Hypothalamic Amenorrhoea - these things take time

Image by MONICA Reyes via Pinterest

To say I am impatient is a bit of an understatement. When I want to do something, I want to do it yesterday. My dad used to say to me:

“Lou Lou*, there’s no doubt about it – you’re a doer!”

*My middle name is Louise. Although, he often now calls me Luci. Pretty sure it has nothing to do with my middle name. Should I be offended that Luci is the name of our dog?

My amazing husband is also very cognizant of my “need-to-do-this-right-now-or-else” attitude. Although he often takes the approach of:

“Patience, my love. Patience”

Whatever. I’m a doer! My daddy told me so! And so when it came to baby-making, I applied the same amount of “OK, let’s do this” attitude, thinking if we start trying now (June 2013), then the baby will arrive around March next year, so I will be well and truly clear of university responsibilities. I apologized to my best friend – there was a high chance that I would either be pregnant or with child on her 30^th birthday (9^th March 2014). How lovely it is to dream….

Now, as you may know (if you have read my previous posts on the matter HERE, HERE and HERE), there was one minor glitch in this lady’s plan – a menstrual cycle that had been M.I.A for quite some time.

“That’s OK”, my friends would say, “I know a girl who had a cousin who dated a girl whose mother conceived when she didn’t have a period”**. Sweet. Back on track.

**May or may not be an accurate recollection of the conversation. Admittedly, quite a few friends mentioned that you could indeed ovulate without menstruating. I have since done the research and they were correct! Yay!

However, I knew it wasn’t ideal. I knew the best plan of attack would be to get my menstrual cycle regular – then I would truly back on fertile grounds.

Image by Erin Karolchyk via Pinterest

As I mentioned in my previous post on the matter, my first period in 2 years returned in September last year while I was in Broome. Then I returned home to Sydney apparently leaving my monthlies back in Western Australia. It was a little disappointing, but part of me expected it, for some reason.

We moved to New Zealand on Christmas Eve. Over the new year period, I partied like it was 1999 (only this time I was legally old enough to drink) – I was fed up with being “good” all the time, getting no evident results on the lady-time front. Early January this year it returned – I was pretty excited! So was my husband. And my family. Yep – everyone heard about it! It probably sounds odd to hear someone say they are excited about getting their monthlies –a time when your skin breaks out, you become a bit of an irrational, short-tempered bitch, your tummy cramps and bloats and you can’t don’t want to have sex. Sounds pretty shit, right? Any guys reading this are probably squirming up their face right now. Have you ever noticed that most males freak out when you say “period”. Try it – it’s fun! Anyway, the whole thing is exciting if you’re in my boat – it signals that things are starting to work again. And when you want a baby, there is nothing more important than the baby-maker. That’s not rocket science.

Image by Joanna Rodarte via Pinterest

OK let’s back-track a little.combination of factors: low carb diet, high intensity exercise, high stress life….. It’s really not surprising that my thyroid shut up shop! When you have low thyroid, you can experience a number of symptoms:

• Low energy (tick – always loved my coffee to get me going)
• Cold hands and feet (my husband can vouch for this one)
• Dry skin (like a crocodile. Sexy, right?)
• Weight gain (well, I had been trying to gain weight, but it did seem to happen at a pretty rapid rate)
• Low basal body temperature (mine was frequently dipping into "hypothermia")
• Menstrual cycle problems – BOOM!

 There are others, but I’m sure you know how to use Dr Google.

So I had a thyroid problem. The solution? Medication. I don’t like pharmaceutical drugs. I think they mess with our system and are too often handed out like lollies. However, if I wanted my body to start functioning properly, something had to be done. Luckily, I could be put on thyroid extract – dessicated pig thyroid! Yummy! Thyroid extract has the advantage of providing everything your thyroid requires, rather than just T4 (thyroxine), the inactive form of thyroid hormone which needs to be converted to the active form, T3 (triiodothyronine – try saying that 10 times fast!).

Anywho, a few weeks ago I had to go to a local NZ doctor to get a new script for my pig pills. She sent me for some blood tests to get a baseline of where my thyroid hormones are at. For shits and giggles, I thought:

 “While you’re getting some blood, let’s find out if I’m ovulating”….

