Last week I went back to the doctor to get the results of the testing I had done the week before. I wasn’t surprised by the news because I had a feeling something wasn’t quite right, but I wasn’t thrilled by it either.
If you’re aware of our pregnancy history, you will know the struggles my husband and I have when we are pregnant. Getting pregnant has never really been a concern but our struggle has always been with staying pregnant. After 12 losses it’s always at the forefront of our minds as we try to conceive another child.
Well, turns out we now will be adding the ‘getting pregnant’ to our difficulty path as I was diagnosed with “infertility”. All thanks to a metabolic/hormonal issue that will likely not prevent pregnancy from ever happening, but will sure make it more complicated than it should be.
I had been having a lot of pain on what I thought was my ovaries. With a history of ovarian cysts, I was sure that’s what was going on and was keeping my periods late. When I studied my basal body charts further I realized that not only was there no clear indication of ovulation, but my cycle varied so much from month to month, I knew something was up.
On top of all that, I have also been feeling very tired with super low energy and it was coming to the time where it could no longer be brushed off as just a routine change that sparked it all. I knew that something was going on and with my hopes of getting pregnant being the push for the doctor visit, I was glad I went.
“PCOS: a condition where many small cysts form on the ovary causing an hormonal imbalance which may lead to the need for fertility treatment to conceive” – Midland Fertility
Like I said, I wasn’t surprised by the results. Cysts on both ovaries that look like it could be a result of PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) and is the reason I am not ovulating, I have irregular cycles and we’re not pregnant yet. I don’t seem to have any of the other symptoms that are classically associated with PCOS and at the time my blood work results had not come back yet, but the ovaries were pretty classically polycystic.
So, my thoughts for a quick conception once I got the ‘go-ahead’ from my husband as been tossed out the window and a new plan has come to play. We are just passing our 8th month trying to conceive and the next month we are going ahead and will be on the fertility drug Clomid as well I have started a pretty strict new diet plan to help re-align my metabolism and hormones and so far it’s going well.
I am on a super-low carb diet consisting of 20-50g of carbohydrates daily (minus carb grams from fibre) and on day 6 of the diet I am doing surprisingly well. I have cut out nearly all sugar and tend to stay within the 20 daily grams.
So, in a few weeks I will be starting on Clomid in conjunction with this new low-carb (plus still gluten and dairy free) diet and all that combined will help my body start to regulate and ovulate and a baby will soon be growing. Of course, this adds to so much more stress over what happens if we loose another baby, but right now I will focus on this hurdle and jump the next one when it comes along.
:: I would love to hear any stories you have with PCOS, Clomid or infertility — always helps to hear from those who have been through this rather than reading medical articles over and over ::
Photo credit: adapted from harinaivoteza/Flickr
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