My Struggle with PCOS

It all started about 5 years ago! I was a healthy 30 year old single woman. As many single women are, I was on birth control pills since I was a teen-ager. I started them when I was 17, not because I was having sex, but because I wanted my mild acne to improve. Throughout my 20’s I still had mild acne mostly flaring around my periods, however it was manageable. When I hit about 28, during my yearly gyn exams, my doctor would note that my blood pressure seemed to be elevated. Three successive years I would get the same information, elevated blood pressure. The third year when I turned 30, the doctor said to me, “your blood pressure is 150/90 and has been steadily increasing over the past few years” That frightened me! I was a lean, fit woman who ate well (mostly vegetarian) and exercised regularly. I had no genetic history of high blood pressure. It didn’t seem to bother my doctor all that much except that this year he suggested that I start taking blood pressure medication to regulate it. There was no mention of what could be causing this spike, nor any real concern for my overall health.

Being a health conscious woman, and daughter of a holistic health practitioner, I wanted to know what was wrong with me, rather than being a “magic pill” to make my symptoms go away. I refused the prescription for beta blockers, but took the prescription for the progesterone only birth control pills that was prescribed for me. Having high blood pressure, my doctor wouldn’t prescribe the regular pills that I would take as they have estrogen. Estrogen pills are not recommended for women with stroke factors such as high blood pressure as it can increase the chances or having a stroke, or a blood clot. With script in hand, I went on my merry way, deciding to omit any and all salt from my diet. I wanted to see if my salt intake had any effect on my blood pressure.

Any and all monitoring of my blood pressure went out the window about 3 weeks after I started taking the new progesterone only birth control pills. I began noticing many different things happening with my body. I was tired all the time. I was getting increasingly oily. My body scent was getting very strong. I could literally smell myself. Each part of my body had an overwhelming scent, my armpits, my hair, my vaginal secretions, everything. It wasn’t necessarily a foul smell; however it was unpleasant, and intense. As each week went on, my skin got worse, I was experiencing cystic acne on my back, face, neck, and chest. My vaginal secretions were thick like glue, and I had to shower at least twice a day and wash my hair. I was getting increasingly depressed and needed to find out what was wrong with me.

I went back to the doctor who had prescribed the progesterone only pills. He suggested that I take a break from birth control pills and consider taking the high blood pressure medication once again.

I went off the Progesterone only pills! In about 3 days my mood had shifted. It was as if I was seeing the blue sky for the first time. I hadn’t realized how truly depressed and foggy the pills had made me. I was so affected by the physical symptoms; the acne, the oiliness, the smell that I hadn’t realized how overwhelmingly affected my mood was. I had decided to never take progesterone only pills ever again.

I should have made that a wider more fully encompassing statement to pertain to all birth control pills but I didn’t’ know then what I know now. ………………….(my story to be continued)