My first break through...
It was early 2000, I was 23 years old and I was sitting in the consultants office of the gynaecology department at the hospital, being told by an inexperienced young consultant that I had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrom. When I asked him what that meant, he listed off the following:-
It is highly unlikely that I would be able to have children
If I did manage to fall pregnant, I would most likely miscarry
The expectation was that I would have to have a hysterectomy by the time I'm 40
I am high risk of...diabetes, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer & breast cancer.
He then said that they didn't really know that much more about it, and I would be best going on the internet and buy books on the subject to find out more.
I was full of mixed feelings. I was in shock and felt steam rolled by everything that he had said, but there was also a part of me that was relieved that at last, at long bloody last, there was a name. There was a diagnosis. I wasn't making it up. There was something wrong and it wasn't psychosomatic.
For years I had had problems with my body; painful, irregular periods, acne, fatigue, the ability to grow a beard faster than most men... Every time I went to the doctor, I was told it was because I was a teenager, it was my hormones, nothing could be done.
I had been living in the States 1998-99, and when I got back to the UK I went for 9 months without a period, which was painful and uncomfortable - but I had never known it to be anything other than that. I was constantly bloated and always feeling bloody tired. I started Uni Sept '99 and not long after I decided to go to the doctor, again! Different Doctor's practice, different Doctor. I was in my 20's, I still had acne, my periods had still not settled down and I could put on weight just looking at food - I was fed up. This is when I met Dr.Hay and he shall always have a special wee place in my heart.
I remember feeling so nervous walking into his surgery, thinking about what I could say or do so that he would take me more seriously than any other doctor I had seen before. I sat down and told him everything, and...cried. I hadn't meant to, but I was so desperate for someone to take me seriously.
I shall never willingly forgot what he said to me...'I don't know what is wrong with you, but let's find someone who can help'.
I was floored. He was the first Doctor that I had met who had the guts to tell me that he didn't have the answer, but also reassure me that he would help me find someone who could help me. He was the first Doctor to acknowledge that there was something wrong and that it did need investigating. I remember that moment like it happened yesterday.
When I had first gone into the hospital for my initial tests, they discovered that my ovaries were 2½ times the normal size and I had cysts all the way down my Fallopian Tubes. I remember the Doctor performing the scan, taking in a sharp intake of breath, looking at me and saying 'I'm guessing this must be sore!'. I remember replying through gritted teeth, 'It's a wee bit nippy...'
That's how I found myself sitting in front of this young consultant, who's people skills were not going to give competition to the hat stand in the corner of his room, as he bluntly told the 23 year old woman who was sitting in front of him, obviously frightened and out of her depth, the worst case scenario of her diagnosis.
The next few years plodded on. I was a regular attendee at the Gynaecological Dept, getting check ups and tests, trialled on different drugs until they found the one that was 'working'. For the first few years I had regular check ups, then over time they got less and less frequent as I was doing 'well' on them. 9 years passed, and I was still really, really struggling with my weight, period pains etc. I hardly ate, yet I was constantly gaining weight. Then I started to get a few wee issues...skin rash, the odd pain here and there and eventually I decided to visit the nurse because I didn't think that any of my issues were big enough to bother the doctor. Luckily the nurse took me seriously, and suggested that she took some blood to get tested to see if that showed up a cause.
Within a couple of days I got a call from the doctor's surgery asking me to come in straight away. It turned out that the medication that I had been on for the past 9 years was attacking my liver and it was not doing so well. They wanted me to stop the medication immediately and they would have me in for more blood tests in the near future. Right enough, coming off the medication helped my liver to improve. I was then told that I was young and as the liver regenerates I had nothing to worry about...
I was given another appointment for the hospital, and they spoke to me about alternative drugs that they could put me on. However, by this point, I knew that I didn't want to go back on drugs. I had always been concerned about being on medication long term and my fears were not alleviated by my experience. So I was told that there was nothing else that they could do for me unless I changed my mind about the medication, and I was sent packing.
