i do like how easy it is being a man
just go cheese in a cup
it feels like i've failed the test
i think i'm just going to avoid googling
stuff let's just not because
right i'm going to bury myself in work
for three days
hello everyone welcome to another
episode of the hormone diaries this is
where we talk
about all things periods contraception
and fertility
and this specific series i am
documenting mine and my partner's
experience of
trying to conceive we're trying to have
a baby
if you want to catch up on other
episodes of the series you can do so up
here and there's also a link to the
playlist
in the description so previously
on the hormone diaries i feel like it's
been a while since i've done one of
these videos
but i found out that i had low estrogen
and because of that
i was referred to have an ultrasound so
that they could take a look at my
ovaries and see
what was going on i got an appointment
for my ultrasound
sooner than i expected so within a month
of that referral i was
off to get my ovaries scanned today is
the day
it is ultrasound day taking a look at my
ovaries
i have got my one liter of water to
drink
45 minutes before the appointment so i
have a full bladder okay
let's go
i'm making the most out of being in
london for my ultrasound
to actually see the city i missed it so
much
but it all went well i managed to get a
liter of water into me and
desperately needed a way but um after
they did
like the external ultrasound i then got
to pee
before they did like the vaginal probie
one and it was quite funny because like
she lubed it up and
my vagina just was not taking sometimes
she can be a bit of a moody
um and she like was like i'm gonna get
some more gel i was like okay and then
she like
tried again and then eventually like
what would i have just gave away and it
was like
and then it like fully like went in and
we were both just like
there we go it was just quite funny i've
never had one of those before
and it was nothing like a smear test or
anything like that because they don't
like use a speculum and clamp you open
think of it as like a very thin dildo
going in like two inches maybe like not
a lot at all
and then just just being poked around a
bit just like kind of like up down
around just kind of like being circled
around a bit it was fine and
now i wait a week for my gp to be given
the results
and then i can call them up and figure
out what's next
so my ultrasound was yesterday and they
told me that it would be a week until my
doctor
my gp had the results however yesterday
evening i get a call
from my gp and they say that they have
the results
and they scheduled in a phone call with
my gp
for thursday so two days time
this is the first time in this whole
process
i think that i'm really starting to feel
terrified that there's something wrong
with me and i think
it has to do with the fact that the
receptionist said
the results are back the gp wants a word
with you
and that phrasing screams
bad news to me they want a word with me
i was always a goodie to shoes in school
like
worked really hard behave myself very
much attached
my grades to my self-worth hated being
told off
can't handle it still can't handle it to
this day and
it feels like i'm waiting for some exam
results
and it feels like i've failed the test
and i'm just waiting to open that brown
envelope that tells me
i got up and i've ruined my
entire future
based on one test so that's where i'm at
but i'm like i'm glad i'm trying to be
grateful for things like
i'm grateful that i get to find out
earlier than i expected i'm grateful
that the
test itself was like easy and fine and
not painful
and everything i'm not grateful that i'm
having to wait
for the doctor to have a word with me
why does it feel like i'm gonna be told
off
i'm also really scared that they're
gonna say something like
the surgeries that i had have destroyed
my ovaries
because the medical report from when i
had my uh
large intestine removed said that the
disease had obliterated
my appendix and so my appendix was
removed with everything as well
like official medical report obliterated
and because the disease was like so
rampant and then obviously i've had
two like major abdominal surgeries in my
head all i can think of is
the surgeries or the disease itself like
something else inside me has been
obliterated obviously i'm like
catastrophizing now that's probably not
the case
i keep on trying to be reassured by the
fact that
back in december i did have a positive
lh test
which is like the spike hormone the
hormone that spikes before you ovulate
and then also for my last three cycles
however long i've been doing the
fertility temperature tracking for
i have had a confirmed
rise in temperature which indicates
ovulation i hope there's no like
asterisks next to that would be like yes
if you if you get a confirmed like rise
in temperature
then you've confirmed ovulation i hope
there's no asterisks there being like
unless all of these reasons that apply
to me but
okay i'm having periods that irregular
i have a rise in temperature which means
that i'm most likely ovulating
my progesterone blood test came back
normal
which is the one that you take after
ovulation to kind of like
see if you have ovulated it's just my
estrogen levels that are like i've no
clothes let's just not because
right i'm gonna bury myself and work for
three days and i will see when i have
that phone call i think that's the only
way through this
yay coping mechanisms so i just
got off the phone with my gp and it
turns out
i've got polycystic ovaries which is not
the same as
polycystic ovary syndrome so i don't
have pcos i have polycystic ovaries
and i've been referred to a gynecologist
at
a london hospital she was going to refer
me to the fertility clinic and then i
said we'd been trying for nine months
and so that doesn't hit the criteria you
have to be trying for a year but i'm
