Last week I saw the nutritionist again for a follow up appointment.
Prior to the meeting I had my thyroid levels tested and hey guess what? My
thyroid has not tipped into hypo territory, in fact the nutritionist said it
has stabilized. She has me trying (very expensive!) CDB oil to help me sleep
and fight inflammation in my body. I asked her if she ever thought I would be
able to stop taking the progesterone supplement, if my body would ever manage
to make it on its own. She didn’t mince words when she thought for a moment and
replied, “No.” She felt I needed to be taking the progesterone as a preventive
to ovarian cancer, which she attributed to the wonky hormone levels due to
PCOS. She said she would recommend I stay on the progesterone until I hit
menopause. That is many, many moons from now, but I don’t disagree with her,
but it made me mad to think my gynecologist just wanted to put me on birth
control and to hell with my hormones. How is that ok? Why didn’t the
infertility doctor try to help me with my wonky hormones? Couldn’t that have
ultimately led to the desired outcome? What is wrong with the way our medical
system works that no traditional doctor looked at my labs, looked at me a whole
person and didn’t do something to help me? Oh sure, they told me to *just*
lose weight because losing weight would help my symptoms. But, they didn’t take
into consideration how hard it is for my body to *just* lose weight.
Honestly, if anyone tells you to *just* do anything you should not take
them seriously because they don’t have a clue. Still, if I hadn’t found the
help I need all on my own I would probably be considering taking the band-aid
solution just because my symptoms were so miserable and affecting my quality of
life. Instead, the progesterone has been helping. Not miraculously, but (tmi
moment here) I was able to use a tampon instead of a tampon AND an over-night
heavy-duty pad during my heavy days. For me, that’s freaking amazing! And, now I
find out it might actually be helping prevent a future cancer diagnosis? What’s
the point in going to my gyno again? I was told there were no herbal
supplements that help heavy periods. My only solution was the birth control
pill or an IUD. That is just plain wrong. I’m going to keep taking the
progesterone as I have been and, when my current supplement runs out, I will
try the CBD oil. I have a lot of work to do, in cleaning up my eating and
trying to get all the processed “fake” foods out of my life, but I hope in the
end it will help. The hardest part will be getting the kiddos on board. I’ll just
have to pull the mom card….
I'm sorry you were mistreated by the medical establishment. I've had that happen to me as well and it was awful.
ReplyDeleteBut most birth control has a lot of progesterone and, if I understand correctly, has similar effects in preventing overran cancer. Progesterone only birth control is less effective at preventing pregnancy than birth control that uses estrogen and progesterone, but I think they're both equally effective at preventing cancer. Is it possible the doctor was going to put you on progesterone only birth control? That's just progesterone and effectively the same thing as taking a progesterone, just on a different schedule. You can take progesterone during the first part of your cycle (from when your period starts until you ovulate) to prevent pregnancy or you can take it after ovulation until you get your next period to improve ovulation. I think either method would be equally effective at preventing cancer, right?
I'm no expert on the birth control pill, so I don't think I can adequately answer the question you posed. However, the difference in how things were explained to me was night and day. My gyno really wanted me to get the IUD, which I want no part of. I was non-compliant so they wrote me off and offered no other help. Ovarian cancer was not even mentioned. They did a biopsy of my uterus to be sure things were ok there, but that was it. Once I said no thanks to the IUD and birth control pill, they didn't bother to follow up with me. So, in my opinion, it didn't seem like they really cared to help me with my underlying problem, they just wanted to slap a Band-Aid on the issue and move on. I guess, it boils down to attitude. The nutritionist seems to genuinely care about how I'm feeling, if the prescribed treatment is actually helping me get healthier.
DeleteThe IUD (Mirena Coil) is also progesterone only.
DeleteIt makes such a difference to have someone listen to you, and explain what you need to know. My niece who has PCOS found a nutritionist the last year who has changed her life and her body. Finally, she says, she's actually learning about her body, instead of being ignored.
ReplyDelete