What is PCOS

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. It's one of those fun multifaceted conditions with a whole bunch of symptoms, no explanation as to what REALLY causes them, and no real treatment. It's one of the most common hormonal disorders in women, and around 5-10% of women of reproductive age have symptoms.
Some of those fun symptoms include:

• Infertility (not able to get pregnant) because of not ovulating. In fact, PCOS is the most common cause of female infertility.

• Infrequent, absent, and/or irregular menstrual periods
• Hirsutism (HER-suh-tiz-um) — increased hair growth on the face, chest, stomach, back, thumbs, or toes
• Cysts on the ovaries
• Acne, oily skin, or dandruff
• Weight gain or obesity, usually with extra weight around the waist
• Male-pattern baldness or thinning hair
• Patches of skin on the neck, arms, breasts, or thighs that are thick and dark brown or black
• Skin tags — excess flaps of skin in the armpits or neck area
• Pelvic pain
• Anxiety or depression
• Sleep apnea — when breathing stops for short periods of time while asleep

Yep. Great stuff.

So what does PCOS mean for me personally? 

To be honest, I have had symptoms for a very long time, generally overweight, a little hairy, dry scalp, anxious. Probably going back to when I first hit puberty. My period was generally regular as far as I can remember, but I was on the pill from 17 onward. 
As many of you know I already have a wonderful daughter, Ellie, who has recently turned 1. While pregnant with her they discovered a large cyst on my right ovary, which was of no concern at the time, but they wanted me to come back and be checked after she was born. I did that in February, which is when they discovered that I had tiny cysts all over both my ovaries, around 30 in total. I was then sent back to my doctor to have blood tests and all other wonderful proddy, pokey examinations. My bloods came back fantastic in general, but yes, my androgen's were up. And I still had most of the other symptoms, the extra weight that is impossible to shift, especially considering I eat healthily and exercise regularly. Oh, and the fact that I was going around 80 days between periods. 

What am I doing to help me in my quest to give our daughter a sibling?

In my case, it seems pregnancy has made my PCOS worse and now I'm experiencing what is known as secondary infertility. We started actively trying for a baby in February when we got the results that pointed to PCOS, knowing that it could take us awhile. In May my doctor prescribed me with Metformin. Which is actually a drug that is used to treat people with diabetes and it's use is somewhat experimental in treating PCOS, but a lot of people have fantastic results with it. It helps to lower insulin levels in the blood, which can benefit all the aspects of the condition. I'm also currently taking Evening Primrose, a pre-natal and pregnancy multi-vitamin, CoQ10 and Milk Thistle, and very recently have cut carbs such as bread, pasta, rice (which is hard when you have a Chinese husband) and potatoes out of my diet. I'm actually feeling a lot better since starting the low carb diet, so I think I'm on the right track.


Some links, should you wish to learn more:
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Association of Australia
Soul Cysters