gonna go actually to see
a specialist which is gonna be good i
feel like i've got so many questions and
the gp's not able to answer a lot of
them and i've had so many tests and
and i'm like answer my questions yeah
that's why you that's where you have
special
specialties in medicine eh i do like how
easy it is being a man
just go cheese in a cup get it tested no
you didn't find that that's all right
well no the actual the actual experience
of doing it but at least it's basically
one
one step one test and you're done yeah
i'm now on step three of who knows how
many
how many steps will be involved yeah i
mean at least making progress
making progress and uh it doesn't cost
you any money so far
no yeah even though i'm spending a lot
of my time managing my reproductive
system
well actually no we spent a lot of our
money on yours no no i was taking this
up at the u.s
i also think even doing things privately
in the uk is significantly cheaper
because they have to compete with
how much she is maybe three yeah there
we go
on to the gynecologist on to the going
to college i think i'm just going to
avoid
googling stuff the only time when you
need to be concerned when you google
your symptoms is if there are no results
then you've got something really exotic
[Laughter]
so i got the referral letter from my gp
and that was actually pretty quick
and what i like about my letter is that
it says
that so the gynecology department will
contact me
but if i haven't heard anything by the
19th of may
then i can contact them obviously i
don't know
like once they get in touch with me if
they'll be like yeah we can fit you in
in six months time
like that is a very real possibility but
at least
in the next couple of weeks i will have
a date also this cycle that i'm
currently in
is very much looking like it's going to
be similar to the last one which was 49
days
and i'm currently on like day 20
something
and no signs of
anything just got that like dry crumbly
discharge
not even like approaching ovulation yet
i'm like waiting for the creamy stuff to
come in but
nada so it's past the day when my letter
said that they would contact me for my
gynecology appointment
and so i gave him a ring and it was
basically just like there are no
appointments available
and so i'm going to escalate you to the
service manager
okay done that the service manager will
be in touch when there's an appointment
available and just like
no idea of when that might be i don't
know what to do
next i think i might ring my gp again
and be like can you just refer me to the
fertility clinic because like
you know she couldn't do that before
because we hadn't been trying for a year
but by the time i get a gynecology
appointment
it will be a year so yeah i feel a bit
stuck
now so yes yet another revelation about
my body
turns out i have polycystic ovaries
and i did not know that until now we've
also
hit a bit of a dead end a bit of a
stumbling block an
obstacle which is very frustrating i
haven't had my appointment with the
gynecologist yet i don't even have
a date i don't even know when
i'll be able to get a date it's just
all unknown and whilst
this process has felt okay because i
felt like i've been like moving through
the system of like getting this test and
then this referral and then this test
and it's all kind of
been happening it's now just like
stopped and we're like
hmm okay i know that i said that i would
be strong
and i wouldn't google stuff willy-nilly
but i have it's been a while i need
answers but i didn't go that deep
i just kind of like surface leveled nhs
website kind of browsing
and the nhs website has a page about
pcos but it doesn't have anything
that is just a bit more general about
polycystic
ovaries because they are very varied
and it's not really like a diagnosis in
the same way that
pcos is so whilst i wait for an
appointment with a gynecologist
who can take a look at my scan results
and
answer my questions about me
specifically i thought i would get in
an expert to answer my more general
questions
about pco and pcos and so i invited
daniel jones aka mama dr jones here to
answer
some questions hey hannah an audience
i'm dr danielle jones i'm a
board-certified american gynecologist
and some of you may know me online as
mama dr jones and i'm here to answer a
few questions today
so first of all what is the difference
between pco
polycystic ovaries and pcos polycystic
ovary syndrome
pco or polycystic ovary is just
referring to
an ovary with an ultrasound finding of
having
more than one cyst there are lots of
different cysts that can form on the
ovary
anything from small follicles like you
would see in an ovary that
is characteristic of pcos which we'll
discuss in a second
to functional cysts which are ovulation
sites
to endometriosis cysts to things like
teratomas which are germ cell tumors
and sometimes they get called cysts and
they're really crazy the way they form
is insane
they sometimes have teeth and hair like
don't google it if you have a weak
stomach
these are all different things that the
ovary can do there's so many more as
well so you can have
like hormone producing cysts cysts from
ovulation sites
all kinds of things so probably the pco
diagnosis or polycystic ovary diagnosis
just came from an ultrasound finding of
this ovary has more cysts that's
polycystic
we can't really identify that it fits
with a syndrome so
what is pcos or polycystic ovarian
syndrome
pcos is a very specific set of criteria
and
importantly when someone comes in to be
evaluated for a symptom
they need to have been ruled out for it
to be caused by anything else other than
pcos before they get the diagnosis
and then in addition to that you need
them to meet
a specific set of criteria called the
rotterdam criteria so on this list is
oligomenorrhea which is longer than
average
between your periods so people who have
