Hi everyone!
My name is Nikki, I am a 33yr married mom of two. I have suffered from PCOS/IR (my doctor just says syndrome x) since puberty. I actually never had a normal puberty. I never had a period until at age 17 a doctor put me on BCP b/c he said I was too heavy to menstruate on my own and the BCP would help me lose weight. I was maybe 20-30lbs overweight at that time. Anyway I dealt with doctors who continuously blamed my weight and always said my thyroid was borderline but not bad enough to cause problems.
I got pregnant with my first child when I stopped BCP. The pregnancy was easy but due to stress and an infection I delivered at 35wks. He was born healthy and only in the NICU for a week and 1 day. After that my symptoms started getting worse. I started having serious issues with depression and the fatigue started in. Doctors blamed it on being a new mom. Finally I had one doctor I went to and I mentioned that my ob had told me I had cysts on my ovaries so he did a FSH/LH blood test and when it came back he said you have PCOS but I don't know enough about it to treat you.
My PCOS went untreated again but at least it was confirmed and then a couple of years later I went to a woman doctor who got very excited when I told her I had PCOS and she immediately referred me to an endocrinologist. I have been working closely with my endo for about 6yrs or so now. She checks my bloodwork every 6 months to a year, she put me on synthroid and metformin. I was on the metformin for a little over a year before I finally had normal periods. I was having 28 day cycles and had lost about 20lbs, my energy was great and I felt wonderful! I got married in 2004 and was excited to be able to fit into a size 22 wedding gown!!!!!
Then about 6 months after the wedding I started putting on weight again and we started trying to have a baby. We went to a couple of fertility doctors who said that I just needed to lose weight. Finally in Oct of 2005 I had a chemical pregnancy and the gyn we went to wrote me a script for Clomid and told me to come back in a couple of months if it didn't work. I was really depressed and put off TTC w/the clomid until after the holidays. We started the Clomid in Feb 06, used it for a month and I decided I didn't like the mood swings. Well I had my period in Feb and then in Mar I couldn't understand why I was still having such bad mood swings and hot flashes so my endo did a pregnancy test and lo and behold I was pregnant!!!
The pregnancy was so difficult this time around. I slept almost all the time, I had really bad stiffness and I ended up with gestational diabetes, was giving myself insulin shots 3x a day. The last two months I started having to go in for NST once a week and finally on Nov 21 2006 via c-section I had a beautiful baby girl at 8lbs 13oz.
Then 1wk after she was born I ended up back in the hospital with blood pressure of 204/135. I was in ICU for 3 days, separated from my baby, my husband was a first time father at home alone with a newborn and no clue what to do. The doctors were completely confused b/c my blood pressure was perfect my whole pregnancy. I was released on 4 different meds plus a patch which I was able to wean off of all of them by 4 months time. Then I ended up on heart meds again b/c of heart palpitations/irregular heart rate. The cardiologist told me to lose weight and I would be able to come off them.
So here I am with severe depression, mood swings, hirsutism, thyroid problems, insulin resistance, acne, severe fatigue- I can't even drive for more than 20 min without feeling like I am going to fall asleep at the wheel. I live 45 min from town so this makes things difficult.
I just started taking cinnamon and vit d and feel much better and I have ordered my first box of the Insulite program so I am very optimistic. I just wanted to tell my story and show how much PCOS/IR can really affect your life.
Years of people asking me if that really is a problem or something doctors made up to give it a name has been frustrating. This syndrome is really a problem and can REALLY affect your life if the symptoms are severe enough!
So here's to you soul cysters, we will make it through and we will be healthy!!!!!!!
Oh and thanks for reading my book!!!
New to soulcysters but not to PCOS 
there is a link to the newbie roadmap in my siggie for you
