Power Cysters

Hi everyone!

I'm Lindsay one of the Power Cysters. I was a little nervous about sharing my story and my journey, but I truely hope that with this there will be at least one woman out there that can relate to what I have/am going through.

Okay so a little bit about me! I was diagnosed with PCOS back at the age of about 14. I am very lucky to still have the same Dr who diagnosed me, as she was the only Dr in my area who had heard the little amount of information known of PCOS and its symptoms. Back then though the go to solution was Birth Control so that is what I was prescribed. We now know that is not always the best solution for everybody. Anyway, I am the sister of a World Cup athlete and well I was always the "fat kid". No one could understand why it was I was so different, I must have just been lazy, at least that is what I always heard about me. My brother and my Dad always included me in gym sessions, protein shakes and the like, yet I couldn't help but always think I had let everyone down when I just didn't have the energy and the drive to do anything. Birth Control helped, but it was really just like putting makeup on, it didn't solve the problem. I had dark facial hair, irregular and painful menstrual cycles that kept me home curled up in a ball, and I couldn't for the life of me lose any weight no matter how hard I tried!

My senior year of high school I joined the volleyball team and was in the best shape I had every been, yet I hit a plateau and just couldn't lose anymore. It was so frustrating! I just came to grips with the fact that I was never going to be any smaller. Still there was not a lot of information out there on PCOS.

I was lucky to have met my now husband back in 2008, he has made me feel beautiful no matter what size I am, but I still felt alone in this journey. We married in September of 2010 and I was about 5 lbs from my goal weight, yet even with the stress of the wedding I never could seem to lose it! We decided after the wedding that I was going to go off Birth Control so we could give my step-son a little brother or sister. So I went to my Dr for my physical and to discuss going off the pill and well I was hit with an Abnormal Pap Smear, this meant a biopsy and later the LEEP Procedure (loop electrosurgical excision procedure) to remove the bad tissue. Well that put us all the way into February and even in those months I never had a regular cycle. My Dr put me on a list of natural supplements and I also went to accupuncture, but the stress of everything was getting to me and I was very impatient, I wanted to be pregnant yesterday.

So my Dr sent me to a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE), we started infertility treatments, Provera to induce a cycle, Clomid to stimulate follicles, and later HCG shots in attempts to release mature eggs. After all the run around of tests and uncomfortable ultrasounds, I received a call from my RE saying he only wanted to do IUI and IVF from now on as those were the only ways I was every going to get pregnant...Can you say CRUSHED! It truly hurt to hear, but after much thought (and days of crying wondering why I seemed to get hit with everything) I just had to say no, I am the one in control of my future, and my body! There has got to be another way and it is not going to be through tricking my body with hazardous medications. I had gained 50 lbs in less than a year, something had to give.

While detoxing my body of the fertility drugs, I started researching and picking my Dr's brain about how we can go about this as natural as possible to fix the underlying problem, my PCOS which was causing my infertility. Meanwhile, I found Power Up for PCOS and gained tons of support through these other women and was happy to find that I was not ALONE, that I was not just fat and lazy that there are other women that struggle with the same issues.

Anyway, within the past week I have started medication for a form of Hypothyroidism, the major cause of my lack of energy, anxiety, depression, memory loss, aches and pains, rapid weight gain and much more. Basically my body has been treating my Thyroid as a foreign object! Treating this should help me better gain control of my PCOS symptoms with the changes that I have already made like; low sugar and carb intake, switching to but limiting whole grains, eating more organic as well as grass fed beef and cage free chicken, limiting my dairy intake (Ice cream is my downfall) and trying to limit my stress. Not always easy to do as I currently am home with my step son 24/7 =) and am an Independent Scentsy Consultant for fun (also to try to pay for all the past expensive, useless infertility treatments).

So, I feel like I am leaving so much out, but I don't want to bore you all either. I will be happy to answer individual questions anyone may have as well. Please follow me and the rest of the Power Cysters in our journey to not only help ourselves be the best that we can be, but as we help others who may not know their potential either.

Power Cyster ~ Lindsay