Friday, September 23, 2011

This one is about my cycle. You have been warned.

A year ago, when we finished surgeries and such, I started having hormones tested monthly to see if we could get them in the proper balance for (ha!) pregnancy. And, you know, for normalcy. Then I started changing my diet and feeling better and unintentionally losing weight and YAY! Right?

Enter Summer, A.K.A. the season when I got lazy. I started eating bread occasionally. Maybe once a day. You know, when I was busy or out and needed a quick meal (bread on a sandwich or something). And then people started bringing cookies and treats at my very-part-time summer job. And I'd indulge in one. ONE.

The scale...well it continued to show me that my weight loss was unaffected by these new dietary slip-ups. So I got sloppy. Lazy. Ate more grains when I wanted and didn't worry much about it. The scale continues to stay the same.

But my cycles aren't.

Granted, my cycles are screwed up. I have this weird spotting at the end that just NEVER. GOES. AWAY. Except that it used to be 4-5 days long. Now it's more like 8-10.

And where my cycles used to be 28-30 days in average, they are getting shorter. Disturbingly shorter. Last month was 26 days. This month was 21. TWENTY-ONE DAYS. That's three weeks, people. That is too short. Especially factoring in the first week as menstruation and the last week as spotting. I'm bleeding for 2/3 of my cycle?! That is NOT ok with me.

Here's the thing...I don't know terribly much about reading the medical cues in cycles, but from my experience, short cycles mean one of two things: Pre-menopause or endometriosis. I can't imagine being pre-menopause in my mid 30s. And we've proven my body's tendency toward endometriosis, the evil inflammatory condition that seems destined to take my reproductive organs from me. But I spent a lot of time (not to mention money) and endured a lot of pain to fix that problem last year, and I'm not giving them up without a fight.

All this is to say that I think, maybe, the problem is inflammation and my inability to control it without sticking to the diet. So *sigh* I guess that means that I'm going militant on my diet again. Goodbye, homemade cookies. Goodbye, bread. You taste great, but you are not worth all of this.

1 comment:

Cole said...

Hi Lisa~
I just read this post as I happened upon your blog for the first time. I'm 33 and have battled MANY medical issues that all seem to have a hormonal origin and have caused tremendous pain.

Endo is one of them. I had my second surgery in February and have yet to feel much relief. My problem is that the endometrial tissue is spreading to other organs so they are slowly/hormonally shutting me down, aka putting me into menopause.

I can tell you, as a person who avoids meds and surgical wards at all costs, nutrition affects EVERYthing! It's disturbing!

They've had me go completely off of sugar, white flour, white rice, anything processed. P.S. If you've ever looked at a label for ANYTHING it has sugar in it. I do have things I've found to eat, but my diet is whole grains, fruits & veggies, and some animal protein finally.

I miss sugar cookies, carmel apples, and cupcakes the most...but it's worth it. Just my two cents of advice from my 5 costly years of medical battles. =)

Hoping they can level your hormones and bring 'normalcy' to your cycle.