hairs on my chest. Also the hairs on my legs all have 2 hairs per follicle, which makes my shaving almost useless. No one else in my family is "hairy" or has any of these issues so I was concerned.
I also suffered from horrible migraines that would require me to lay down for up to 12 hours at a time. My mother told me "just take aspirin." Anyone who suffers from the blinding pain of a period migraine knows that there is no relief from over the counter medicines for such horrid pain.
This carried on for years until I was 18 and took myself to the gyno where I was diagnosed with PCOS. And this is where my story really begins...
The most major factor in my current life is my ongoing struggle with PCOS, or Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome. Let me give you the history thus far on my ovaries and all their major malfunctions.
I was never a heavy kid, I was a little thicker then average, but I wasn't "fat." My mother and father noticed that after picking me up from camp after a week at the age of 11 or 12 that I looked "different" as my father said. I had gotten my period that week. From this point on my parents were baffled by my rapid weight gain. I was not an over eater, I was active and I was on the swim team and also regularly cleaned stalls at the barn where my horse was boarding. My parents never were big on doctor visits so my weight gain began to increase, but nothing was done about it. I went through my adolescent years as just being fat.
My periods were beyond irregular. I would not get a period for months at a time only to be followed by a month of abnormal hemorrhage like bleeding. I was not taught much about getting a period. At the age of 12 I didn't realize that I should not be bleeding so much that I could fill a toilet with blood in under 4 minutes. I would wear 3 overnight pads and still bleed through my clothes.
Another thing that no one seemed concerned about was the intense facial hair that seemed to be popping up all over my face. I was growing hair on my chin, neck and sideburns so rapidly that I daily had to remove the hair by my own means. Not exactly what every girl dreams of. The hair was course and dark and if I plucked, waxed or shaved it one day, it would be back with a vengeance the next. I began to grow "tuffts" as Aiden lovingly refers to them on my lower back, along with sporadic but intense hairs on my chest. Also the hairs on my legs all have 2 hairs per follicle, which makes my shaving almost useless. No one else in my family is "hairy" or has any of these issues so I was concerned.
I also suffered from horrible migraines that would require me to lay down for up to 12 hours at a time. My mother told me "just take aspirin." Anyone who suffers from the blinding pain of a period migraine knows that there is no relief from over the counter medicines for such horrid pain.
This carried on for years until I was 18 and took myself to the gyno where I was diagnosed with PCOS. And this is where my story really begins...
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