Hello there! Let me introduce myself...

bobbi_h · 08-21-2006, 06:00 AM

WARNING: I apologize if I am rambling but I have a lot to get off my chest. In my dealings with my depression I decided a long time ago that it was best to be open and honest about things and tell the whole story. So I apologize if this too long...I tend to write novels. ~Bobbi

Hello Everyone....My name is Bobbi and I am 33 years old and from Madison, Wisconsin. After almost 20 years of "suffering" with "female issues" I was FINALLY properly diagnosed in June 2006 with PCOS. I about fell of the examination table when they first suggested it because the thought that ran through my mind was, "There is actually a name for this? Why am I first learning that now after all this time?"

So as relieved as I was to finally know what was going on with my body, I was also "mad" to think that over this whole period of time, I had not received even a close to exact diagnosis.

I had my first visit from AF at age 11 (I'm 33 now.) While her visits seemed normal and regular at the time I would have her for about 8-9 days. Between age 13-14 I'd have terrible clotting and pain and very heavy flows for about the first 7 days and then the last two it would start to finally slow down. For about two years it meant wearing two heavy pads at a time during her visits.

Well then from about age 15-17, I finally could wear just one pad at a time. The first three days would be the heaviest and it would go for about 7-8 days, sometimes 6.

Then upon graduation from highschool, I went the whole summer without any visits from AF. Talk about panic as I was sexually active at that time even though we had been careful....Finally right before I found a job in September, AF paid me a visit. She continued to regularly visit then from age 17-22 although some months there would be more like just spotting. Then one day, back in about 1994, my husband and I woke up when my alarm went off. I thought I had wet the bed...boy I was wrong on that one. AF had come the day before and I'm not sure what happened overnight but we both needed a shower, new sheets and a new mattress after that one.

I got in to see my doctor that afternoon and it was determined that there had not been a miscarriage as we had maybe wondered. But he basically told me he didn't know what was wrong so he put me on birth control pills. I dreaded my visits from AF. Actually I've always dreaded my visits from AF, but now with being on the pill, I had so much more pain.

Well then my blood pressure started to sky-rocket so off the pill I went. Well at the time our health insurance stunk-to-high-heaven, so my coverage for a gyn would only cover it if my doctor referred me. No referal ever came from my doctor. And being basically almost broke after just getting married a few years before, there wasn't much I could do...atleast I felt that way at the time.

Then in 2000, I was diagnosed with mild depression. It does run in my family history, so it was no real shock when that diagnosis came. After about nine months though my doctor took me off of Zoloft and said I no longer needed to be medicated.

Then one fine day in 2001, I almost passed out at work. I had AF visiting for about 7 months non-stop. She'd appear to start to leave and then when it must have been her "regular" time to visit, it was terrible. So I went to the emergency room where they examined me because I was filling a pad in almost a half-hour. That finally got me a visit with the gyn that I had been trying to get my doctor to refer me to in the first place.

In May of 2002, I had my first laporoscopy and hysteroscopy and that "worked" up until April of 2005. My cycles were regular and not too bad at all. Still lasting about 8 days but atleast I had a clue now when would arrive. Yay! No more destroyed panties!

Then after 2002 was probably the most stressful year of my life...my Dad had polyps removed from his colon and the results from the tissue showed the polyps had been cancerous but he was "clean" after that, my brother caused a major catastrophe in my family and I now had a "supervisor from h-e-double hockey sticks" that forced me out of my job...I had a nervous breakdown in January 2003. I was then diagnosed as being "severely depressed." I won't even go into my therapy experiences from 2003 to 2004...actually I'll just say, from seeing this therapist I needed to be seeing another one.

Well it just so happened that at the time that AF arrived in April my husband's company was being sold. So our insurance was up-in-the-air. I love my husband dearly but when it comes to him giving me details on these things that I need to know about our insurance etc, he stinks. So after almost the whole summer had passed, I finally had the information I needed about our insurance along with our new cards. It turned out that we hadn't been without insurance like he had orignally told me (I've forgiven him on that since....) for the period of time I had been waiting to find out if I could keep my doctors or get new ones.