After a year, my periods settled down for the first time in my life and they were kinda regular. I cannot say that they were painless, but they were regular-ish and that felt like a win!
It is highly unlikely that I would be able to have children
If I did manage to fall pregnant, I would most likely miscarry
The expectation was that I would have to have a hysterectomy by the time I'm 40
I am high risk of...diabetes, ovarian cancer, cervical cancer & breast cancer.
He then said that they didn't really know that much more about it, and I would be best going on the internet and buy books on the subject to find out more.
I was full of mixed feelings. I was in shock and felt steam rolled by everything that he had said, but there was also a part of me that was relieved that at last, at long bloody last, there was a name. There was a diagnosis. I wasn't making it up. There was something wrong and it wasn't psychosomatic.
For years I had had problems with my body; painful, irregular periods, acne, fatigue, the ability to grow a beard faster than most men... Every time I went to the doctor, I was told it was because I was a teenager, it was my hormones, nothing could be done.
I had been living in the States 1998-99, and when I got back to the UK I went for 9 months without a period, which was painful and uncomfortable - but I had never known it to be anything other than that. I was constantly bloated and always feeling bloody tired. I started Uni Sept '99 and not long after I decided to go to the doctor, again! Different Doctor's practice, different Doctor. I was in my 20's, I still had acne, my periods had still not settled down and I could put on weight just looking at food - I was fed up. This is when I met Dr.Hay and he shall always have a special wee place in my heart.
I remember feeling so nervous walking into his surgery, thinking about what I could say or do so that he would take me more seriously than any other doctor I had seen before. I sat down and told him everything, and...cried. I hadn't meant to, but I was so desperate for someone to take me seriously.
I shall never willingly forgot what he said to me...'I don't know what is wrong with you, but let's find someone who can help'.
I was floored. He was the first Doctor that I had met who had the guts to tell me that he didn't have the answer, but also reassure me that he would help me find someone who could help me. He was the first Doctor to acknowledge that there was something wrong and that it did need investigating. I remember that moment like it happened yesterday.
When I had first gone into the hospital for my initial tests, they discovered that my ovaries were 2½ times the normal size and I had cysts all the way down my Fallopian Tubes. I remember the Doctor performing the scan, taking in a sharp intake of breath, looking at me and saying 'I'm guessing this must be sore!'. I remember replying through gritted teeth, 'It's a wee bit nippy...'
The next few years plodded on. I was a regular attendee at the Gynaecological Dept, getting check ups and tests, trialled on different drugs until they found the one that was 'working'. For the first few years I had regular check ups, then over time they got less and less frequent as I was doing 'well' on them. 9 years passed, and I was still really, really struggling with my weight, period pains etc. I hardly ate, yet I was constantly gaining weight. Then I started to get a few wee issues...skin rash, the odd pain here and there and eventually I decided to visit the nurse because I didn't think that any of my issues were big enough to bother the doctor. Luckily the nurse took me seriously, and suggested that she took some blood to get tested to see if that showed up a cause.
Within a couple of days I got a call from the doctor's surgery asking me to come in straight away. It turned out that the medication that I had been on for the past 9 years was attacking my liver and it was not doing so well. They wanted me to stop the medication immediately and they would have me in for more blood tests in the near future. Right enough, coming off the medication helped my liver to improve. I was then told that I was young and as the liver regenerates I had nothing to worry about...
I was given another appointment for the hospital, and they spoke to me about alternative drugs that they could put me on. However, by this point, I knew that I didn't want to go back on drugs. I had always been concerned about being on medication long term and my fears were not alleviated by my experience. So I was told that there was nothing else that they could do for me unless I changed my mind about the medication, and I was sent packing.
After a year, my periods settled down for the first time in my life and they were kinda regular. I cannot say that they were painless, but they were regular-ish and that felt like a win!
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