Women's Health

Note: I will be covering the symptoms and effects of polycystic ovary syndrome. If you are uncomfortable discussing topics of menstruation, reproductive organs, and medical symptoms, please exercise your discretion.

Pardon my French, but some days polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) makes you feel like a real piece of sh!t.

“Irregular cycles are normal,” I was told by some family. “Don’t worry about it, here is what you need to do.”

Eat healthily
Get enough sleep
Exercise
Stop stressing
Stay away from unnatural medications

Here’s how that saga works out:

I wake up in the morning and I feel like a heavy rock is sitting on my pelvis. I have always had very irregular cycles so I wonder if it is time for my cycle to make its semi-annual appearance.

“You’ve only had one period this whole semester?” My roommate looks at me incredulously.

“Yes, but that is probably because of stress. I’m pretty irregular so I had one less this semester than I did last year.”

Her eyes widened and she grabbed my hand, “I know your mom is dead, so I’m telling you as a friend and out of genuine concern for your health: that’s not normal.”

“No, no, you are normal. Irregular cycles are normal.“

A year goes by with little change. I woke up one Saturday with a searing pain in my side. I was menstruating so I thought nothing of it. I slammed a Tylenol, went to a concert, played D&D, and completed a presentation for Friday. At three a.m. the following day, I realized that my pain had worsened and I was now throwing up more regularly. Then the pain was only isolated to one side and wasn’t letting up, even though my period was abating. Five hours later in the ER, they told me I had kidney stones.

“Why didn’t you come in sooner?”

“I thought it was period pain.”

“For two days?” I nodded my head in affirmation.

The nurse shook her head, “Honey, that isn’t normal. You should go see your primary care doctor.”

“Period pain is normal. Don’t worry about it.“

I was eating healthy, sleeping 8+ hours, exercising four times a week, unmedicated, during summer break the first time I was tested. I hadn’t had a period in 60+ days and I was experiencing pelvic pain. It had been five months since my kidney stones and I felt terrible. I checked off all the medical boxes for a “healthy” twenty-something-year-old but I didn’t feel normal.

The first doctor left me hanging. “You are underweight. Otherwise, I can’t figure out what is wrong with you. Are you sure you’re not pregnant? Maybe you should put on some weight.”

“You are normal. Everything is normal.“

Two years passed and the pain did not subsist. The periods remained just as painful and erratic. I went 120+ days without a cycle only to bleed profusely for 9 days. I had a hard time keeping food down with nausea and the stabbing pain in my ovaries.

I go back to the doctor haggard and sleep deprived. “Probably PCOS. However, it is too early to tell and your symptoms are too similar to endometriosis, but we are going to get you help.”

And they did help as best they could. In and out of doctor’s offices. In and out of pelvic floor therapy. In and out of pharmacies.

And the pain is still there.

Others have chronic pain conditions far worse than PCOS or endometriosis and I can only sympathize. It is so incredibly frustrating to be told that there is nothing they can do but offer a band-aid to your pain and hope for the best.

Support groups help. Family helps. Tylenol (sometimes) helps. But some days you just sit, write, and think about what a POS PCOS makes you feel like.