My last post was five days ago. I had just gotten news from my Reproductive Endocrinologist (RE) that I possibly am not ovulating. This could be a new thing or something that has gone on for years or my entire life (well since I got my first period). There is no way to identify when it all started and it isn't really important. I knew I was ovulating while I fertility medicine because that is what the meds were supposed to make my body do. Being anovulatory could be the reason I have only been able to get pregnant with medical interventions.
Last Friday I got orders to have some blood work completed. I needed to fast for a two hour glucose tolerance test and a fasting insulin blood test. Yesterday (Tuesday) morning I went for my test. Let me just tell you it wasn't fun. If you have never experienced one, be happy. The glucose drink is like a thicker, warm, flat orange pop. I had to drink it in less than five minutes with someone watching mento make sure I didn't do anything like pour it down the drain.
Prior to drinking the "nasty", I had to give a urine sample and they took a baseline blood sample. Two hours later I had peed on my hand four times for urine samples and been stuck with a needle four times. Luckily, my phlebotomist (?) was really good. I may have made her feel like a heel when she asked me if I had been to the gift shop and seen all the baby stuff for sale. She had assumed I was pregnant based on the dr that had ordered the test. I have her my little sob story and changed the subject.
Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from my RE's office; he wanted me to come in to discuss my blood results. I knew something had to be "bad" because otherwise she would have just said everything looks fine. That brings us to this afternoon.
Praise Jesus! I do not have "the sugar!" No prediabetes or type 2 diabetes here. That was good to know. He said everything looked good as far as my glucose tolerance test went. However, I do have something called "Insulin Resistance." Having this problem (where your body needs excess insulin to regulate blood sugar levels) can lead to hormone confusion in the ovaries.
He explained that my ovaries could have started making too much male hormones (testosterone) which can't be detected in my blood, only localized in the ovaries. So this can lead to my ovaries "shutting down" the ovulation process thus making me ANOVULATORY! It is all making sense now to me. There is a treatment for it. I have to start taking Glucophage (Metformin) which will make my insulin levels regulate. Dr. M told me that he has had great success with many, many patients on this medicine; there is still a 50-50 chance that it won't beat my ovaries back into "submission" (my word choice, not his).
He said to view this as my silver lining and hopefully this will help a lot. That it will bring us a few steps closer to having and keeping a pregnancy successfully. Another perk he mentioned is that I will probably drop some weight as well. I know this isn't the light at the end of the tunnel, but it gives me some more hope. Ultimately, whether I end up pregnant and with a baby in my arms is God's doing, not the doctors.
I really liked the last line where you said that it is ultimately up to God. I know for me, it's easy to listen to the professionals and forget to lean on God completely for something. This is something I am continually challenged with. God made those professionals for a reason and they do good things but we can't put our entire faith on a human. For me, there's much more peace when I lean on God first and listen to directions the professionals say.
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