The pain hit me as I walked into the kitchen. It felt like someone stabbed me in the pelvis, with a flaming knife, and then proceeded to shove hot coals into the wound. I tried to retreat to my bedroom, but the pain overtook me, and I collapsed to the floor. As I lay there, I could imagine someone standing over me, gripping a burning ember between stainless steel tongs, and stuffing my abdomen full of fire. I tried to think of something else, anything else, but the pain was all I could see.
After a while, my mother found me there, in a sobbing heap. She sighed, and asked if I'd like her to take me to the Emergency Room. I shook my head, and she moved on. I couldn't deal with another doctor giving me that look, treating me like some hysterical child. I had been through it too many times, already. No one had answers, no one even cared. In fact, it would be twenty years before I knew what was wrong.
Over the course of the next twenty years, I visited doctor after doctor. With every doctor, it was the same story, every time. As soon as the words "menstrual pain" came out of my mouth, their eyes glazed over, and they went on autopilot. Before I could even explain my symptoms, a prescription for Motrin was in my hand, and the doctor was on his way out the door. Every time, the lack of answers, or even empathy, just left me feeling worse.
Over time, the pain got worse, and new symptoms developed. I started having mood swings, and depression. Every month, my skin would flair up, and I'd get cystic acne. I was missing work, due to the pain, on an ever increasing basis. And worst of all, for me, I began to gain weight, uncontrollably. No matter what changes I made to my diet, the weight kept coming. My self-esteem was in the toilet, and there were times I just wanted to die. I had given up on ever having relief, or even knowing what was wrong.
After decades of struggling with it, I found myself at an all time low. I was on the verge of being fired, due to frequent absences. The only option I had to keep my job, was to get intermittent FMLA, so that the missed days wouldn't could against me. I wasn't even sure a doctor would help me with this, but I had to try. It wasn't a doctor, however, that I ended up seeing, it was a Nurse Practitioner, and she changed my life.
The nurse practitioner understood my symptoms immediately, because her own daughter had been through it. The pain, the mood swings, the acne, the weight gain, it was all connected. It was Polycystic Ovarian Syndrom, also known as PCOS.
PCOS is a hormonal disorder, in which a woman's ovaries overproduce androgens, also known as male hormones. If effects as many as 1 in 10 women, making it the most common hormonal disorder among women. The name Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome comes from one of the identifying symptoms, polycystic ovaries. As a result of the hormonal imbalance, a woman's ova do not reach full maturity, and are not released by the ovaries. Instead, they create cysts, that can grow in size, and become painful.
PCOS is a serious medical condition, that goes undiagnosed more than half the time. This is a potentially life threatening situation, as PCOS is associated with increased risk for diabetes, and heart disease, among other things. There is also a link between PCOS and endometrial cancer, and women with PCOS are seven times more likely to attempt suicide, according to a 2008 study published in Psychoneuroendocrinology.
Women with PCOS had higher lifetime incidence of depressive episodes, social phobia, and eating disorders than controls. Suicide attempts were seven times more common in the PCOS group than in the controls.
While there is no cure for PCOS, there are ways to manage its symptoms. Hormonal therapy, including Birth Control, can be used to reduce pain, halt the creation of more cysts, and stabilize mood. Surgical options, including
ovarian drilling, can restore ovulation, and improve fertility. And drugs used to treat diabetes, such as Metformin, can help with insulin resistance, and provide support for weight loss.
If you believe you have PCOS, it is important to get treatment as soon as possible. The risks of leaving it untreated are too great. If you have any of the following symptoms, talk to your doctor. If your doctor won't listen, try someone else, and keep trying, until someone does. The longer PCOS goes undiagnose, the harder the road back, so don't wait.
Symptoms of Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
* Hirsutism (excessive hair growth on the face, chest, abdomen, etc.)
* Hair loss (androgenic alopecia, in a classic "male baldness" pattern)
* Acne
* Polycystic ovaries
* Obesity
* Infertility or reduced fertility
* Dysmenorrhea