At what point should I start being genuinely concerned about my health issue?

Have you ever heard of PCOS and has your doctor checked you for it?? You can still ovulate sometimes with it but it does cause irregular periods and can cause fertility issues as a result. The good thing they are finding with it is that it can extend a women fertility making the possibility of pregnancy later than those without it.

I think your doctor has an attitude – a good one, and healthy! – that she’s trying to convey to you. “Don’t worry about it.”

Worry doesn’t fix things.

Now, if you think that she’s ignoring your concerns, not answering your questions or giving you bad information, then you should definitely seek a second opinion, if not an entirely new physician, period. (Pun not intended.) But that’s “taking action”.

If you’re given specific, credible and sensible things to do, then taking action can always make sense. Sitting in doubt and worry and stewing about “what if this” and “what if that” never did anyone any good.

It’s time to acquire a second opinion.

In my early twenties, I began having thyroid issues. My family doc and female doc brushed me off. What both of them thought was no big deal contributed to my infertility issues. I tell you this because my gut told me it was something.

It sounds to me like your gut is telling you something. Go with that. Find a doc that listens to your concerns and your desires for future children.

Worry itself can cause periods to be delayed or stop altogether. And yes, a cyst can be the culprit too. The ultrasound will check for that and they can give you an answer the same day, ususally.

When someone has Polycycstic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) basically what happens is the egg is not released from the ovary and so the woman can get cysts in her ovaries from the egg not releasing. The egg doesn’t release because of a hormonal problem. Once you ovulate that is what triggers your period, so if you don’t ovulate you can get cysts and not get your period. If you take the pill it masks PCOS if you have it, because it gives you the hormones to line your uterus and then bleed at the end of the month. So to clarify the cyst does not cause the problem with your period, the cysts are a result of the problem from hormonal imbalances.

There is evidence that a glucose/sugar insulin imbalance is one of the underlying causes of PCOS. Some women are prescribed glucaphage (a diabetic drug) and star ovulating.

The best person to evaluate you is a Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE) in my opinion, not your GYN. However, I do think the ultrasound is a good idea to get more information.

PCOS is not the only possibility, I don’t know much about other medical conditions that affect a woman’s cycle.

I think don’t be too discouraged since you previously cycled normally and have a baby. However, I do think pursing an answer is a good idea now that it has been a few months. Appointments with RE’s can take months, so you may want to make an appointment for a few weeks from now if you don’t get your period in the next week. You can always cancel it if you get answers from your GYN before that or if you get your period.

RE’s usually see women who are trying to have a baby. But you don’t have to be trying to want your cycle/body to be working normally.

I thought of something else. By any chance are your nipples/breasts leaking at all even though you have stopped breast feeding? That can be a sign of pituatary problems. That usually can be treated pretty easily.

So, your doctor should have done blood tests for your Thyroid (TSH, T4 and T3) Glucose and Prolactin and probably your LH and FSH. If you have a copy of your tests you can see if she did all or any of those. Probably she did a bunch of others also. It would be nteresting for you to know if anything has come back outside of normal levels. PCOS can have a normal glucose, but it is some sort of ratio between glucose and insulin that matters (I don’t remember the ratios and how exactly that works and most doctors ee a normal glucose and assume there is not a sugar problem of any sort). The Prolactin has to do with pituitary, but there are other lood tests also, which I don’t know, and if the numbers are whacky they might do an MRI or CT of the pituitary gland.

@JLeslie My doctor actually mentioned something along the lines of the pill being the cause of the cysts. She said the cysts can form when you stop taking the pill? I’m not sure how accurate that information is and maybe I misunderstood her.

As far as tests, she hasn’t done any tests or bloodwork, aside from the normal pap, std testing, and using her hands and fingers to push on things down there, which is when she felt the possible cyst. I think she was waiting to see if all I needed was the medicine to jump start my period and hoped my body would regulate itself on its own. Since that hasn’t happened yet, maybe she will start the tests and/bloodwork.

The last thing the dr said went something like “Well hopefully after taking this medicine, your body will regulate and we can avoid any further treatment which can get pretty intense…” And then she trailed off and muttered under her breath something about fertility treatment? I left the office feeling more worried than before because of the unknowns.

And to your question regarding my breasts leaking, no I haven’t had that issue at all.

@ItalianPrincess1217 Well, I think her mumbling like that is not good, because it just leaves you more worried like something awful is coming. I don’t think it is unreasonable she was waiting to see if the medicine she gave you helped; hoping if it straightened out in a couple months nothing more would need to be done. I also like that she seems to be saying she would refer you to a fertility doctor, because most GYN’s don’t. If that is what she meant. RE’s are the fertility experts. I think the ultrasound is good. I also think she should run bloodwork, hopefully she will do that when you go back.

I don’t think of the pill causing cysts, I think of it helping to avoid getting cysts. But, I am not sure what she meant exactly. Maybe she meant it can screw up the regular cycle when you get off the pill? I am totally guessing though.

Don’t panic really. It could be some underlying thing that is easy to fix.

Let us know how it goes.

