So, I promised an informative blog about being a young adult with a condition no one my own age seems to want to talk about. As such I guess I owe the world my own PCOS story.
From about February 2009 my cycle started messing up more than usual, I mean, I had never had a regular period on my life but they had always been almost totally painless. Then they started getting all out of what, the break between them last from 3 weeks to nine weeks and the bleed lasting between three and ten days. Then on top of that I started cramping until finally it reached a stage where I got two weeks between one period and the next and then it last for ten days and felt like it was trying to kill me. I was tired and cranky and I knew something wasn't quite right, so I finally sucked up all my embarrassment and went to see my GP.
My doctor actually turned out to be incredible, one of the things I come against time and time again when reading others people's experiences of the condition is that they struggled for years to get a diagnosis. I was very quickly booked in for blood tests and a full sexual health screening to rule out any other causes, my doctor even offered me a test for HIV and Syphilis! When the blood work all came back clear (strange eh?) the doctor referred me to the hospital for an ultrasound.
The ultrasound referral paperwork was waiting on the doormat when I arrived back at Uni after the christmas break in February 2010 and so off I tottered to the hospital. I can remember how uncomfortable that was, honestly, having drank an insane amount of water prior to the appointment (as requested) having the sonographer pressing the thing against my abdomen was a nightmare. If I think about it I can also remember what the pictures on the display looked like, but no one said a word to me. No one told me anything. I also had fresh blood taken for testing.
The ultrasound results were with my doctor before the blood results and this confirmed the doctor's suspicion that it was indeed polycystic ovaries. She showed me the pictures again and explained everything and then asked me what I wanted to do. After a brief discussion I left with a prescription for Microgynon and a head swimming.
When the blood results came back the surgery called me and I was made an appointment with one of the senior partners at the practice. She went over the diagnosis with me, discussed why it has been suggested that I try hormonal birth control to both regulate my periods and make them lighter/less painful and she also prescribed Adalpene cream (Differin) for my facial acne. The blood results showed a real lack of estrogen and progesterone and very high levels of androgens, suggesting my hormone levels most likely fluctuated throughout my cycle as the other results had been clear.
And that was in February. Now we are almost in June and I have switched off of Differin and onto PanOxyl as Differin was drying out my face to a point where it was incredibly painful and utterly unbearable. I have also just began using the Evra patch rather than the pill as I am an utter klutz who can't remember to take a pill every day.
So there we have it, my diagnosis story.
