My Journey with PCOS: Part III

Warning: don’t read if you’re scared of poop-talk.

You can check out Part I & Part II, if you missed them.

Once a year of lazily trying to conceive had passed, I began to wonder what was going on.  As far as I knew, everything was working ok.  I got a fairly regular monthly cycle and according to my doctor, that meant that I was most likely ovulating.  I was never tested to verify that this was the case, so I blindly trusted the doctor’s assumption.

I began to get more concerned (or maybe just more aware) that I wasn’t conceiving when 4 women somewhat close to me announced their pregnancies within about 3 months of each other.  I was stunned at how easily they all seemed to get pregnant.  Meanwhile, I had started more closing tracking my cycles, recording my basal body temperature each morning and practicing timed intercourse, and yet my womb was empty.

In April 2015, I finally gave in to the urging of my mom and husband and went to see the doctor.  You see, I’m a pretty low-intervention girl.  I don’t like to go to the doctor, I don’t like taking medication, I truly believe in the power that diet, activity, water and supplementation have on our health and that in many cases, our bodies can heal themselves.  I figured that the doctor would want to put me on medication and I wasn’t very excited about that.  But more than anything, I was afraid of what the doctor would tell me about the fate of our attempts to conceive.

When I visited the doctor, I once again was told that because my cycles were regular, I was probably ovulating.  The doctor also prescribed me 50 mg of Metformin, a Type II Diabetes medication that many women with PCOS are given, and told me to start taking Ovulation Predictor Kits (OPKs), so we could identify if I actually was ovulating (which I strongly suspected I wasn’t).  The doctor warned me that I may have “loose stool” when I first started taking Metformin, but encouraged me that many women lose weight while on it and it helps women to ovulate.  She also told me to let her know if I didn’t get a positive OPK during my next cycle.

I began taking the Metformin a few days later.  Loose stool?  Heck no.  That ish was crazy.  I was scared to go anywhere because I was in the bathroom so often!  However, after a week or two, things became a bit more normal.

I also began taking OPKs every day.  A month passed and I never got a positive OPK.  I called the doctor and was told to make an appointment on Day 21 of my next cycle to check my Progesterone levels.  If my progesterone levels were raised on Day 21, it was a sign that I ovulated.  My progesterone levels at that time in my cycle should have been at least 10.

So I went into the doctor’s office, expectant to see at least a little sign of hope.  Maybe my OPKs were incorrect?  Maybe it was something else that was wrong?  I mean, I got a regular, fairly normal period, I MUST be ovulating.

The following day I got an email that my test results had been posted.  With shaking hands I looked at my chart.

My progesterone levels?

0.1

K.

It's only fair to share...