Farah
09-12-2011, 09:40 PM
So I totally don't even know how to write this out because my head is still overwhelmed. I will know more tomorrow, but I need to get this out now.
I've always had awful and irregular periods. We're talking cramping, pain, headaches, to go along with PMS. I've always felt when I was ovulating and as a result never had to take OPK's when TTC.
Well over the last 6+ months I've been feeling weird. My PMS is OUT.OF.CONTROL. I'm horribly irrational, awful migraines, bloating, binge eating (seriously, I can't lose the last few lbs b/c I can't control the eating) and top that with debilitating cramping and bleeding through 1 super tampon every 1-2 hrs for the first two or three days of AF. Then add that to the fact that I now PMS during ovulation with all of the symptoms listed above except for the heavy bleeding. Instead I spot for 4-6 days. After each time I O I end up having major pain in my uterus and sex sucks (and not in the good way). It's like he's bumping against a solid mass/bulk. I told DH that I was positive that something was hormonally wrong with me b/c I just don't feel right and something feels off. He knows I know my body and I know myself enough to not doubt me.
I've been saying for months that something is hormonally wrong with me, and after my 8+ week cycle and the spotting during O time I ended up making an appt with a new Gyn because I was ready to leave my old one (long story short she cancelled my yearly 3x last year b/c of delivering a baby WHEN I was already on my way there and then they couldn't make a new appt for weeks unless I wanted to see the NP...which I eventually did).
Today I went to the appointment and I took a few deep breaths and I was quite anxious. I knew I wasn't going to get good news, but I guess I didn't expect this.
I went over my history with the nurse and w/all of the problems I have (lupus, Protein S deficiency, etc). When I overheard her outside my door giving the dr the run down about my history I heard him say "Holy ****, that poor girl." He came in and said "You're a mess." I responded, "Yes, when most doctors see me they cringe." He said, "I'm not cringing, I just feel sorry for you." I said, "Eh, it is what it is."
We went over my concerns and I gave him the lowdown he said he was gong to take a biopsy to check things out on top of my annual pap. He did and when he finished he said, "There are a few things going on. You have polyps in there, I may have gotten some. I also think you have endometriosis, but the only way to be certain is through laproscopy and I don't want to do that if we can get through with out. Let's deal with the polyps, make sure nothing is cancerous, and figure that out." He did also tell me that an option we may have to cross is an endometrial ablasian where he will basically scrape out/remove my endometrial lining. This will slow down/lighten up my periods and probably prevent any future polyps. Of course this depends on the results of the u/s's. He also said my thyroid felt large. :sigh:
I end up having an ultrasound and having to schedule one for a saline ultrasound for tomorrow.
Then came the first ultrasound. I'm laying there looking at the screen and when she goes over to my ovaries I gasp, "OMG". She said, "What do you see?" "The cysts." "Don't you have PCOS?" "Not officially, but I've thought that I have had it." "Why?" "PMS problems and pain" "Hmmmm. I'm sending this to your doctor immediately." "Ok."
So now, tomorrow when I go back in to see my dr and have him do the saline U/S and discuss the finding of today's U/S we're going to have discuss all of the cysts on my ovaries. Clearly something hormonally is off (it can cause both PCOS and polyps).
I'm angry, relieved, frustrated, and bummed. I apologized to DH for him marrying such a broken down POS. I'm not crying as much as I expected, but that may come tomorrow. Maybe because I knew something was wrong and I had a strong suspicion about the PCOS part.
We'll see *sigh*.
To be continued...
UPDATE
Today I had the saline ultrasound. While there I discovered that there was one big golf ball sized cyst on my left ovary and a ****load of small ones in each. So yes, they're polycystic. Then we found out I have two large fibroids on top of a **** load of polyps and the possible endometriosis tissue. So....anything that can grow in my uterus is.
The biopsy to check for cancer, which my doctor says he's almost 100% positive it's not, will be back on Friday maybe Monday.
On Thursday I go in for a hysteroscopy to see exactly what is going on in there.
Next week I probably go in to have another U/S to see if my large cyst has shrunk after my period starts or not.
Then in two weeks on Sept 28 (assuming my period comes next week like I predict it) I have to have surgery to remove the fibroids and polyps. We may be doing an endometrial ablation depending on what we see Thursday. This means they will take out my entire endometrial lining and I may have light to no periods at all (which would be nice, I suppose).
