Hi everyone, I'm new here. My name is Tammy and i'm a 26 year old mother of 3. Just like everyone else i'm sure, I have a really long story. I will try to sum it up as best as I can. From the time I started my period, it was never regular. I would go for 2 weeks then not see another for 6 months. My parents put me on bc when I was 16, I took the pills for about 3 months I think it was, came off of them and within 2 weeks was pregnant with my now 9 year old daughter. My boyfriend and I got married and continued to have unprotected sex for 4 years, until I went another 6 months without a cycle and the doctor gave me a Provera shot. The next year, I was delivering baby #2 who is now 5. Same thing..another year of not having a period, doc gives me Provera pills to start my cycle, a year later baby #3 is born and he is now 3 years old.
All of this along with acne, hair loss, weight gain, growing facial hair, fatigue, painful intercourse, swelling, mood swings, irritability, depression..the list goes on and on. For the past 3 years, i've gone from one doctor to another to be told that nothing is wrong with me. My thyroid was checked, I was checked for Lupus, complete bloodwork up done at several doctors and an endocrinologist, plus my regular gyno. Even though most of the levels were either high or low, they weren't off enough for any of the doctors to care enough to do anything. About a year ago, I suddenly gained 30 pounds in 2 months time. I went to my gyno, freaking out and he had the nerve to tell me that I needed to join weight watchers and get off of the couch and become active! I even asked him if PCOS was a possibility because they had always told me I had mulitple cysts on both of my ovaries, but he said no because I wasn't "Obese and I wasn't really "that" hairy". Needless to say, I was very upset with him. Fast forward a little bit to about 5 months ago, one day i'm standing in the kitchen and this unbelievable pain hits me in my stomach. I laid in the bed for a complete day barely moving from the pain. I stayed in pain for about a week afterwards as well. I made an appt. with my gyno the very next day. I knew it was finally the ruptured cyst I had been waiting all of these years to have, I started my period 2 days later and I thought, "finally, my doctor will do something about this"...boy was I wrong. Once again he could care less. He sent me for a CT and found 2 solid masses on my ovaries but apparently determined that they were nothing to be worried about, even though my ovaries were covered in tiny cysts as well. That's when I made my decision... I was breaking free from this jerk of a doctor that I had been seeing for 7 years.
I called the McDonald Murmann Women's Clinic here in Memphis, recommended to me by a co-worker and made an appt. with Dr. Kristi Cole. This was in June and my appt. was September 1st, it was that long of a wait but after waiting 3 years I wasn't in a rush. She is the most caring, concerned doctor I have ever met. I was so pleased with her, just within the first 5 minutes. So we requested my records from my previous doctor and she asked to see me back in a week for an ultrasound and lab results. I walked in on September 8th, not knowing what to expect. Halfway expecting to hear the same old thing. We did the ultrasound and I got in to see her and to my suprise..."PCOS"!!! I was so happy I could have cried. I'm not happy that I have it, i'm happy that I can finally put a name to what i've been going through. I can finally tell everyone that this wasn't all in my head. Everyone that called me crazy for going from doctor to doctor these past 3 years while getting the same answer from each one of them. Dr. Cole really cares. She made sure that I didn't have any questions or concerns before I walked out of that office.
So the treatment I got was the birth control patch. I have my tubes tied, but the bc will provide the hormones that I need to hopefully get this straightened out.
To all of you out there that are still searching for an answer..don't give up. It took me 3 years of doctors and specialists to finally get an answer. Good luck to you all and I look forward to getting to know you. Thanks for reading my story.
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Mom to Britney, Tyler and Junior
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Welcome to SC! I hope you are doing lots of reading on here because the wonderful ladies on SC have been though it all and have been such a help to me in the past year. Please check out the birth control board and insulin resistance board.
Isn't it great to find a wonderful doctor??!!! Thanks for sharing your story. It reminds me of how I went through several doctors before I found the one who is helping me now, the only one who didn't disregard my suspicions.
Finally!! 
