I first got my period when I was twelve years old. Since then my period had been on and off till I was seventeen. I'd go months at a time without getting it and it never really concerned me because I wasn't sexually active and after numerous visits to Google and WebMD it would constantly tell me that it was normal in the first couple of years for your period to be irregular so I just came up with this idea in my head that the way my menstrual cycle had developed was normal. Well, it didn't develop correctly.
After years of being at war with my thoughts, I finally developed the courage to mention something to my doctor during a physical. After mentioning it to my nurse she immediately put in an order to have them run tests on me and scheduled another appointment for a week or two later to confirm if anything was wrong. Right then and there she told me the symptoms I mentioned were common symptoms of a little-known disorder called PCOS, but she needed to look in order to actually confirm it.
Well, at my next appointment, my doctor looked at me and confirmed it. I was really confused because she wore this smile on her face while she told me, I don't know if it was to reassure me that it would be okay or to ridicule me but the moment she uttered "You may not be able to have kids, and if you try to conceive, I advise you to see an OB-Gyn, because there's a higher probability of an ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage." Welp. There went my hopes of having a family of my own. She completely crushed me with a smile on her face. I think that's what bothers me the most out of the whole situation because as she tore me apart she wore a smile on her face and that's all the biggest thing I remember out of that day.
Furthermore, I got prescribed Lutera (birth control) and a low dosage of Metformin which is essentially for diabetes but treats the symptoms. After a month of being on the medication, I got my period for the first time in a while. I was literally crying with joy, however, the side effects from the pill and metformin weren't great. They gave me migraines and made me feel dizzy. Of course, they helped my fertility issues but they didn't help the fact that I was growing facial hair and had to constantly be shaving or plucking it off. Not only that but not being able to live a regular life without medication. About 6 months later, they took me off of the pill because of how bad the side effects were getting and they put me on Provera which ultimately stopped my period all together and it literally recently just became regular without any medication. I am beyond proud of that. It gives me the hope I need in order to conceive later on when I am ready.
PCOS is a hormonal disorder, it stands for polycystic ovarian syndrome. The reason you don't get your period because the cysts in the ovaries block the egg from being released. One-in-ten women is affected with the disorder. It causes weight gain, unwanted hair growth, causes problems with the regularity of women's periods, and can also cause problems for women when trying to get pregnant. If not treated effectively, PCOS can also lead to more serious health concerns such as Diabetes and Heart Disease.
The purpose of this article was to raise awareness of PCOS, because it's not really talked about. I'm not going to bash men and say "It's not talked about because men don't get PCOS." It's not that, it's because there still are so many unanswered questions about this disorder that don't have an explanation. The research has led to many dead ends and, hopefully, somewhere in the near future, the answers are revealed.
