Saturday, April 30, 2011

"Being Young Means You Don't Have to Worry About Infertility"

Before we even started TTC conceive, I had people telling me no need to rush you are still young.  I was 24 when we first started TTC.  So, you would assume that it would have been easy and by now we would have 2+ kids. 

I think back to my college days when the signs of my possible infertility starting showing up.  I believe I was a Junior in college and I started having irregular cycles.  My mother told me it was stress and my OB's solution was to try progesterone to see if that helped.  The first few cycles after the progesterone were fine but then my cycles got all wonky again.  I opted to go on birth control to normalize my cycle.  My OB never did any test to figure out why my cycle was off.  If I knew then what I know now I would have asked for more test.

Fast forward several years later, I am married and we had been TTC for over a year.  I made an appointment to see my OB to get a referral to see the RE and talk to her about my cycle because I was having the wonky cycles again.  Her solution was to give me a pregnancy test and proceed to tell me how she got a previous couple pregnant in 1 month.  She was NO help and actually destroyed me mentally.  I knew I wasn't pregnant and she didn't listen to my concerns. 

During our whole time of TTC I can't count how many time we were told that "your were still young" and "don't worry."  All of that stopped the day we got my day 3 blood work back.  It went from "you are young" to
"It is to late." 
"Your FSH is high."
"You need "donor egg."

To all the young ladies out there who have off cycles.  Don't let your OB/DR tell you nothing is wrong.  Have them figure out the cause of your wonky cycles.  Don't wait till you are TTC because then it might be to late.  Be your own advocate.

This blog was written for National Infertility Awareness Week.  If you would like more information about infertility just click on the link.

4 comments:

  1. well, yes, you are so very right... When I was 19 my cycle 'synchronised' with my exams, even when they were only two weeks apart. I choose the pill to not have to deal with that. My GP warned me I could have trouble getting pregnant, but at that stage I had no clue what questions to ask, let alone to realise I had too little time left...

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  2. Very similar situation as me. College is when my cycles were off. They said it was because of stress and my low body fat. Solution: birth control. Years later, I tried to get off birth control and told my OB/GYN about my off cycles still. Solution: No testing. His advice: stay on birth control. That's when I got a second opinion. POF was then diagnosed after thorough testing. (That was a span of 8 years!)

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  3. This is also similar to me only I was a little older.

    I didn't have any problems with periods etc when I was in my 20s but that's probably because I was on the pill for most of that time which would have masked any problems.

    Then when I was 36 I went off the pill to try for babies. I got hot flashes and no periods. My doctor said I was too young for the menopause and discounted it entirely. But I pushed and finally went to a specialist and was diagnosed with POF.

    Now thankfully I am getting the HRT I need to keep me sane, sleeping through the night, and free from osteoporosis and heart disease.

    Plus I am trying for a baby with my sister's donor eggs. Fingers crossed it will work out!

    I have trawled your blog but can't work out if your sister is your donor or not. It appears she is but am I just assuming that?

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  4. @barrenlazza we used an anonymous donor. We considered using my sister but the timing didn't work. When we decided to move onto DE I wanted to move as fast as possible.

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