“I thought pain was normal”: I have polycystic ovary syndrome
although Polycystic Ovary Syndrome is common, its causes are still poorly understood, diagnosis is difficult, and treatment is always carried out comprehensively. With this disease, the processes of maturation of follicles in the ovaries are disrupted, ovulation does not occur and multiple cysts appear (hence the "polycystic" in the name), filled with fluid. The syndrome is dangerous in that it can lead to infertility, and it also often has skin problems, depression, and impaired insulin susceptibility, which increases the risk of type 2 diabetes. We have already figured out who is at risk, - today graphic designer and illustrator Anna Grigorieva tells how she fights against this disease.
Now I am twenty-four, with the monthly started at twelve - that is, already half my life I regularly experience a real nightmare. Durable, six to seven days, abundant, completely irregular (the cycle could last for more than a month, then two weeks, it was always a tape measure) and just very painful. Before the first two days of menstruation, I spent in bed, wrapped in blankets, - about the activity could not speak. If you had to go somewhere, you had to pump up with pills and suffer in silence. I never thought about the problem - I thought that everyone was about the same. When I moved to the hostel, where I had neighbors, the confidence that everything is fine, only got stronger - after all, the girls also complained of pain. I blamed the profusion and irregularity for an individual feature, and then knew nothing about PCOS.
When I was ten years old, I started having problems with body weight: before that age I was an average child, and about the third grade I gained weight dramatically — and since then, if I dropped it, it is insignificant. A little later, from the age of thirteen, acne appeared. I did not attach any importance to this and wrote off problems for adolescence - but puberty passed, and inflammations on the skin remained. Everything was quite stable, and it did not occur to me that I could consult a doctor. On regular medical examinations at the university and on admission to the graduate school, gynecologists asked standard questions, but my answers and obvious problems with acne and weight did not make them think about the diagnosis. Not knowing about the existence of PCOS, I could not tie everything together, and just understand that indisposition is a symptom of something serious. I also never offered to do an ultrasound of the pelvic organs.
In early 2017, my periods became unbearably painful: a standard dose of two to three painkillers stopped working, and I was afraid to take even more. Six months before this, there were added bleeding in the middle of the cycle - I had been reading horrors on the Internet, I came to the diagnosis of ovarian cancer. The prospect of going to the doctor and seriously being examined was frightening, but the fear of obscurity was outweighed. My husband is from Hungary and we live in Budapest; In April 2017, I went to Russia for a while and at the same time went to a gynecologist at a paid clinic. The doctor prescribed blood tests and finally gave me an ultrasound - multiple cysts were found in the ovaries. The gynecologist asked standard questions about the regularity and length of the cycle and told me about PCOS. She opened her eyes to the fact that the current weight and skin problems are also manifestations of this diagnosis.
If you had to go somewhere, you had to pump up with pills and suffer in silence. I never thought about the problem - I thought that everyone was about the same
First of all, I wanted to deal with the regularity of the cycle and pain. We discussed with the doctor possible options and stopped at the reception of oral contraceptives - before that I had never used them in my life. In the first months, the cycle stabilized to 28 days, bleeding became four days and less abundant, and the pain decreased to such a level that it could be tolerated without a single pill. Acne has passed, the skin has become clean. In general, the quality of life has greatly improved. I always wanted to ask: was it really possible? Why did I not know about this before? True, there was a downside: for three months of receiving OK, I gained eight kilograms and increased in volume for a couple of sizes - I hadn’t recovered so sharply. I compared the terms and facts and concluded that the weight gain was associated precisely with the start of treatment.
At the end of August I went to another gynecologist, as there was no opportunity to get to the previous one in Russia. She listened to my story, did an ultrasound again, and asked if I was given a blood test for insulin — I never checked its level. When I returned with the results, the doctor immediately sent me to the next room to an endocrinologist-nutritionist with a single note: a suspicion of type 2 diabetes. The endocrinologist inquired in great detail about the symptoms and diseases in the family. I had with me the results of tests for hormones and ultrasound of the thyroid gland over the past few years (problems with the thyroid also arose a long time ago). The doctor concluded: there is obvious insulin resistance (which accompanies polycystic ovary syndrome in 70% of cases), there is no diabetes mellitus yet, but we need to take urgent measures - in particular, to lose weight.
An endocrinologist prescribed a standard in such cases drug and a special diet: completely eliminate rice, potatoes, wheat flour, fruit juices, alcohol, and, of course, sugar. From the first time with therapy, not everything went smoothly: in two months the body was not used to the medicine. I was tormented by nausea and thirst, strong attacks began with vomiting and a drop in sugar level, at some point I had to urgently learn how to use a glucometer. The doctor said to take a week break and try another option based on the same metformin.