The results came back –

Dr: “Your progesterone is very low, which means you aren’t ovulating, which I guess you already knew….”

Me: “Mmm hmmm. Yes, I guessed that was the case” – I lied, smiling on the outside, but dying a little on the inside. (For some reason, if you work as a health practitioner and you know about biochemistry, you somehow don't require the usual bedside manner) 

I’m not great with emotions, so I didn’t cry then and there. Or on the 40 minute drive home. It wasn’t until my mother-in-law’s dog chewed my sports bra that everything came unstuck and I threw a massive tanty. Why, when I have done everything right, was this happening to me? For more than 2 years I have tried pretty much everything to make myself fertile. What have I tried, you ask?

• Acupuncture
• Acuenergetics
• Ayurvedic massage
• Chiropractic
• Kinesiology
• Reflexology
• Chinese Medicine
• Raw food
• Cooked food
• More carbs
• More fat
• More protein
• More food in general
• Weight gain
• Less exercise
• Different exercise
• Herbal teas
• Naturopathy
• Herbal medicine
• Vitamin and mineral supplements
• Desiccated adrenal gland
• Desiccated testicle – yep, you read right – bull’s balls. Check them out below
• Abstaining from caffeine
• Abstaining from alcohol
• Sleeping in a pitch black room – I card-boarded up my windows to block out the light
• Crystal healing
• Ayahuasca
• Shamanism

 That’s just what I can remember off the top of my head. I am sure there’s more. Long list, right? Sometimes it is tempting to just give up and go down the medical route. But that’s not what I am about. I am determined to fix this the natural way – not just for me, but for all of the other females in my position. If I can fix myself, then I am in a much better position to be able to help others, right? I am slowly working through a truck-load of scientific literature. I say slowly because the studies I am reading are pretty technical and full of “science-ese” (as Denise Minger would call the language of science). But I will get there. And when I do, I will be sure to share what I have learnt. I've got your back, ladies! 

As we speak, I have my period. That’s two in two months! The last was a 38 day cycle – verging on regularity (ideally they should be 28-35 days long). It has taken me this long to get my period back. I’m guessing it will just take a little longer for ovulation to kick back in.

Image by Tina B via Pinterest

So stay tuned, friends – these things take time, but we are making progress! Thank you all for your continued support – it means a lot! xx

Period Party!

Image by Laura C George via pinterest

A few months ago, it was suggested that I undergo a procedure known as a “HyCoSy” to check for any structural problems with my lady garden, given I had not had a period in two years (which you can read more about HERE and HERE). They say that you may experience “mild discomfort” during the procedure and that you should consider taking pain-killers prior. Having had this done, sans pain-killers, all I can say is, don’t be a hero – take the drugs – the “discomfort” is more than “mild”. I’m not going to go into the gory details, but you can read more about HERE if you want. It was traumatic, to say the least. 

So anyway, post-procedure, I was lying on the bed/chair thingy, half-naked and wanting to throw up and/or pass out, and the doctor informed me that:

“You have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). You aren’t going to get your period back and you probably won’t conceive naturally, so we’ll start you on injections and then you’ll probably need IVF”.

Here's a picture taken from that moment: 

Image via http://blogs.voanews.com

 Talk about bedside manner. What a douche!

As you can imagine, this wasn’t the easiest thing to hear. I got home and I lost my shit. Big time.

After a few days of feeling sorry for myself I thought I should take a look at the images of my baby-maker. What I discovered was that I did not have PCOS, but normal, healthy ovaries in the follicular phase, which was confirmed by my GP and naturopath. Woo hoo!

In other news, while I was in Broome, I got my period back! So it turns out that this trusted gynaecologist, in one of Sydney’s best ultrasound clinics, was wrong. And did I mention he was a douche?

It just goes to show that, when it comes to your body and your health, QUESTION EVERYTHING and don’t accept anything as gospel.

OK let’s back up – I got my period back – in outback Western Australia! I’m pretty sure my dietetics supervisor thought I was crazy when I exclaimed 

“You don’t understand how EXCITING this is!!!” 

