My Irregular Menstrual Cycle Turned Out To Be PCOS

I’ve been menstruating since I was 11. This past January, I turned 22. In the 11 years between, my menstrual cycle has never been regular and I have honed in on the art of getting blood stains out of various fabrics.

The first gynaecologist I had, for over a decade, chalked up the irregularities to various causes throughout the years. Understandably, no one expected my cycle to be regular in the early years because I was still going through puberty. I had horrible cramps, only survived through codeine my grandma illicitly gave to me and, later, combination birth control pills and metamizole. 

My cycle was still irregular while I was on the pill, but that was marked down as my body adjusting to being on the pill. Then, when I decided to come off the pill because it gave me treatment-resistant depression, my cycle irregularities became attributed to my body adjusting to not being on the pill. 

I came off hormonal birth control for a year and a half, and my cycle did not return to normal, whatever normal was supposed to be – I was clueless. By this time, I was in university; the new excuse was that the stress of education was throwing off my cycle. It would come twice in one month sometimes, and then disappear for two. I spent a fair bit of money on pregnancy tests each time this happened.

For reasons beyond my control, I was mandated to go back on hormonal birth control. My doctor said the Depo shot would be great for me, because it’d stop my horrible periods altogether. Reader, it did not stop my periods. I got every shot on time and still ended up bleeding every two weeks. I still had cramps. I was anaemic, and my depression stopped responding to treatment again.

Desperate to get off hormones but still being medically required to be on some form of birth control, I got a copper IUD inserted. I wish my gynaecologist had told me how horrible of an idea this was but, as I hope I’ve established, she was a terrible doctor (to me at least). I fainted after insertion, and I had cramps every day after. I bled for 37 days. I spent so much money on pads and tampons, only to end up bleeding on everything anyway.

I was supposed to go back for a check-up one month after the insertion, and I did show up for the appointment, but left after three hours in the waiting room because I was hungry and fed up with waiting. I wanted answers to why my reproductive system behaved the way it did, and it was at that point I started consulting with friends who had menstrual disorders like polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis. 

One of my friends put me on to the same doctor who had diagnosed her with PCOS; she said it only took a session. Here I was with a decade’s worth of pain that I could possibly have answers for after a 15 minute appointment. Of course, I had done a lot of googling about PCOS in the years beforehand, but most of the outward characteristics of PCOS did not seem to apply to me. I had never struggled with acne, I had barely any body hair and I’ve never been overweight.

I had written a detailed history of my menstrual complaints, ready to present as evidence for why there was something wrong with my reproductive system. I got about one minute into my spiel before she nodded her head and suggested a vaginal ultrasound. She clearly described to me the image I was seeing on the screen. My IUD was perfectly in place, and not impaling me. My uterus was normal, so that ruled out fibroids, and there didn’t appear to be any endometrial tissue outside of it. Then, she took a look at my ovaries. 

I’m not a gynaecologist, so I had no idea what my ovaries were supposed to look like on an ultrasound, but the way she was looking at them told me something was wrong. She did a few measurements in the ultrasound software, and then seated me back in the consultation chair. She drew a crude diagram of what my ovaries looked like, versus what healthy ovaries looked like. She also told me that, based on the appearance of my ovaries and my irregular periods, it was likely that I had PCOS. 

In layman terms, instead of maturing an egg and releasing it every month on schedule, my ovaries mess up along the way and produce cysts instead, hence polycystic (literally: many cysts) ovarian syndrome. When no egg is released, the uterus lining can build up for months without shedding, leading to some very heavy periods. This new gynaecologist also took the time to explain to me that I didn’t have to have any of the other physical characteristics to qualify for a diagnosis.

She ordered a few blood tests for me, just to rule out other possible explanations, like a thyroid disorder. I got started on a new hormonal birth control pill, one which has not ruined my mental health so far. I got my horrible copper IUD removed, and I no longer have cramps every day. I still have some worries, like whether I’ll ever have a child of my own since my egg machine is broken, but they are outweighed by my relief at not having to walk around with painkillers stuffed in my purse and not bleeding uncontrollably on everything I own.