So yeah...that's it. :sigh:
Update #2
Today I had the hysteroscopy.
Good news: I don't have cancer.
Bad news: Everything is the same in there except for there's one more small fibroid that we saw in there (yup I watched on the screen). I will be having surgery to have the fibroids removed on September 28th. I will then be having my second surgery for the endometrial ablation two days later on September 30th. They are both outpatient surgeries. The fibroid surgery will take a day to recover from, the ablation will take 2-3 days. I will be put under general anesthesia for both.
If I don't start my period next week or if I'm bleeding heavily by the surgery date we will have to postpone the operations.
As for the PCOS. I will be having another ultrasound 2-5 days after my period to see if the large cyst has shrunk. I had the PCOS blood work done today and will have the results in a week or so. We'll see what happens wit that.
For now, we're just dealing with the next stage. DH is out the next 10 days so it's me on my own as I make plans for it all.
Good times.
Update #3 9/27
Ok, so I had my blood results come back. Some of my numbers are whacked out. My sugar is pretty low, my potassium is low (even though I already take prescription potassium), and I had high thyroid peroxidase antibodies. So my doctor hasn't told me yet, but I'm thinking I'm going to an endocrinologist yet and that I do have PCOS. I think I probably have Hashimoto's because of the history of autoimmune diseases, the blood work, and the symptoms. We'll see what happens with that.
I went for a follow up U/S hoping the cysts had gone away after my period and they had not. The big one might have shrunk a bit, but the tech wasn't sure. The right ovary had 11 cysts I could count. The left ovary I couldn't count b/c the big cyst was in the way. So....that makes it more along the lines of PCOS, I think.
Finally, surgery is tomorrow for removing the 3 fibroids. I also found out I had some inside the uterine wall that can't removed, but they're not causing any problems (that we know). It'll be in the morning I will be getting there at 7:15am, surgery will be 8:15, and I will wake up around 10:15 or so. I hopefully will be talking to the doctor about the plan of attack for everything. We'll see.
Emotionally, I'm frustrated, annoyed, and tired of it all. It'll be a long process and with DH changing jobs, which means insurance change, which means new deductible...I don't even want to think about it all.
So that's that.
I've always had awful and irregular periods. We're talking cramping, pain, headaches, to go along with PMS. I've always felt when I was ovulating and as a result never had to take OPK's when TTC.
Well over the last 6+ months I've been feeling weird. My PMS is OUT.OF.CONTROL. I'm horribly irrational, awful migraines, bloating, binge eating (seriously, I can't lose the last few lbs b/c I can't control the eating) and top that with debilitating cramping and bleeding through 1 super tampon every 1-2 hrs for the first two or three days of AF. Then add that to the fact that I now PMS during ovulation with all of the symptoms listed above except for the heavy bleeding. Instead I spot for 4-6 days. After each time I O I end up having major pain in my uterus and sex sucks (and not in the good way). It's like he's bumping against a solid mass/bulk. I told DH that I was positive that something was hormonally wrong with me b/c I just don't feel right and something feels off. He knows I know my body and I know myself enough to not doubt me.
I've been saying for months that something is hormonally wrong with me, and after my 8+ week cycle and the spotting during O time I ended up making an appt with a new Gyn because I was ready to leave my old one (long story short she cancelled my yearly 3x last year b/c of delivering a baby WHEN I was already on my way there and then they couldn't make a new appt for weeks unless I wanted to see the NP...which I eventually did).
Today I went to the appointment and I took a few deep breaths and I was quite anxious. I knew I wasn't going to get good news, but I guess I didn't expect this.
I went over my history with the nurse and w/all of the problems I have (lupus, Protein S deficiency, etc). When I overheard her outside my door giving the dr the run down about my history I heard him say "Holy ****, that poor girl." He came in and said "You're a mess." I responded, "Yes, when most doctors see me they cringe." He said, "I'm not cringing, I just feel sorry for you." I said, "Eh, it is what it is."