Well after the new cards came, I could keep my old doctors but decided that maybe it was time for a change. So I guess the whole thing was a blessing in disguise. I now had a new primary physician, a new gyn, and a new psychiatrist all at the same clinic too. Well in October, the day before my bday actually, I had my first appointment with my new gyn which is actually an ob/gyn. It was decided in that first visit with her that we would get to the bottom of what was up with my body and that another surgery was in order. So in November I had my second hysteroscopy and laporoscopy.

Oh what I learned after that. I couldn't believe that I had hardly any pain afterwards, unlike the first time. I had very little bleeding, unlike the first time. And I wasn't sick with nausea and headache after this surgery, unlike the first one. So that just made me wonder what the difference had been. Also, my tubes were checked with the "blue dye" and they flowed nicely...so that was good news.

At my follow-up appointment, I learned two things. In my first surgery, it appears my colon had been knicked and had grown to one of my ovaries, so she removed as much of that connection as she could. Then it was discovered that I had hyperplasia. So from November to March I was on progesterone therapy until I had my biopsy done in March. Then after having my last visit from AF in February, she didn't reappear until July. It was during this time that I was diagnosed finally with PCOS. So I've been taking metformin since June and back on July 29, I started The South Beach Diet.

And for right now I'm not going to go into detail about this, but we did have an appointment with a fertility clinic which had to be cancelled due to insurance and finance reasons....I'm still a little sore over that one. When I'm ready, I'll tell the whole story as to what happened there.

My next appt. with my ob/gyn is August 28th. I can't wait to see what she says when she finds out I cannot go to the f/clinic as it was her referal that sent me there.

So that's my "life story of my health" for about the last 20 years. I hope I didn't bore you or offend anyone. Thanks for listening.

*pEaNuT* · 08-21-2006, 06:34 AM

Hey Bobbi! Welcome! *hugs* PM me if you ever need anything!

ryanandwendy · 08-21-2006, 07:07 AM

Hey and welcome bobbi, i had the same issue with f/clinic but ob/gym has been great about working with me.

travelgal32 · 08-21-2006, 07:49 AM

Hi Bobbi
I am new here also. PCOS and infertility is such an emotional and physical roller coaster. Please IM me or email me if you ever need to talk.

MintChai · 08-21-2006, 02:31 PM

Welcome Bobbi Jo

! Many of us understand your frustration about how long it takes for doctors to officially diagnose pcos

Best of luck with the South Beach Diet!

Eva37 · 08-21-2006, 06:33 PM

welcome to sc
eva

MiracleMom · 08-21-2006, 06:33 PM

Wow, Bobbi Jo that's some story you have there but you have now found a great group of gals who will give you lots of info and support!!
This site is Wicked!
WELCOME and Good Luck!!!

bobbi_h · 08-22-2006, 03:21 AM

Thank you so much gals for the warm welcome. I couldn't believe it that there was a "support" group for gals like all of us. I felt like yesterday that I had won the lottery finding y'all.

I look forward to getting to know you all better over time.

Hugs to all!

Bobbi

bobbi_h · 08-22-2006, 04:07 AM

Well I did mention in my first post that I had a story about our recent dealings with a fertility clinic. So before I forget here's that story...

Okay, after the recommendation to see an endocrinologist to be diagnosed, I was also told to set up an initial appointment at a fertility clinic. My ob/gyn told me who to go to and while I was waiting for the diagnosis, they'd be able to look at my records and set the appointment up etc. Fine...so that's what we did.

Well a week later I was officially diagnosed with PCOS. All my records went to the fertility clinic, as did my husband's. An appointment was set up.

I received our welcome packet with all our paperwork in it to fill out. I read all the "small print" and filled out all our paperwork to take with us. I also did the recommended double-checking with our insurance company about coverages etc.

I was told that if there were tests done for diagnosis of a reproductive health problem that would be covered under our plan. But if it was something that was "defined" as "for infertility/fertility" that wouldn't be covered. So I had understood our policy right and was glad too that I had double checked. I would have hated to miss something and get a rude awakening later on.

Well I confirmed my appointment in the alotted time they recommended. So we were good to go.

Well the afternoon on the day before our appointment, I get a phone call....from the doctor's office at the clinic....it was a courtesy call....

The gentleman said he was calling to inform me that I was not on any fertility medications. I'm thinking to myself, "This is a courtesy? I knew that."

So I questioned how that was a courtesy as I was aware of that. He then went on to explain that since I'm not on any fertility medications our appointment was not then coded as "infertility."

