Sunday, March 1, 2009

Secondary Infertility

Apparently that would be the technical term right? Secondary infertility since I have a child already. The comment caught me off guard I guess. So, I'll share my story from the beginning....

We got married in 2001. We started trying right away, I actually quit the BC a month before we got married. We were young, but together for years, and knew exactly what we wanted with our life. Fast forward to 2003, I finally saw a doctor regarding very long gaps in my periods, no success with pregnancy, etc. They did a few tests, and it all came back normal, so they gave me the big exciting diagnosis of "unexplained infertility" and suggested clomid. We tried 2 cycles in a row, and no response either time. So I took a break for a few months, and tried again. Still no response. Took another small break, and in December tried again. Back then the only monitoring I got was blood work on day 21. And I had to try 3 rounds of 50mgs clomid first because I did get a period occasionally on my own, just not regular enough. So anyway, December 2003 is when we tried again. It ended up that I ovulated on Christmas. I didn't find out till half way though January.
Kristopher was born in September 2004. We talked throughout the pregnancy about birth control at my appointments and we decided that since we wanted more children and it took so long to happen, we weren't preventing after he was born. After he was born, I was regular for the first 3 months. Then it was late and we thought for sure I was pregnant. And we were a little freaked at first because of how young he was, but obviously I was not, and we were then a little upset after it finally arrived. From then, we decided we were going to try again. After about a year, I went back to the doctor. In that time I developed a lot of bleeding related issues that we had to take care of. So in the past 4 yrs now, I've had 2 D&C's, been to 3 RE's for my issues, and had total hormonal work ups, ultrasounds, HSG, other testing, 2 SA for him, 3 rounds of clomid (with no response at 150mgs) and probably other stuff I'm forgetting. Just this past September, it was finally found that I have PCOS. Without a doubt, that's what the issue is. My ovaries have the total cyst line up and all that great stuff. How it was missed for all this time, I have no idea. All that matters is we determined the problem, and have a plan of action. I've lost 25lbs since the last time I've taken clomid last, and we have a much healthier lifestyle and less stress, so they feel all that gives me a very good chance with this study.

So, that's the deal on me. I'm still labled as infertility. Secondary or whatever you want to call it. Yes I have a child, but I've had issues from way back before him. I've been paying for all this crap as infertility so if it's not, I'd really like all that money back please.

1 comment:

  1. I get a little confused with the term 'secondary infertility' myself. I usually think of it when someone has 'easily' gotten preggo with #1... and that wasn't the case with you. But I guess 'secondary' fits... or just infertile, or maybe subfertile. It's the same no matter what you call it.

    It amazes me that professionals would miss PCOS for so long. Just amazing. I was an easy case to diagnose: The Dr. took 1 look at me and knew (and I'm talking about my outward appearance... I didn't get a transvag till last year). Yikes. I'll never be happy about having PCOS, but at least we knew what was wrong without having the pain of years of unanswered questions.

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