applebelly-blog

[applebelly-blog]

Apple belly

My mother is an ultrasound technician in a woman's center at a hospital.  She constantly is looking at my sister and I searching for symptoms or random womanly diseases.  Near the end of my senior year in college she got very hung up on the idea that I had an enlarged thyroid and possibly something wrong with my ovaries.   She set me up with one of her coworkers who did a scan of my lady parts.

Sure enough my eggs were covered in little cysts, that if I were not on birth control pills would effect my ability to menstruate. The words I heard from my doctors mouth were: infertility, facial hair growth, weight gain, and diabetes. All of these are the awesomely fun symptoms of Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). 

PCOS is an endocrine disorder that affects 5% to 10% of the female population. It is caused by a hormonal in balance, particularly an over production of testosterone.  This in turn produces high levels of insulin in the blood leaving the patient at risk for diabetes and also obesity.  

Many women have trouble turning carboydrates into energy, their body instead turns that potential energy into stored energy in the form of fat located around the mid section.  Causing women with PCOS to gain weight not in the hip and thigh region but rather in the belly.

To look at me you would not think that I am obese, I am 5'2" and a size 10 - but my BMI is 30.1 placing me in the obese range. A life time of obesity is something I do not wish to face.  Bringing that number down is the first step in combating the symptoms of PCOS.

I am ready to start good habits now that can help sustain me throughout the hectic lifestyle graduate school will bring. 

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You are so lucky that you are able to get into remission with diet. Was it the SCD? I tried that and it didn't work. Also if you don't mind me asking, what meds are you on for your UC?

I did use the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD). It was not an easy diet, and it did not work right away, but after sticking with it for about a month I saw improvement along with the medication I was taking at the time.

At that time I was taking both Rowasa and Canasa. In bad flair ups I have taken Prednisone, but I try to avoid that one whenever possible.  There are a few others I have been on through the years - but those are the main players.

When I am not showing symptoms I just take Colazal. 

I also supplement my medication with more homeopathic options (when I am on the ball - which I have not been lately).

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What is that?

When I was nine, I woke up one morning and could not use my left leg.  I dragged myself down the stairs of my house and called for my mother.  She took me to the ER where I was admitted, poked and prodded for a week, and diagnosed with lymes disease.  The doctors decided and a bug bite and a trip to the park were enough evidence to pump me full with drugs for a summer.  The intense drug dose brought out the underlying issue, ulcerative colitis.

Ulcerative colitis is a form of IBD that effect the large intestine.  It causes ulcers and open sores to form on the inside of the colon.  After having a colonscopy at the age of 10 the doctors were able to confirm the diagnosis. 

The causes of ulcerative colitis are unknown, what they do know is a whole bunch of things can cause an outbreak, but that they have not targeted what causes the initial cause of the disease. People with ulcerative colitis have a weakened immune system and that stress and food can be triggers for symptoms to appear.

I would like to repeat - stress and food are triggers for symptoms - and believe me, those symptoms are not fun.

In college the stress from school work started to really take a toll on my health.  I found a diet recommended for colitis on the internet and got very strict about what I put in my body.  The diet was intense and required my college's cafeteria to cook me meals that they did not provide for the other students.  I had to show up 15 to 20  minutes before my meal was ready - go back behind the scenes in the school kitchen.  I got to know all of the chiefs really well.  What this did mean - by the time I got my food all of my friends were finished with their meals. I often ate by myself - or only with my boyfriend at the time, who was a saint when it came to the UC.

I was vigilant about my diet, but once the symptoms went away and I went into remission, I started to slack. It became easy to eat the things I knew I should not - before long I was not watching what I ate at all.

I have been very sick once or twice since this time, even winding up in the hospital - but I have never been able to gain the control I need over my diet.

I am about to enter graduate school in the fall.  I know the stress will be very present, in order to keep myself from the hospital I need to start getting back into good habits now.

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Time to grow up

I am 26, female, and have two chronic illnesses, ulcerative colitis and polycystic ovarian syndrome.  Each of these illnesses have embarrassing side effects that require a strict diet and medication to keep their symptoms in check.

Throughout my life time I have gone back and forth with taking good care of myself and ignoring what I know to be best - more often than not - rather then dealing with my health risks, I have ignored them.  I know I have two illnesses that have the potential to do massive harm in the long term if I do not get them under control, but my stubbornness to live my life like everyone else has pushed those thoughts to the back of my mind.  

I have a track record of pretending my symptoms are not there - hoping they will just go away. It is time for that to stop. 

I need to grow up and make a conscious choice to get my body back on track, take my medication, get my diet under control, and hopefully stop myself from permanent damage.