Monday, March 15, 2010

fighting the panic

Well I had an interesting phone call today. It has now been 3 full months since I went off the pill and I have yet to have a regular cycle. I decided to call the doctor’s office to discuss this, fully expecting them to tell me to wait another month, or another three months, etc. I was shocked because first of all, I called and got directly connected to Nurse Useless and didn’t have to wait to have her call me back. Second of all, I didn’t just get a “wait and see” answer. They asked me when I last took a pregnancy test, and that’s when I realized I haven’t taken one since the end of January.
I definitely don’t think I’m pregnant. I really don’t. I haven’t had any signs of pregnancy and I don’t think I’ve been ovulating. But the nurse said to take one more test tonight, and if it’s negative, they’ll give me something to start my period.
I just said “Okay” and got off the phone, and promptly realized I should have asked more questions. Like…you’ll give me what to start my period? So I googled it, which was difficult because no matter how I phrased it I seemed to get pages with 12 and 14 year olds asking how they can make their period start (yes, seriously.) But anyway, it seems there’s a pill you can take to induce a period.
That would be great. But one of the things I read while I was googling (which I realize I should really stop doing) was about PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome). Now, it’s very common for many women to take about three months to get back to normal after going off the pill, but if it’s something more than that, it seems like it’s usually this PCOS. Which means you can’t get pregnant without fertility treatments.
And that’s when I realized: hmmm does my gynecologist even know that I had ovarian cysts in 2002? I don’t remember mentioning it, but surely I put that on a medical history somewhere? But then again, my doctor switched practices a couple of years ago and I remember they didn’t let her take her patient information with her. Hopefully I wrote that down somewhere and someone saw it. I’ll have to make sure I mention it when I call them back tomorrow.
Because I’m a worrier, I’m really starting to fear that there’s something wrong besides just hormonal imbalance post-pill. Part of me knows this could very well be normal, but part of me is also really nervous. I guess I’ll take the test tonight and we’ll go from there…