We went over my concerns and I gave him the lowdown he said he was gong to take a biopsy to check things out on top of my annual pap. He did and when he finished he said, "There are a few things going on. You have polyps in there, I may have gotten some. I also think you have endometriosis, but the only way to be certain is through laproscopy and I don't want to do that if we can get through with out. Let's deal with the polyps, make sure nothing is cancerous, and figure that out." He did also tell me that an option we may have to cross is an endometrial ablasian where he will basically scrape out/remove my endometrial lining. This will slow down/lighten up my periods and probably prevent any future polyps. Of course this depends on the results of the u/s's. He also said my thyroid felt large. :sigh:
I end up having an ultrasound and having to schedule one for a saline ultrasound for tomorrow.
Then came the first ultrasound. I'm laying there looking at the screen and when she goes over to my ovaries I gasp, "OMG". She said, "What do you see?" "The cysts." "Don't you have PCOS?" "Not officially, but I've thought that I have had it." "Why?" "PMS problems and pain" "Hmmmm. I'm sending this to your doctor immediately." "Ok."
So now, tomorrow when I go back in to see my dr and have him do the saline U/S and discuss the finding of today's U/S we're going to have discuss all of the cysts on my ovaries. Clearly something hormonally is off (it can cause both PCOS and polyps).
I'm angry, relieved, frustrated, and bummed. I apologized to DH for him marrying such a broken down POS. I'm not crying as much as I expected, but that may come tomorrow. Maybe because I knew something was wrong and I had a strong suspicion about the PCOS part.
We'll see *sigh*.
To be continued...
UPDATE
Today I had the saline ultrasound. While there I discovered that there was one big golf ball sized cyst on my left ovary and a ****load of small ones in each. So yes, they're polycystic. Then we found out I have two large fibroids on top of a **** load of polyps and the possible endometriosis tissue. So....anything that can grow in my uterus is.
The biopsy to check for cancer, which my doctor says he's almost 100% positive it's not, will be back on Friday maybe Monday.
On Thursday I go in for a hysteroscopy to see exactly what is going on in there.
Next week I probably go in to have another U/S to see if my large cyst has shrunk after my period starts or not.
Then in two weeks on Sept 28 (assuming my period comes next week like I predict it) I have to have surgery to remove the fibroids and polyps. We may be doing an endometrial ablation depending on what we see Thursday. This means they will take out my entire endometrial lining and I may have light to no periods at all (which would be nice, I suppose).
So yeah...that's it. :sigh:
Update #2
Today I had the hysteroscopy.
Good news: I don't have cancer.
Bad news: Everything is the same in there except for there's one more small fibroid that we saw in there (yup I watched on the screen). I will be having surgery to have the fibroids removed on September 28th. I will then be having my second surgery for the endometrial ablation two days later on September 30th. They are both outpatient surgeries. The fibroid surgery will take a day to recover from, the ablation will take 2-3 days. I will be put under general anesthesia for both.
If I don't start my period next week or if I'm bleeding heavily by the surgery date we will have to postpone the operations.
As for the PCOS. I will be having another ultrasound 2-5 days after my period to see if the large cyst has shrunk. I had the PCOS blood work done today and will have the results in a week or so. We'll see what happens wit that.
For now, we're just dealing with the next stage. DH is out the next 10 days so it's me on my own as I make plans for it all.
Good times.
Update #3 9/27
Ok, so I had my blood results come back. Some of my numbers are whacked out. My sugar is pretty low, my potassium is low (even though I already take prescription potassium), and I had high thyroid peroxidase antibodies. So my doctor hasn't told me yet, but I'm thinking I'm going to an endocrinologist yet and that I do have PCOS. I think I probably have Hashimoto's because of the history of autoimmune diseases, the blood work, and the symptoms. We'll see what happens with that.
I went for a follow up U/S hoping the cysts had gone away after my period and they had not. The big one might have shrunk a bit, but the tech wasn't sure. The right ovary had 11 cysts I could count. The left ovary I couldn't count b/c the big cyst was in the way. So....that makes it more along the lines of PCOS, I think.
Finally, surgery is tomorrow for removing the 3 fibroids. I also found out I had some inside the uterine wall that can't removed, but they're not causing any problems (that we know). It'll be in the morning I will be getting there at 7:15am, surgery will be 8:15, and I will wake up around 10:15 or so. I hopefully will be talking to the doctor about the plan of attack for everything. We'll see.
Emotionally, I'm frustrated, annoyed, and tired of it all. It'll be a long process and with DH changing jobs, which means insurance change, which means new deductible...I don't even want to think about it all.
So that's that.