Cut From the Same Cloth

I get my hormonal wackiness honestly. My paternal Grandmother attempted to conceive her first child for 5 years before any success, and then she had a few other bumps in the road upon conceiving her next three. My Mother's side of the family is riddled with PCOS, endometriosis and thyroid disease of all sorts. It's a wonder any of us conceive at all. I guess sometimes it's a bonus that I hail from a place where people have their babies early. Otherwise, many of us may not even be here.

But I digress. My Mother was not immune to these issues. She has adenomyosis and Hashimoto's thyroiditis (like me.) I wouldn't be surprised if there were other problems lurking in there. If she hadn't had me so young, there likely would have been no babies for her. She has had multiple surgeries and deals with emotional and physical symptoms from both disorders.

The problem with adenomyosis is that much like PCOS, it is not well understood or supported. Her doctors' main fix is to give her a hysterectomy which, sure, would ease the pain related to it, but not take away many of the other problems she suffers due to such a hormonal dysfunction. She's going through a particularly rough patch recently, and I just want her to have help. Does anyone out there have adenomyosis or know enough about it to recommend an online support group, book, or research that could help her?

I would appreciate it so much. She deserves a break.

Druggie Update

Now that E is finally settling back into a sort of routine following our lovely family visit, I thought I'd catch you up on what's been going on with me treatment wise...

• After that initial little bout of discomfort on the Metformin, my body is doing amazingly well! Even when I've had the occasional sweet or carb, I haven't responded in a crazy way. I don't know if it's because I started on the XR and not the regular this time (last time I switched), but it's been awesome.
• I'm still having crashes after meals and such, but I'm not up to my full dose yet. Since I'm a pansy, I went to 750 mg between the 500 and 1000. The therapeutic dose that got me E was the 1000mg/day.
• Interestingly enough, the awful joint pain that I figured had to be the start of some nasty arthritis has eased with the start of the Met. It eased so slowly that I didn't really think about it until tonight when I sat cross legged for an hour and could still walk straight afterward! (Note: PCOS contributes to joint pain. Nice. Gotta love that beyotch)
• I'm already feeling more emotionally stable again. It's so amazing the difference when my thyroid and PCOS are under control. I then understand why "normal" people are so aghast at some of my emotional issues.
• Read research that said while diet and exercise are the most beneficial therapy for many PCOSers, that they are most beneficial for those with a more out of whack BMI and that those already doing moderate exercise, eating fairly well and with an ok BMI see the least benefit. HAH! So there. (Can you tell I'm a little insecure about the fact that I can't keep it under control with diet and exercise?)
• Concerned about some research pointing to a decrease in the ability to absorb Vitamin B12 and folic acid when on Metformin that can lead to all kinds of problems. I plan to address this with Endo and was wondering if any of you had dealt with or heard about this?
  

Tired Mean Mama

Dear people who make prolonged and unnecessary noise outside my son's window after midnight,

Pray you never meet me in a dark alley. (turn the loud jalopy off already!)

Yours,
Tired mama who just got him to sleep and is disturbed by your rudeness herself.

Of Sleep and more Not Blogging

Things E requires to sleep:
Full tummy
No change in routine
No distress
His Pooh lovey (unwashed)*
White noise
Night light
Seahorse (thank you thank you Elizabeth)
The right prep
The right temp and the clothes of his choosing.
No "ghosts" (new appearing tonight)

Starting to think we are lucky we even get the weeks when he says, "I can nap?" goes right down and sleeps through. We still co sleep occasionally... Like tonight.

*made the huge mistake of washing Pooh in a detergent load tonight when I usually use Eco nuts or no scent stuff. He kept throwing him down and crying hard, "Poooh!! Are you??? POOH." Mommy epic fail.

Thanks for the Support and A Bad Blogger excuse

Well... two doses in and I'm already feeling some of the effects of the Met. I have to remember that the last two times I was on it, the name of the game was strictly restricting diet in the beginning, slowly tapering up the dose and adding foods back in slowly and gently as time went on.

Many of you mentioned the scariness of cholesterol/triglyceride lowering drugs, and it worries me too. I'd like to know more if you have info. But you're right Panamahat. It is kind of a tricky thing. Who wants side effects, but who wants heart disease either? Especially when one side of your family has a habit of kicking it in their sixties from heart issues and the other side has a habit of needing cholesterol and/or triglyceride lowering medications... to the point of, "you're going to fall over dead if you don't do this despite your eating cardboard and running triathalons (literally) for a year." So that's why I'm hoping dealing with the PCOS is the main issue. The drug my Doctor mentioned was a "Fibrate." Has anyone had experiences with them? I hear they are not as "bad" as statins.

Congratulations Jen for your success on Metformin! I just started up taking it again yesterday. It was a long 3 months of adjustment (see earlier treatments posts if you want to read my whining) last time before I felt good. But when I felt good, I felt awesome! I felt the best I had in years, and my blood levels showed it.

Thanks for the cheerleading all! I wanted to write this post and thank you, but also let you know that things will be spotty for a bit while we entertain family! I know. It's awesome.

Letters to Babybutt

Dear E,

Your new pooping time of at precisely the beginning of nap time is a little inconvenient. Interesting though is Mommy's ability to smell it through your closed door. I'm not sure if this is a testament to Mommy's skill or your stinky-ness.

Love you,
M

She's Baaaack

OK, so she was never really gone, but we are starting to see more and more PCOS related changes in my blood work again. Most notably, while my cholesterol levels are reflecting dietary changes by being annoyingly out of whack as opposed to "let's put you on medication" screwiness, my triglycerides have not obliged. They are beyond "semi-high" and trucking for the border. They're overachievers those triglycerides. I've done the diet and exercise thing and only ever seen "better" with it and not "optimal." I'm tired of trying so hard. At this point it's go on triglyceride lowering drugs or look to PCOS as the culprit and manage that first. Since I've also been having my "crashes" in the morning and my newly regular cycles seem to be lengthening, after visiting Endo today (have I mentioned that I love them there?) we've decided to go the way of Metformin again. We always knew this would probably be the case, and in a way I'm relieved, but oh man, here we go on the food roller coaster.

I had been annoyed lately by a stubborn 10+ pounds (I lost 2 on my diet fix) that wouldn't go away (another PCOS crapper), but now I'm thinking I should keep all the "skinny" clothes since last time I got down to high school weight from being so sick in the beginning on Met. That time I had the willpower to do it as one of my last resorts for getting pregnant and staying healthy. This time it's one of my last resorts so I don't travel the same tragic heart health road as family members before me. Wish me luck!