the beginning

it's been a journey. Today marks a year since I went off birth control. It was initially because I ran out of pills and the husband and I thought it might just be a sign that we should start trying. We'd had the conversation and had planned to start trying in early 08, so it was only ahead of schedule by a few months. As soon as I went off the pill, things went wrong.

• My face instantly flared up. I've always gotten some pimples, but this was unlike anything before. I was getting huge cysts all over my jaw line.
• my period was normal for the first two months, but then started getting really erratic. I've always been a regular 28 day girl, but suddenly it was going on 38 days... 45 days..
• I was gaining weight at a frantic pace, even though my diet hadn't altered at all. It all seemed to be concentrated on my waist.
• my hair was falling out in clumps.

I was going to different doctors for the different symptoms with no one putting two and two together. Finally my gynocologist did a sonogram and saw the cysts. I was diagnosed with PCOS. That was some 5 months ago. After that it was another month until I got an appointment with a Reproductive Endocronologist who had me in his office doing bloodwork days on end. Finally I was put on metformin.

I started on 500 mg and gradually transitioned to 2000mg. It was two months of pure hell. I'd start at 500 and felt sick/nauseous for days straight. Just as my body adjusted, I transitioned to the next dose at 1000mg and once again the side effects were repeated. Same thing at 1500mg and especially harsh sideeffects at 2000mg which lasted a good month. It's been a week or more now that I've finally not felt the day long nausea. I think my body may finally be acclimated to the metformin, some 3 full months later.