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Bonjour! So in my
last post (Link) I spoke about how I was diagnosed with PCOS and how this has impacted me, this
post in continuing on from my last post so if you haven’t already read it then
I would recommend clicking the link as this post might not make much sense :-) Any who, let’s begin…
Following on from my last post, after making a decision that having children was not the right time for me and after looking at the bigger picture on the potential risks and complications we could experience, I was beginning to convince myself that I didn’t want children at all. I know this may seem really selfish as my fiancé is fantastic with our family and friends children, but I think it was my own way of dealing with things as it was now my decision and not a scientific one.
Following on from my last post, after making a decision that having children was not the right time for me and after looking at the bigger picture on the potential risks and complications we could experience, I was beginning to convince myself that I didn’t want children at all. I know this may seem really selfish as my fiancé is fantastic with our family and friends children, but I think it was my own way of dealing with things as it was now my decision and not a scientific one.
Over the years
everything with my tummy slowly got worse, Within the 2 years after being
diagnosed, my periods had never changed and I was still only having 2-3 periods
per year. The bad news is that every time I had a period, I was in excruciating
pain with tummy ache, swelling of the tummy (to the stage where I looked
pregnant), aching joints mainly the neck, back and hips, being sick, migraines, in a lot of pain during intercourse
and the worst PMS ever – my fiancé really is a saint for coping with these and
my b*tch fits!
I knew that each
time I had a period, the pains and the symptoms would get worse and I knew that
this couldn’t be right. In between my random and intermittent periods, I often
found that my tummy would swell up sometimes after having food, sometimes for
no reason at all and when this happened I also suffered from some of the above
symptoms, albeit they were not as bad and these were without having a period.
So, off I trotted back to the Doctors to try and explain that things still weren’t right
and that I was still suffering badly and that over the months and years, the
symptoms were getting worse. I was pricked and prodded god knows how many times to
take bloods and swabs and they still couldn’t decide what was going on, at
first I was told that I may have IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and put me on a
course of laxative type drinks which basically didn’t do anything as my body
continued as normal. Despite the Doctors being persistent to diagnose me with
IBS, I wasn’t having any of it. I battled for several months trying to prove
that I didn’t have IBS by completing food diaries, trying a cocktail of
different tablets and trying food exclusion diets.
It was only after
all of this, plus me continuously speaking to my Doctors every couple of weeks
to advise that nothing has changed, that the Doctors finally pulled their
fingers out and referred me to the hospital to have an ultra sound and some
further swabs/blood tests. Whilst waiting about 8-10 weeks for a letter to
tell me that I have been referred and that I have to call them book the
appointment which is usually about another 6 weeks – I received a letter about 9
months before my 25th birthday asking me to attend a Cervical
Screening (Useful Link)
NB: Before I carry on, I do
want to say that I have the upmost respect for the NHS and the staff as seeing
the care and treatment they provided Maz whilst in hospital for nearly the
whole of 2013, I cannot fault anything they do. It’s just their processes and
timescales that are a bit naff and inconvenient.
A few weeks later,
my smear test was booked (2014) and I was able to go to my local Doctors to
have the test done. God knows why, but despite me being swabbed, pricked and
prodded several times before, I was still completely nervous about having my
first smear test. But, despite my fears nothing was going to stop me from
having this test as it is extremely important that you don’t miss your smear
test – especially if you have a cocktail of female problems anyway, then I
would say its non-negotiable.
Within the next
couple of weeks, I had received a phone call from the receptionist at my
Doctors saying that following my smear test, they had found something and that
I need to go in. When I went to meet with the Doctor, a huge relief was taken
off my shoulders as they said that they had found a natural growing bacteria
(not HPV though, which was good) and the levels were slightly higher than
average so to avoid any future risks or problems, all I needed to do was take a
tablet and it would return to the normal level. Viola! Apparently things like this are extremely common in women so try not to panic if this happens to you, its all part of growing up and our body changing, the Doctors will be able to make sure you get the right treatment if needed.
So despite the
receptionist scaring the bejesus out of me, at least it wasn’t anything serious
and that was the end of that issue. Right, back the other tests. Shortly after
having my smear test, I attended the hospital to have an ultra sound and a
camera inserted (very similar to having a smear – I think it’s called a
hysteroscopy but I may be wrong) to take photos of my ovaries and my womb,
despite it being quite an uncomfortable process – mainly because I wasn’t
allowed to pee for 4 hours before and I had to drink lots of water – it was
over quite quickly and all I needed to do was wait for the test result which I was told would be given to me in around 10 weeks when I visit my gynaecologist.
I will be continuing the next part of my story shortly, updating you with the results and the next steps.
If you have or are experiencing similar to the above, and would like to speak to someone then please feel free to email me, private message me on twitter (@xcewblog) or contact me on Facebook as I am more than happy to help.
2 Comments
I had never heard of PCO before I read your post and I want to thank you for taking the time to share this with your readers . It is such an interesting and informative post and I really feel for you . I hope next time you write there will be some clarification. Fingers crossed xx On an additional and more positive note I love how you have layed out your blog it looks so professional x
ReplyDeletesorry pcos x
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