And it was! I can’t explain the feeling, but it was like I felt like a woman again. I know all of you ladies out there with a regular period are scoffing at me right now, and all of you guys have either stopped reading or are thinking I’m a weirdo. By the way, kudos to you, boys, if you are still here!

It all suddenly made sense why I had completely devoured a whole block of Green & Black’s chocolate the night before. And why my skin was breaking out. And why I cried watching “How I met your mother”. Seriously?!

So what triggered the return of my lady-time that had been MIA for so long? Well, I think it was probably a combination of things, but I don’t think it was any coincidence that it came back while I was in Broome AKA “most relaxing, laid-back, picturesque getaway spot in Australia” (you can check out my pics from Broome, and a yummy recipe HERE). I embraced “Broome-time”, which involved……not much. Not much at all. And that’s the point. I said enough is enough, stopped trying to do everything all at once and calmed the f#@k down.

A typical day looked like this:

6am: Rise with the sun. Walk to Cable Beach. Do 15 minutes of yoga or a quick Tabata workout. Go for a swim in the ocean (this became a little less relaxing after a 4m salt-water croc was sighted on the beach). Meditate. Walk home

7:15am: Eat breakfast. Slowly.

8:10am: Go to work

4:30pm: Come home. Walk to beach. Swim. Watch sunset. Walk home.

6:30pm: Dinner.

7:30pm:Maybe a little work for Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar. Maybe nothing.

8:30pm: Bed

9pm: Sleep

I spent lots of time by myself. And I spent plenty of time with some of the most beautiful, generous people I have ever met.

I’m sure to some, this looks pretty boring, but it was clearly what I needed.

Now I’m under no disillusion that this is achievable for everyone. I’m back in Sydney now and it all seems like a distant memory and, unfortunately, so is my period – MIA again, but I’m confident it will return when the time is right.

So if, like me, you don’t live in Broome and are having some lady-problems, here are a few things I would suggest:

1. Eat. And eat regularly. Every 3-4 hours have something small to eat.  And don’t cut out carbs. Why? If we leave it for too long, our blood sugar will drop. When this happens, cortisol, our stress hormone is released to bring blood sugar back up. This happens at the expense of our sex hormones (oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone). Eat!!
2. Practice yoga. I highly recommend the “YogaStudio” app for iphone or ipad. Not only do I feel this has helped my body, but it has worked wonders for my head. As I have mentioned, I have put on ~7kg this year, all in the pursuit of fertility. I have struggled with this, having previously been quite athletic-looking. Yoga has helped me focus more on my body’s ability rather than its aesthetics. I know how this sounds – like I am one of those crazy yoga hippies. Maybe I am. Whatever.
3. Walk around bare foot. Speaking of crazy hippies. It’s called “earthing”. It feels amazing. On that note – just get out and into nature more. Climb some trees, swim in the ocean, make sand angels, whatever floats your boat. Just don’t spend all of your time inside. It’s stifling, in more ways than one.
4. Go to bed early. Stop playing with your phone/computer/ipad at least an hour before you go to bed to help your body wind down.
5. Sleep in a pitch black room to allow adequate production of melatonin, our sleep hormone
6. Enjoy social time. Drink a little red wine. Play – lots!
7. Have sex. Often, if you can. Not only does this promote blood flow to our lady-bits, but also helps reduce stress. Winning!
8. Exercise, but not too much.
9. Cut out caffeine. Sorry, but this can really mess with your hormone regulation.
10. Speak to yourself as if you were speaking to your best friend. Would you tell your best friend “you’re fat”, “you’re ugly”, “you’re not worthy”? No? Then why tell yourself that? Your body has done more for you than ANYONE else will ever do.
    
11. Get help. I can’t thank the gorgeous naturopath Kate from Kore Wellbeing enough for all of her support.

My final word of advice would be this: don’t wait. Don’t wait until you decide you want to have babies to fix your period problems. If you do, it becomes all-consuming. And as much as you try to not let it, it can start to take over your life. It saddens me that so many girls accept menstrual irregularities as normal. It’s not! The time is right NOW to fix it. Not tomorrow. Not next year. NOW!

Oh, and just a little gratuitous shot to show that an extra 7kg isn't so scary:

Weird angle - my head looks very disproportionate, but you get the picture.