I have a facebook page where we everyone who has pcos can join together. You can find it here. Due to this facebook page and some other pages on facebook, I have found an overwhelming amount of girls have PCOS and are fighting to be healthy and happy.
I want to share more than just my experience with PCOS and Kirstin was willing to do a guest post. She is SO cute! And SO inspiring!! So read on!
Fast
forward to my 20’s… still skinny as a rail, and my lunches consisted of
PBJ (all sugar), cookies, chips, soda (yuck just thinking about it),
and lots of pasta, or whatever else I wanted. As I progressed to the
ripe age of about 25… I started noticing some changes… gaining around 10
pounds a year and going up a pant size each year thereafter… just
thinking I guess this is what happens as you reach closer to your 30’s.
No big deal whatever. After dealing w/ some major personal stresses,
being single again, I had ALL this time to hit the gym, aka keep my mind
off other things. But the scale NEVER CHANGED. Racking my brain
around what am I doing wrong??!!!
Then
out of nowhere, that summer, I met my now amazing husband. Who loved
the outdoors, camping, 4 wheeling, campfires = hot dogs, chips, and
smores… oh my. And losing track of where the gym was, and my time.
After a move to another state, the stresses of trying to find a new job,
and planning a wedding, eating healthy and working out was not on the
radar. We talked about kids but it wasn’t a priority right away (more
info on that in a minute).
After
buying our first home that had 3 ripe bedrooms waiting for occupancy…
every woman’s motherly instincts kicked in. Time to start talking about
a family. We tried for about a year… and something just felt off. I
knew my periods were not normal, coming around every 40 days or so, but
didn’t think anything of it. And I also knew it was time for a yearly
exam and needed to find a new dr. in my new state anyway. I expressed
my concerns with her, and she suggested I talk to their in-house
infertility specialist. My husband and I met w/ him and he suggested we
do some blood work, and conduct an internal ultrasound. Ok whatever,
maybe this is normal?? Then the bombshell came, you have Poly Cystic
Ovarian Syndrome – WHHAAATTT!!! And what is that?? Explaining to me I
hold on to sugar and don’t process it like others, “insulin resistant”.
He said you also have a “ring of pearls” around your ovaries which
causes you not to ovulate, and release an egg. Even more awesome! And
even more, your hormone levels are way off. Huge blow and extremely
crushing. I came back to work and started researching what it was, and
the probabilities of having children?? He then wanted my husband to do
some testing as well… results = we both have infertility issues.
Awesome I thought… with a million thoughts running through my head of
why us? He gave us the options of not only treating PCOS but also what
our options were to conceive. We discussed and decided to move forward…
not realizing the extent and time involved. That lasted about a month…
and I said no more… this is WAY too expensive… and I can’t go through
this roller coaster.
So-on
we went with life. If it wasn’t going to happen naturally than such is
life. January 2011 I was at my all-time heaviest pushing 170 and
wearing a size 12, and feeling disgusting. Started WW, and lost around
10 pounds or so… the hardest 10 pounds of my life btw. Then life
happened again, my husband was critically injured in a logging accident,
August 2011, and I had a home full of guests, and lots of eating.
January 2012… I had, had enough… I hired a personal trainer and worked
harder than I ever have before. The scale not moving much, thinking it
must just be b/c I’m gaining muscle. But also, the inches… not so great
either… thinking WHAT is happening. I’m eating good, 6 small meals a
day, ugh. Maybe this is what happens when you hit those 30’s??!! This
spring, it was time to go back for my yearly again, and I expressed my
concerns, with my “shelf” of a gut, and not losing any weight no matter
how much I did. She suggested Metformin; 500mg once a day, and twice a
day after about a month. When I first started taking it, I felt awful,
dizzy (worst feeling ever), headache, etc. Not being a fan of taking
prescription drugs, even refusing to take Tylenol or Advil for even a
headache, but if Metformin will keep the weight off, and help me feel a
little more flattering, I’m going to give this a try, something has to
work!
I
have now been taking it full time, for a few months, and just within
the last few weeks, have successfully gotten past this plateau, and I am
almost to my goal weight of 135. I can fit into a size 8, and also
feel amazing. I still watch what I eat, still work out 5-6x a week, and
have been doing more strength straining, on the days I don’t run. I
did my first race, 7.46 miles this spring, thinking I will run and walk
when I can’t run anymore, and I ran the whole thing, best feeling ever.
Now no medals were won, but by golly I finished that race in an all out
sprint. I also, ran in the dirty dash in June, a 5k through mud, yes
you read it right = so fun. And why not go all out, and sign up for my
first ever ½ marathon in September. Hence my love for running.
As
I look back, I HAD ALL THE TYPICAL SIGNS… oily skin, unwanted facial
hair, and in other places it shouldn’t be, that weren’t so flattering… I
have done lots of reading, but even w/ having PCOS, everyone is so
different. We are all in this together. I am by far not perfect, I
have my bad days, binge eat, and have days of feeling disgust, but I get
back on the weight loss/maintenance train and push forward some more.
A
huge thank you to Paige for starting your blog, and facebook page, for
all of us to join together as one with PCOS. It’s great to finally have
a resource to go to, to ask for advice, vent, or share what works for
you/or doesn’t. The lucky ones that don’t have to live with PCOS, don’t
understand, what we as a group understand together. Thank you.
Kirstin Darry
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