Since it was not coded as "infertility" and after the appointment was still not qualified to be confirmed as "infertility" I would have to pay my bill, in full, on the spot before leaving the office. Then it would be my job to try and collect from the insurance.

He did say there could be a chance that my appointment would be coded as "inferitlity" after the appointment was run if I was willing to take that chance.

Well given my luck with finances....I called the appointment desk to postpone the appointment. Yes, I would have that kind of money in hand, but I didn't at that time. My luck, I would need it at that time.

I thought the receptionist was going to have a stroke....I was not cancelling atleast 48 hours in advance. Well I told her that 48 hours in advance I wasn't aware of this policy....it was not in the "fine print" on any paper work that was sent out. They sent me tons of price lists for things but and did mention a payment policy but it didn't say anything in it about what this man had just told me about 5 minutes before talking to her.

So she said they'd hold our records and to call them back when I knew we'd be able to have the possible amount of money needed. On the price list, it shows an office call was $355. Well if they decided to do a small diagnostic test yet that day, I could've been paying between $600-$1000 on the spot if I was still not coded as "infertility."

Well the next day...the day the appointment should have been....I had got to thinking about just what I might actually be shelling out for all this. Well part of me told me to call the insurance company back up to double check what I had already double-checked to see what I'd be paying in full for and what I'd be paying that was covered under our plan.

I talked to 2 different people now on this day, because the information that was in our policy was not how I understood it to be. It seems too that the first person I spoke to about all this on that previous day when I first called to inquire, was as confused as I was and gave me an incorrect explanation of our policy.

The two people I talked to now on this day, told me it basically boils down to that because this is a fertility clinic, nothing would be covered under our insurance. They would not pay a cent.

That afternoon after I sat on the bed cursing the insurance company and thanking them for basically "slamming the door" on this dream of ours, I called the fertility clinic to have her destroy our records.

Between that Tuesday and Wednesday I was so emotionally drained. I hadn't cried like that in ages.

I was upset because we weren't really going there to get on any fertilty medication. I was going to be checked out further to get a better diagnosis on my "reproductive health" and get some advice about any possible treatments that didn't involve IVF or would help me produce more eggs resulting in multiple births. I'm a candidate for twins as it is...I don't need more than that.

So that's the story about the fertility clinic. I cannot wait to hear about what the ob/gyn says about all this when I see her next week. She was the one that referred me to them.

Thanks again for listening and for all the warm welcomes!

travelgal32 · 08-22-2006, 05:11 AM

I am so sorry that you are going through that. We went through something similar with our insurance company and an infertility clinic. It all seems like such a nightmare. I dont understand why insurance companies don't cover infertility when it is so rampant. Then don't get me started on the prices for clinics. I know they are a business but when your hopes and dreams are wrapped up in these places and then something like this happens, it just devastates you and whom ever else is involved. I am at a standstill as far as fertility is concerned. We don't have the money to pay a fertility clinic and our insurance will only cover an IUI, which is fine, but the clinic I went to said they only take patients with a certain BMI and under a certain weight. That rules me out completely. I need to look for someone else but it is so emotionally draining, I have put it off. I hope things work out for you.

MommyJenny74 · 08-22-2006, 06:34 AM

Welcome Bobbi!
Best wishes for ttc too!

Of course every cyster is different, but if it's any encouragement to you, I was able to conceive on met.

Hugs
Jenny

SuzanneStar · 08-23-2006, 02:33 AM

Hello and a very warm welcome to SC!

afatasi_diva · 08-23-2006, 02:42 AM

hi bobbi........i'm new to this site also.........so sorry for all the drama your going through........i'm new to this message board thingy......hope things will turn for the better........

afatasi_diva · 08-23-2006, 02:45 AM

hi everyone.......i'm afatasi_diva........just wanted to say hello.....i have pcos too.........all this info is kinda overwhelming to me, i have these symptoms, elevated testosterone levels, hair on my stomach, chest & face, high blood pressure, missed my period for 5 months now, had a miscarriage last year...... a little bit about myself........take care everyone....

carianne · 08-23-2006, 03:25 AM

Hi there...I am from WI too! I just thought that was neat. I, as many of you was recently diagnosed with pcos, and hope to find some comfort and answers here.