Annual Visits...

This isn't something that I thought I would ever blog about, but since this blog is about living not only with my food intolerances, but with PCOS here goes.

I was diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) in October 2002. To go into more detail from my first post, PCOS is an endocrine disorder that affects several aspects of your health and has many symptoms. Although everyone is different, the symptoms of PCOS include: overweight, acne, amenorrhea or anovulation (irregular menstrual cycles), hirsutism, mood swings, insulin resistance - leading to type 2 diabetes later in life, cysts (non-cancerous) on the ovaries (imagine an inverted golf ball), and infertility.

Even though I wasn't diagnosed until I was 28, I have suffered from symptoms since I was 11. Since then my "visits" have never been regular. Never, though, in my recollection, did I have more than 6 "visits" a year (this doesn't include the few years that I was on birth control pills). To have 6 "visits" a year, would have even been a blessing, as most were less than 5. There were several years, particularly, in the past 8 years, where I had to have progesterone induced cycles - meaning I had to take progesterone in pill form in order to induce a "visit" which are performed when you go more than 3 months without having a "visit" (and you're not pregnant).

As I'm sure you know, when you don't have regular "visits", it means you aren't ovulating - although, it doesn't mean that you ovulate everytime you have a "visit". So, as you can imagine, when you aren't having regular "visits" you aren't able to predict or time potential ovulation days - making trying to conceive a very stressful, tiring, and frustrating feat.

I was reading an article on PCOS when I discovered that 85% of PCOS patients have celiac, non-celiac gluten intolerance, or a gluten allergy. This, with my discovery that I could self-induce a "visit" by completely eliminating dairy from my diet, is what made me talk with my doctors about having food issues. Which lead me to discover that I had Non-Celiac Gluten, Casein and Soy Intolerance.

This brings me to the reason for this post.....   

I had my annual GYN appointment last week. I have a wonderful OB/GYN who has one thing on his mind... for my husband and I to get pregnant. With that in mind, he was ecstatic to find that my "visits" over the past year are becoming more regular. Although, I'm still not having a "visit" on the average 28 days cycle (meaning there's 28 days between the start of my last "visit" and the current one), my average is getting better - I'm somewhere around a 56 day cycle. And since February (when I finally committed to my GFCFSF lifestyle), my "visits" have become even more regular, almost becoming a monthly occurrence.

Of course, this makes for a very happy OB/GYN, and a happy patient. It proves that you have to keep tabs on your on health - always seeking for answers and working with your doctors with what you find. And it has made the dream of becoming a biological-Mom a realistic dream once again... with the possibility of doing things naturally, and not with fertility treatments.