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My Story

Hi there, welcome to my blog. Yes I am a drama queen and yes I have been deemed “infertile” by a few of the medical experts in the great State of Colorado but that hasn’t made me give up my quest to have children quite yet. My husband and I have been on the emotional roller coaster of infertility since March of 2009 when I stopped taking birth control after being on it for ten straight years. I have been keeping a journal since the start of this process and thought I would share it with all of the other incredible women out there who may be going through the same thing or similar thing that I am. At age 28, I have been diagnosed with Premature Ovarian Failure (POF). With no history of fertility problems on either side of my family and normal periods before going on the pill, I was left to accept that I have this condition and that there is no medical explanation for it. Since receiving this diagnosis from a fertility specialist in May 2009, I decided I simply wasn’t going to accept that I wasn’t going to have children with my own eggs. I jumped into the world of Eastern Medicine, worked with an Endocrinologist and even went on a fertility diet trying to get my ovaries to start functioning normally. The conclusion I have come to is this…..having Celiac Disease (Gluten/Flour intolerance) and continuing to eat flour throughout most of my childhood and part of adulthood caused my body to produce anti-bodies that have now started attacking the organs/glands in my body. After a visit to an endocrinologist in December 2009, it was determined that I have ovarian antibodies which are essentially antibodies produced by my body that only attack the endocrine system. No doctor has actually confirmed my self diagnosis that the Gluten Intolerance caused this but Celiac Disease is an auto immune disorder and any auto immune disorder can cause your body to attack itself. I am currently waiting to see a Reproductive Endocrinologist to see what the next steps for me will be. I have read that doctors can try and stimulate the Pituitary Gland to get your Endocrine System running again or that you can be given steroids to help restore ovary function. I am hoping to receive one of these treatments in the near future but only time will tell. In the past 10 months, I have watched many of my close friends become pregnant while I remain a sad statistic. This blog contains my thoughts as I struggle through the process of figuring out what in the world is going on with my body and how I continue to try to stay upbeat and positive about my fertility and enjoy my life. I hope that my blog can help others would love to hear from other women going through the same thing, inspiring stories or anyone who just needs encouragement. I know and understand how difficult every day can be once you have received the POF or infertile diagnosis and want you all to know that I am here for you. Please note that some of you may feel I am sharing to much information (TMI) and for that I am sorry. If you want to read my blog…you get all the details. You never know what will be helpful to someone else right? God bless everyone and I wish you luck on your fertility adventures:0) Remember mind over matter!

My intent is to raise awareness of the issues. Please do not rely on this or any other article when making decisions that will affect you and your health. These are things I have decided to try after much research.
I am sorry I have to even ask, but this research stuff is starting to get expensive. I am just asking for $1.00 donation for posts you feel have helped you. I will use all donations to help fund my research and doctors appointments and of course report back to you. Baby dust to all of you and dont worry we will all find a way to have children.

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Save the carrot shaving from your juicer and make carrot cake or carrot muffins yummy! You can also save them to put in a salad.




Infertile – a horrible word used to make women who are already feeling bad about themselves want to jump into a pool of chocolate fudge and eat their sorrows away only to realize that not only can they not get pregnant but now they don’t fit in their clothes. A word so easily tossed around by doctors that they don’t even realize they are saying it and a word that you never under any circumstances should google unless you want your brain to explode.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Goodbye Starbucks and an Insurance Question

Ok, so I am officially giving up caffeine again. I think it’s causing my night sweats and flashes during the day. When I didn’t have caffeine in my diet, I didn’t have any signs of them and now that I am drinking it again I am getting flashes during the day and sweats at night. I don’t know what I will do without caffeine! The walk to Starbucks in the middle of my morning is that perfect 15 minute break from the craziness that is my life. I walk in and they know my name, what I want and I can sit and enjoy my soy, pumpkin spice latte without any phone calls or emails. I suppose I could still go and order decaf….but what’s the point? Why take in the calories if it’s not going to help keep me awake? Maybe I will take the three dollars I was spending every morning and at the end of the month and spend it on something for myself as a reward for no longer drinking Starbucks? After all, don’t I deserve something for making the lifestyle change? Soy is not good for fertility anyway. Well actually depending on who you talk to, Soy is really good or really bad for fertility...everyone has their own opinions. I just believe everything affects everyone differently. Like perfume for example. One perfume can smell amazing on one person and smell really bad on another….yes, I just compared my fertility to perfume…we all know I have issues. This girl isn’t going to take any chances, seems like I already have enough things working against me on the fertility front. No more soy and no more caffeine. Last night my husband and I had a “passion moment” which I have previously written scares me more then it pleases me. It really hurt, I am hoping because it is because of where I am in my crazy cycle and not because the lining of my uterus is continuing to thin. I miss the days of being able to enjoy passion moments without worrying about it hurting or things getting dry. I waited so long to find the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with and now we can’t even enjoy our passion moments as we should be able to. I will continue to believe my body is on a siesta and also continue to have hope that my new doctor will be able to help me get things moving again. Enough about me (at least for now), today is the last day to answer the current questionnaire on my blog. I will post the results tomorrow and put up a new questionnaire. I will also start giveaways the first week in March. Items will be related to fertility, women’s health and of course fun things like clothing and purses. I will do one giveaway a week. I hope that you will continue to follow me as I find out if natural conception is in my cards or if my husband and I will be trying IVF. Oh, I almost forgot! Does anyone know how I can get insurance coverage for fertility treatments? Is there a company any of you used when you went through IVF treatments? My husband’s insurance covers only one treatment and I have been told that most of the time it takes two treatments to get preggers. I just want to be prepared.


I wanted to share the post below. Pretty amazing and thought it went with my “perfume” discussion above regarding how everyone’s body is different. This and other information is available at babymed.com. Babymed is a great online community for all of you with fertility issues, questions or have no issues and are trying to get pregnant. Free ovulation predictor and other tools. Check it out and I hope you are encouraged by the story below. Thanks for following and I hope everyone has a great weekend!

“I was on the birth control pill for about 10 years. When I quit taking the pill I did not have a period FOR 6 YEARS! I tried provera which is a drug that is supposed to jump-start a period, 3 times, and it worked I tried clomid which is supposed to make you ovulate. No pregnancy. I did nothing for at least 6 months now and I started a period naturally on Dec. 13th! After 6 years! I thought I would never have kids much less a period. These doctors knew nothing. They would try to tell me maybe I was too thin 5'8'' & 115lbs. basically accusing me of being anorexic. No one not even a fertility specialist said anything about "Post-pill amenorrhea" which is seen in 1 of 30 women. Here six years later I am finding this out. So I guess I say to all of you, never give up. I am taking advantage of this one lucky period in hopes of conception or a second period to come.”

ANNONYMOUS
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Reading Materials/Other Items That Have Helped Me

  • Inconceivable
  • Making Babies by Sami S. David, MD & Jill Blakeway, LAc
  • pre-seed Fertility-friendly Intimate Moisturizer
  • restoring fertility - yoga for optimal fertility dvd - you can feel it working!
  • Taking Charge for Your Fertility by Toni Weschler, MPH
  • The Infertility Cure by Randin Lewis, Ph. D.