longer cycles
this can be sometimes delineated as over
35 days for the whole cycle length
and sometimes over 40 days it kind of
depends where you look but
abnormally long times between periods
which indicates
longer times between ovulation or less
ovulations per year the second criteria
is something called hyperandrogenism so
you can have elevated
hormone levels of things like
testosterone and this can be
either on labs so you get blood work
done and you see that the
testosterone is elevated there's other
labs we look at as well
or it can be clinical symptoms so
someone may have
abnormal hair growth like facial hair
growth or belly hair or
excess hair on their inner thighs now
importantly this can be a
genetic thing too so people who have
parents who have more hair growth
are more likely to also have more hair
growth so it's not
always indicative of elevated androgens
but in the scenario where you're
deciding if someone has pcos they meet
the other criteria
it can be the other thing that we look
for to call something
pcos would be specific ultrasound
findings
of a polycystic ovary with a very
characteristic appearance
the cis and pcos are actually really
tiny little follicles
so a common misconception about pcos is
that you get big
cysts all over your ovaries and that's
not quite true they're tiny follicles
and they form in a very specific pattern
around the outside
of the ovary this is all the little
places where your ovary is trying to
ovulate but isn't quite
making it until you get the appearance
of tiny cysts along the outside of the
ovary so that's the difference between
just an ovary
with cysts on it which would be a
polycystic ovary and
pcos which is a set of criteria that you
meet oh
my goodness teeth and hair maybe i've
got the ones with teeth and hair
maybe i'd know about it if i had the
ones with teeth and hair i don't know
this has definitely given me an idea of
lots of questions that i would want to
ask the gynecologist when i
get my appointment like what kind of
assists do i have is it on one or
both ovaries does it have teeth and hair
also i think the distinctions between
pco and pcos were kind of interesting
because
i do have a longer than average
menstrual cycle
it's pretty irregular and it's like 40
day
plus when the doctor told me on the
phone that i had polycystic
ovaries i did double check to be like
hey
is it pco or pcos and she
said it's pco but then she also asked me
am i overweight
friends of mine who have pcos find it
quite difficult
to lose weight i've never tried so i
don't know if i find it difficult to
lose weight but i just told her no i'm
not
overweight and then she was like it's
pco okay
but it sounds like they would know if i
had pcos because
those specific follicles on the ovaries
would have shown up on the scan i am
still in the dark about what kind of
cysts i have on my ovaries
who knows and my second question is how
can pco and pcos
impact fertility the answer is for pcos
this is easier we know that people who
have pcos tend to ovulate
less frequently so you have less
opportunities per year
to get pregnant that can be anywhere
from they have
eight ovulations per year to one or
less some people with pcos don't ever
ovulate so
that obviously when you're having less
ovulation
times you have less opportunity to get
pregnant so that's the most common way
that
pcos affects fertility pco or polycystic
ovary and how that affects fertility
would really kind of depend on what the
cyst is so like if it was endometriosis
cysts
endometriosis is definitely associated
with infertility
and there's a myriad of reasons why but
we would treat that very different from
someone who had
a cyst that was just a simple cyst or a
functional cistern
like ovulation scientist so it really
kind of depends what the type of cyst
is so maybe when we get a little more
information on that i can answer that
question but right now i would say
polycystic ovary highly dependent on if
it's a cyst that's producing hormones or
a cyst that's associated with
endometriosis or a functional sister or
a simple cyst that's not really doing
anything so
very dependent on the type of cyst thank
you so much mama dr jones this has been
so useful thank you so much for your
time and if you want to check out more
of her channel
she does loads of stuff around guinea
stuff periods fertility pregnancy birth
all of that stuff and i'll leave a link
to her channel in the description
so i'll just be here still waiting for
my appointment with the gynecologist
so i can ask loads of specific questions
about my polycystic ovaries but until
then i want to do an episode of the
hormone diaries
about trying to conceive for a year
because
it has been a year they say that 80 of
couples who are trying to conceive
will conceive within the first year and
so
we're in that 20 baby 20
and so because it has been a year i
thought that would be a good time
to do a q a for this series so if you
have any questions
about my experience about dan's
experience
about just the whole thing
in general then leave them in the
comments and i'll go through the
comments and try and sift out
as many as possible to answer in a
future episode
thank you so much for watching and thank
you so much for all of your kindness
on this series and also i see you in the
comments of other videos
not asking questions about this and i am
very appreciative
of that but now is your chance to ask
all of the questions that you have i
hope that you're doing well if you're on
a fertility journey yourself
in whatever shape or form that looks
like for you
i wish you all the best sending lots of
conception baby fertility vibes your way
don't forget to subscribe so you don't
miss another episode of the hormone
diaries and
other videos that i make about sex and
relationships and i'll see you in the
next one
[Music]
[Applause]
bye
[Music]
you