KNOWING THE SYMPTOMS OF POLYCYSTIC OVARIAN SYNDROME (PCOS)

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

I have posted previously on this subject and will post information from time to time, as PCOS is the condition that caused my infertility and it is my desire to use my experience in this regard to help others manage and treat this condition and most of all, like I did, have the family they so desire.


What is PCOS – PCOS is a condition in women with ovaries which secrete excessive amounts of male hormones (mostly testosterone) into their blood. A polycystic ovary is one with many cysts – the remains of follicles that never released mature eggs.

Have you recently been diagnosed with PCOS or think you might have this condition, based on symptoms you are experiencing, but has not yet been diagnosed. Listed below are popular symptoms associated with PCOS.

Irregular periods

Excessive hair growth on face and body

Scalp hair thinning

Acne

Excess weight, sugar craving and inability to lose weight (plus abnormal blood lipid levels and a tendency to an apple shape).

Darkening of skin areas, particularly on the nape of the neck, known as acanthosis nigricans

Skin tags

Grey-white breast discharge

Sleep apnea

Pelvic pain

Depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances and other emotional disorders

Infertility

Please note that these symptoms vary among individuals but some will experience the above symptoms.

Please also note that you can get pregnant even though you have been diagnosed with PCOS, ask your doctor and read widely about this condition as this will greatly help you to understand what you are up against and therefore positively impact your treatment process. There are a lot of websites with information on this condition as well as books that are available to help you with proper management.

Please note most of all that you can be treated for the above symptoms to have you feeling well again, just ask your doctor.






Source: A patient’s guide to PCOS by Walter Futterweit, M.D., with George Ryan

WHO SAYS CHRISTMAS IS ONLY FOR THE CHILDREN?

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand

Psalm 127: 3 & 4

Christmas was always the happiest time of the year for me and as the first Christmas breeze reached me, I began feeling this happiness and I would wait in anticipation as Christmas drew near. This usually happened whether I had money or not.

Sadly, this gradually changed, as my struggles with infertility intensified, as I found that as Christmas drew near, I began feeling more and more depressed, so much so that sometimes I did not feel like even putting up any Christmas decorations. I remember one Christmas, shortly before I migrated, my neighbor was so excited about putting up her Christmas tree and asked me if I would be putting up any. I told her no, what’s the use when I have no children to share this special task with, because by then my mind had become infiltrated with the notion that Christmas was just for children. She looked at me in astonishment, “whatever do you mean? she asked.” It was hard to explain further to her, because I believe one has to experience infertility or any other unfortunate circumstances like it, to really understand the emotional issues that can result in this regard.

I notice a lot of infertility blogs share this same sentiment. These individuals are so sad especially at this time, because they have no children of their own to share this special time of the year with and I totally relate, but I find that I am now scolding myself for ever feeling this way, for ever cheating myself like this and allowing myself to fade in the background, because I was so convinced that Christmas was only for the children. I should have known better because I know all too well what Christmas is really about, but situations can cloud our judgement and leave us falling short.

I would therefore like to encourage these individuals and others who find themselves also childless because of infertility or other reasons. Your pain is all too familiar to me, but I challenge you to make the effort to do something special for yourself, because Christmas is for you too, not just for the children.

I challenge you most of all to remember that Christ is the reason for Christmas and he came for all of us, to save us from this sinful world. Sadly, many of us do not celebrate Christmas for this reason, we become consumed with the commercial side of it. We empty our pockets to buy the latest toys and gadgets for our children, when all that Christ really wants from us is to reflect on the unselfish reason for his birth and to try to align our lives in the path that he has chosen for us.

I think the reason that this mindset came about, that Christmas is for children, is because children do seem to be the ones who are happiest at Christmas, and this, I think is because their childhood innocence allow them this privilege, while we as the adults are so bugged down with everything else, that we have no energy left to show any happiness at all or even to reflect at this time of the year.

Why not stop this Christmas and focus on the reason for the season. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. What precious gift, should’nt our eyes be all aglow, just like the eyes of those tiny tots, when they retrieve those special gifts they ask for, from under the Christmas Tree.

A reflective Christmas to you all, and until next time, keep clinging to hope.

FOODS THAT ENHANCES FERTILITY

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

I have always heard that there are certain foods that enhances fertility overall. For men, I know that there are certain juices available in my locale, one of which I have heard referred to as ‘strong back,’ made with peanut and molasses, which is known to enhance fertility in men. My father, every now and then used to make his form of ‘strong back’, made with guiness stout, eggs and milk. We always asked that he shared it with us, even though it was known as a man’s drink because it was surprisingly very good. Little wonder my parents have seven of us. I guess this drink really works on men only because I had to battle infertility.

Someone suggested that I tried garlic, taking the pegs like you would take tablets, (ofcourse cutting them into pieces that are safe to swallow). I did try it and a couple months after, I did became pregnant but sadly, that was the pregnancy I lost in 2006.

Below is the link to a fellow blogger's site with link to another site, which list quite a number of foods (all natural), which are said to enhance fertility in men (and women), some of which are Cauliflower and Ginger, to name a few.

If you are reading this post and you are having infertility issues, it does not hurt to give these foods a try.

http://infertility-fertility.blogspot.com/2009/11/sperm-enhancing-foods-for-fertility.html

ALL THE BEST, and until next time, keep clinging to hope.