Are your current period issues similar to the issues before your pregnancy? Could it just be a reumption of the issues that you had where you required a pill? RE is very complex and will require a lot of visits to get to the bottom. Many women when properly diagnosed do end up having no conception issues, so I would focus on this one step at a time and not worry about worst case scenarios just yet.

@drhat77 Before getting on any type of birth control (over 10 years ago) my periods were heavy but always regular as far as being every 28 days. When I stopped the pill, I got pregnant immediately (without even having a normal period after stopping the pill). After the pregnancy, I waited around 4–6 weeks and then started up again.

Post-pill amenorrhea (basically, not having a period after stopping the pill) is a relatively common event, which is why your doctor was unconcerned initially (I assume she performed a pregnancy test, just to be sure). I would try to stay calm, as best you can, to minimize the stress, which also isn’t helping your situation. There is no need at the present time for you to undergo extensive and expensive testing since 3 months didn’t pass between when you stopped the pill and not having a period resume (though your doctor induced menstruation as you were concerned). Have some faith that your doctor will sort it all out for you over the coming few months. Oh, and take a pregnancy test again to ensure that you aren’t really pregnant now.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/birth-control-pill/WO00098
http://www.medicinenet.com/amenorrhea/article.htm

<—F for the day

I can’t believe I didn’t ask for a pregnancy test. That’s a rookie mistake, as Dr Perry Cox would say.

@Quakwatch @drhat77 The doctor gave her Provera to jump start her period so if she is pregnant the doctor made a big error. However, I agree another pregnancy test is worth doing. A blood test, not a urine test. I am concerned it was not a blood test to begin with now that the OP has told us no bloodwork has been done yet. Urine only shows positive after about 20 HCG I think, unless they are more sensitive now.

I was told I was negative for pregnancy because my HCG was 6, but I knew I was pregnant (which is why I went for the test in the first place). I questioned the nurse asking, “I’m not?” She said the number is only 6, it’s too low. I asked her again, “but there is a number, conception happened?” She basically dismissed it as a chemical pregnancy I guess. A couple weeks later HCG is 1500 I have unusual bleeding and it’s an ectopic. I knew I was pregnant.

@Quakwatch Basic bloodwork is not extremely expensive. The doctor has done nothing in terms of checking her hormones. It’s time she does it.

This morning I felt a little off. Light headed and not well in general. It was probably just all this talk about pregnancy. But I took a test anyway. It was negative…still no period either. Since nobody has done bloodwork yet, I think @JLeslie is right. Time for bloodwork.

@ItalianPrincess1217 Have you had symptoms like your hair being very dry or falling out more than usual? Or, your skin and eyes being very dry? Needing more sleep? Not needing as much sleep? Being very hungry?

Both my skin and eyes have been very dry. In the past week I have been very tired even after sleeping 8 hours. And if anything I have lost my appetite, not been more hungry than usual. I had passed the blame for all this onto stress and out of whack hormones. Why do you ask about these symptoms?

@ItalianPrincess1217 The symptoms you mentioned can be hypothyroidism. But, they can also be stress and just being tired from work and having a young child. I seem to remember my mom had messed up periods when she was first diagnosed as hypothyroid. It was one of her symptoms. Although, I think it is more common with hyperthyroid. I would have to look it up.

My cycle never became irregular even when my thyroid numbers were very off. The thyroid controls (not sure if control is the right word) a lot of what goes on in our body so when that is out of whack other things get messed up. Being hypo kind of slows everything down, matabolism, can raise your blood pressure (which could make you feel spacey) changes the oils in our skin and hair, and makes us feel fatigued. Some people are very symptomatic, others not so much. I am very sympomatic.

Hopefully she will check your thyroid in the blood work.

@JLeslie I have actually had my thyroid check within the past 6 months. The bloodwork came back normal, which was a little disappointing to me because I had all the symptoms to match a thyroid problem. I just wanted an answer to my problems and thought for sure it was my thyroid (especially because it runs in the family). But results don’t lie I guess.

@ItalianPrincess1217 It’s worth testing it again. Your levels could be bouncing around a little. It could have been a mix up or human error (less likely, but it happens). Make sure they do TSH and T4 and T3. She might have just done TSH before. They all measure thyroid function. Also, GYN’s and GP’s tend to go by the lab parameters, but endocrinologists like the numbers to be a little different. If your TSH is over 4 (the normal range actually goes higher) I would say it might be causing some of your symptoms, but I don’t know about the period problem. It’s tricky. Seems like it is more likely something else is going on. Like you said thyroid would have been an easy answer, although no one wants something to be wrong with their thyroid.

I’m thinking no matter what you want to know why you feel below par, whether your period suddenly starts to cycle regularly or not.

Quick update: Still no period :( Took a pregnancy test this morning and it was negative. The worst part of this whole thing is never knowing if I’m pregnant! I have to keep retesting because I have no missed period to give me any heads up. I’m going to head back to the doctors soon and get blood work. I’ll update again when I know more.

@ItalianPrincess1217 I don’t remember, did you have an ultrasound? Did it come out with everything normal?

@JLeslie I haven’t yet but I have the script for it. I just need to schedule the appointment. It’s to check for cysts.

Update: The pelvic ultrasound showed that everything looked fine. The dr is sending me for blood work next week.