Going back to the physical aspects of my period, I knew I had to do something.  I was bleeding multiple times a month and the prolonged periods and the huge blood clots were draining the heck out of me.  The longest I’ve had my period was for 3 weeks!  Yes, you read correctly, 3 weeks…21 days! It was BRUTAL.  I would only get a break from bleeding for a few days then my period would start again.  My energy levels were so low during the days I was bleeding heavy.  It was hard to function and all I would want to do is stay in bed all day.  I finally decided to go and talk to my doctor about what my options were. 

At this point I was in college so I went to see another GYN doctor to discuss what was going on.  She did a sonogram of my uterus but did not see anything, however, my bloodwork showed that I had a hormone imbalance.  Once again, I was recommended to take birth control pills.  As much as I didn’t want too, I knew I couldn’t keep living like this so I tried it.  The plan was to take it for 6 months to help regulate my period and then see if I could manage without it.  During the 6 months I was on the birth control pills, my period finally got some normalcy and was regulated.  I stopped having sporadic periods, my cycles were much lighter and the days much shorter.  Bleeding in between periods stopped and my cramping subsided for the most part.  As much as I was against taking birth control pills, I was happy I wasn’t dealing with the headache of what I usually went through. 

Sounds like things are looking up right?  Keep reading, there’s more.  My 6-month mark came and it was time stop taking the pills and see what would happen.  I have to admit, I was so nervous because I didn’t know what to expect.  There were so many questions running through my mind.  Was everything going to go back to the way it was before?  Am I going to be in excruciating pain again? What if the huge blood clots start again? Will I be bleeding for 3 weeks every month again?  How am I supposed to turn up in college and live my best life dealing with my period for 3 weeks at a time?  I went to FAMU so I was trying to have a good time lol!  Anyway, I asked my doctor if I can stay on the pills for another 2 months and she said there’s no harm in that.  I told my uterus we were going to ride it out for another 2 months on these birth control pills and take a leap of faith after that. 

Once I stopped the birth control after 8 months, surprisingly I did not have any issues at first.  My cycles remained normal for a couple of months but then I realized I couldn’t remember when my last period was.  My period COMPLETELY stopped for a few months and although that’s not a good thing, I have to admit again I was loving it given the history with my periods.  I kept monitoring it to see how long I wouldn’t have a menstrual cycle but it eventually came back after about 3-4 months.  My period started to become unpredictable again but this time it was skipping months.  I would have a period for 3 days then it would skip a month then start back again.  Still no issues with too much heavy bleeding or cramps and overall, I felt fine, but I knew that wasn’t the norm.  Honestly, I didn’t even know what a normal menstrual cycle looked like at this point.  I started exercising more and being more mindful about taking care of my health with the hope that things would fall into place.

Towards the end of undergrad in 2012, my period started getting heavy all over again.  Something that I feared would happen.  I tried to manage as best as I could.  Some months would be worse than others and I would figure out ways to make things easier on myself.  I started carrying an extra pair of pants, underwear, pads, tampons and toiletries just in case I had uncontrollable bleeding.  I NEVER left home without it.  For pain, sometimes I would take a pain reliever but I really tried to power through without it and use heating pads or hot herbal tea which was helpful. 

Fast forwarding a few more years, I was working in my office one day and I got this extremely sharp pain in my pelvic area.  I was on my period at the time but this was a pain that I never felt before.  The pain became so debilitating I had to close my office door and literally hunch myself over my desk.  Eventually I left work but I could barely even walk or stand up straight.  I didn’t know what was going on and the stabbing sharp pain became unbearable. For the rest of the day, I had to literally crawl on the floor to get to the bathroom because I could not stand up and walk.  I definitely could not power through this pain so I took some medicine to get myself through the night, but the next morning I immediately made an appointment to see my doctor. 

My doctor ran some blood tests which revealed that I was anemic—not really surprised about that.  I processed with my doctor about what transpired over the last few years and most recently with my cycle including when I was on birth control pills.  My doctor decided to run more tests including a transvaginal sonogram.  The transvaginal sonogram, also called transvaginal or endovaginal ultrasound allows the doctor to examine female reproductive organs.  This includes imaging of the uterus, endometrium (lining of the uterus/womb), ovaries, fallopian tubes, cervix and the pelvic cavity.  To describe it best, it’s a long cylinder object that’s inserted into the cervix and the sonographer will rotate as needed to capture all the images for the doctor to review.  So basically it’s not a comfortable feeling but was necessary.    

When I got the call, it wasn’t good.  My doctor said that I had PCOS which is short for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.  She also stated one of my ovaries were slightly enlarged and I had a fibroid growing in the cavity of my uterus.  She also stated that aggressive pain that I felt was possibly from one of the cysts that ruptured in my ovaries.  My doctor then asked me if I wanted to have kids and told me that I would have to remove the fibroid at some point.  In the meantime, she said I needed to start taking iron due to my anemia.  This was all in one phone call and I was trying to wrap my head around all of it.  I was extremely emotional about it as you can imagine but I pulled it together to figure out what my next steps were—yeah right. 

So let’s pause here for a second because the reality is I didn’t pull it together right away it took some time and that’s okay.  That was a loaded phone call I received and I was a sobbing mess and felt like the floor fell from under me.  I was flat out scared especially when she asked me if I wanted have children because I do desire that.  Sometimes we gloss over life events so quickly without acknowledging what we feel in the present moment.  Ladies if you feel this way or have felt this way just know that it’s okay to feel what you’re going through in that moment.  I also want to mention that sometimes it takes multiple doctors visits to get a proper diagnosis.  I had this issue for several years but I finally got a diagnosis so that was a start. 

Since I was transitioning to a new state, I looked for doctors to continue following up with my care.  I went through several series of blood tests to monitor my hemoglobin but something else came up.  I’m like damn…what now?!  The doctor noticed something was “off” other than my iron deficiency and I was referred to a hematologist.  I was diagnosed with something called Alpha Thalassemia.  In my head I’m like alpha thala who?! I found out it’s a blood disorder that’s inherited from one or both of your parents that you’re born with; to my surprise I never knew I had it.  This was the first time that I have ever heard this and I’ve been getting blood tests my entire life.  I’m guessing the reason it surfaced is because of everything that was going on with me they were looking at my health extensively.  I’ll discuss this in a later post but this explains why it was harder for my iron levels to stay up. 

For the time being, I started taking iron pills to help with my anemia and eventually my doctor stated that she wanted to move forward with hysteroscopy.  I did another sonogram, regular and transvaginal before surgery so my doctor could have a clear idea of what was going on.  She stated that she saw a another very small fibroid at the top of my uterus.  However, where the previous doctor saw a fibroid in the cavity of my uterus, she noticed a polyp instead.  I was confused so I asked my doctor for clarification and she said that sometimes a polyp can be mistaken for a fibroid.  Both fibroids and polyps can cause heavy bleeding, severe cramping and irregular menstrual cycles; however, polyps can become cancerous.  Another thing that I have learned over the years is that polyps are made up of the endometrial tissue and fibroids are not.  Either way that sucker had to come out!