REMEMBERING THE PAIN OF INFERTILITY

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

You all know we moved recently, well there is a very nice couple who lives in the same complex who we learnt tried to have children but did not and sadly have to give up on their dream of having biological children.

The first thing that came to my mind when I found out this was, Wow, and our son will be a constant reminder to them of what they had to give up on. Theodore is so drawn to them and we find this quite strange because he is not easily drawn to anyone, especially now that he is getting more and more aware. The other day we went up to visit with them and as soon as we were inside, Theo took off his pants and slippers and before I knew it, he was in their bedroom and jumping up on their bed, while the gentleman was watching television. At one point when I went to check if he was any bother, I saw the gentleman wiping Theo’s nose as he was having a cold at the time. That was when I knew that there was quite a bond there. Sadly they are in the process of moving and we will miss them dearly, but on the other hand, we are relieved that Theodore will no longer be a constant reminder to them of children they want to have so badly.

I later found out that the gentleman is yearning very much for children and so they have plans to adopt. Every morning when he is leaving for work, he would ask for Theodore so that he can say hello and talk to him a bit. He, in-turn looks forward to this because as soon as he hears them exiting their apartment, he would position himself at a particular low window so that he can interact and say goodbye to them.

Yesterday, the gentleman came home and called out to me and asked for Theodore and said he wanted to talk to him. I told Theo to go to the window, but the gentleman wanted more than that, he wanted to hold Theodore for a bit. I figured at once, that this had something to do with his yearning for children of his own, why his request and without hesitation, I opened our door and let him hold our son. As I handed Theodore to him, I felt the stabbing pain of infertility (which was all too familiar) in the pit of my stomach and tears came to my eyes as I allowed myself to reach out to this dear gentleman in a way that only one who was yearning or had yearned in this way, could understand.

It meant a lot to me that I allowed myself to do this because somehow, I find that my heart goes out more to men who yearn for children. I was fortunate that my husband did not show his yearnings so much, or else I would have had a more difficult time with my infertility struggles.

Can you imagine, Who would have thought that I would ever have overcome infertility and be able to reach out to someone currently dealing with this pain in such a way, simply by allowing them to hold my child in their arms, with hope that it does make their pain a little lighter.

Shortly after this incident though, I began thinking, what if this young man had quickly jumped in his car and drove off with my son, what would I have done? This crossed my mind because in my own struggles with infertility, in my deepest darkest moments, I felt like I could just walk into a maternity ward and take a child, or snatch a child, if they were left wandering carelessly around. This thought quickly left my mind though, because I was more focused on giving of myself in this situation and did not want anything negative to affect this moment and moreover, this couple is such nice people, who quickly reached out to us when we moved in and even bought us chinese food to last us a couple of days, because we were not able to cook.

This incident remained foremost in my thoughts for the rest of the day and I could not wait until my husband came home to relate it to him.

I challenge those of us who know someone who is battling infertility or is childless because of infertility or other reasons, do try if you can, as I know this can be challenging, to reach out to these people in even the smallest way. You will be surprised what it does for you and not to mention them, because a little kindness does go a long way and some yearn just to even hold a child in their arms.

Be thoughtful therefore, and until next time keep clinging to hope.

GOODBYE GREAT GRANDMA MYRL

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.

Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

Grandma Myrl, December 2007, holding our son Theodore, who was six month old at the time, while my mother-in-law and father-in-law and husband look on.

It feels like just yesterday I was saying goodbye on this blog to one of our son’s Great Grandmothers and here I am saying goodbye to the other one.

Yes, our son has lost the other of his blood Great Grandmothers, Grandma Myrl (He has two step Great Grandmothers still living). She died on Sunday of bleeding from a ruptured stomach and so the family is in mourning for the second time this year.

I remember when we visited earlier this year to attend the funeral of the other Great Grandmother, Grandma Daphne, Grandma Myrl was attempting to hug Theodore and he was resisting and so I encouraged him to hug her, thinking, this might be the last time he gets to do this because, Great Grandmothers do not stick around. Little did I know that this would become true so soon.

I often hear Grandma Myrl declare that she wanted to die so much so that my sister-in-law would remind me of this whenever she asked how she was doing. She was always remarking, how life had become so stressful and too many wicked, callous things were happening and would become depressed from watching the news and reading the newspapers. She lost a daughter this same month, a couple of years ago, whom she missed dearly and I know when she found out she would not make it, I am sure she was happy to be reunited with her. She loves that daughter so much and would not give up a chance to talk about her.

Grandma’s mouth was always strong but her eyesight kept declining and I remember when we visited recently, when she saw me for the first time, she said, “boy you looking so fat” and this was after everyone else was saying how I was looking slim. I knew then that her eye sight had declined even more. I wanted to hug her so much for saying this because I was worried about my weight loss but I knew Grandma was not seeing well. I still smile every time I remember that incident.

Grandma Myrl had a way of encouraging people and when my husband and I’s struggle with infertility intensified and began to overwhelm us, she would encourage us in her own subtle way and would always enquire how our relationship was doing as a result of this. We were always very appreciative of this as she was the only one in both our families who was actually brave enough to touch on this subject and in this way. Little wonder our son came into this world on her birthday and we believe this is God’s way of allowing us to say thanks to her.

Grandma, you will be greatly missed and we are sad we will not be able to attend your funeral as there are no flights available because of the Christmas Season.

We love you eternally and we will miss those loud dramatic conversations and hearty laughs. Your legacy will certainly continue.

REST IN PEACE and give our regards to our dear Auntie Joannie.