With the new medicine, everything went just fine, I continue to take it now, no side effects arise. Metformin is often prescribed not only for insulin resistance or diabetes mellitus, but also to combat polycystic ovary syndrome. His symptoms of PCOS diminished even more: menstruation became weak and almost painless, body hair growth almost disappeared, which is often enhanced by PCOS due to an excess of male hormones, the skin of the face became consistently clean. Of course, it is not known how things will go further when I finish the course of the drug.
In the fight against PCOS, the most difficult thing for me is nutrition. I am one of those who do not like and can not cook. Sushi, pizza, pasta, sandwiches, frozen foods - all these opportunities to quickly eat turned out to be behind me. In principle, in restaurants and cafes in Budapest, everything is very good with options for people with very different diets: in any good establishment the waiter knows which dishes on the menu do not contain gluten, where there is sugar and from which it can be removed. But it’s impossible to eat in restaurants all the time, and in order to cook three healthy and healthy meals a day that I need, you need not only to cook, stew or fry, but also to figure out what you need to do tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, go to the store and all that buy. I have never done this before (I ate in the student’s canteen, fast food, cooked extremely simple and fast, often frozen foods), and at the very beginning it was a great deal of stress. I wanted to quit everything, just not to think what and when you need to buy, cook and eat.
I am very sorry that in Budapest there are no systems of ready-made lunches and dinners, which are delivered to the house decomposed into components and prepared with minimal effort. I know that there are similar networks in Moscow and St. Petersburg, many friends use them. I can not say that I completely solved the problem with food, but relatives and friends, to whom I complained, advised me to buy a slow cooker. It really helped, now I save myself soups: I can do almost any of them (in the soup, it’s easy to get rid of all the "forbidden" components) and there are enough portions for a long time. But overall, I still have a lot to learn in planning healthy and regular meals.
I observe the new regime for almost five months - and of course, I allowed myself a sweet or a floury several times. But thanks to a complete revision of the diet, I began to feel strongly the effect of sugar on the body. After sweets, lethargy almost instantly spreads all over the body, tends to sleep, I want to lie down, it becomes hard to think. On the one hand, giving up sugar is hard: I have always been a sweet tooth. On the other hand, when you physically feel the unpleasant consequences of each small cookie, you do not pull at all. On the recommendation of the doctor, I will take Metformin for a few more months and I do not think I can return to the lifestyle, and especially the diet, which I had before the beginning of the epic with PCOS. Sugar in the modern world can be easily replaced, in Europe it is not a problem: in any, even the smallest supermarket, there are products with stevia and other analogues. I can say the same about alcohol: I have not drunk it for about eight months and absolutely do not feel the desire to return to it. This is not the product that I strongly miss, and having a good rest without drinking is not a problem.
This, in general, is the essence of the struggle with polycystic ovary syndrome: there is no question of any tough, but temporary measures. Need a new lifestyle and nutrition - forever
Another important point - increasing the level of physical activity. This, too, is not easy: I have never been interested in sports and do not want to force myself to go to the gym. I'm a little envious of people who like it, but my time is too valuable to waste it on something that does not inspire. Moreover, even if I force myself to train only for the time of the diet and taking the drug, this will not help: when I stop taking the pills, if the level of activity drops at least a little, the weight will immediately return.
Therefore, now my task is to revise the schedule so that, in principle, be more active. I try to walk more - besides, we don’t have a car, so my husband and I walk a lot on business, and I like it. In Budapest, a cool subway, but there are few stations, and often you have to go a lot from the exit of the metro to a specific destination. Unfortunately, I have forgotten how to walk "just like that," as in childhood, just go wherever you look, without a specific task. Now I am learning this anew, since it is a pleasure to do it in Budapest. My dream is to have a dog in the next few years, but for now we are renting an apartment where animals are prohibited.
This, in general, is the essence of the struggle with polycystic ovary syndrome and related problems: there is no question of any tough, but temporary measures. PCOS is not treated permanently - you can only learn to live and cope with it. There is no super-tough diet, "having suffered" which is six months or a year, you can solve all the problems. There is no harsh system of physical exertion, surviving that you can finish the therapy. We are talking about changing lifestyle and eating habits - forever. It's not easy, but I try. Fortunately, I have a wonderful family and wonderful friends who are very supportive.
The only thing I regret is that I learned about the diagnosis only at the age of twenty-four. Despite the fact that polycystic ovary syndrome is very common (it is confirmed in every tenth woman), they say little about it. According to statistics, 70% of women with PCOS are unaware of the disease - like I was at one time. But if I had known about the symptoms, I could have started the treatment much earlier.