Dana opens up about her recent health struggle.
/ Courtesy: Dana Potocki
Hello 7 & 4 viewers. It has been a while since I wrote a blog, but there has been a lot going on that I’ve had to get ahold of before I could sort things out enough to post. Just be forewarned that I’m pretty open about what’s been going on J
A little over a month ago my family and I went out to dinner. It is a rare treat for us, and while I didn’t want to go crazy, I wanted a relaxing time where I didn’t eyeball every forkful. Things started to go south shortly after our dessert when I just didn’t feel right – my stomach really hurt and I was just icky. I ended up spending the entire night in the bathroom.
Prior to and after that incident I would have episodes where I just didn’t feel right – I could eat a piece of toast, for instance, and my stomach would swell up and I would look pregnant. Other times I would have raucous gas. And, it could be a dairy product one minute, and the next I would be fine having a yogurt. There was no rhyme or reason to how I was feeling, but I didn’t really think anything was “wrong”.
In addition to the gastro issues, I was having some female issues. Never in my life had I been regular – it was not out of the ordinary to go a few months in between. That was just how I was. My girl bits doctor would mention PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) but it was never looked into seriously. In fact, I had my yearly about 6 months ago and I was told that since I wasn’t interested in having more children, it really wasn’t necessary to worry about treating PCOS if I did in fact have it. I was so disgusted that I vowed never to go back to that doctor. Well, this past month I marked close to a year and a half since I had a cycle. Something needed to be done.
To round out the above, my weight loss had slowed. I was working hard at it – going to the gym, watching what I ate – doing everything right, and the weight just stayed. And, let’s be honest here – if my stomach was upset, there was no way I was going to subject the entire gym to my stink bombs. Not cool. It was definitely time to take action so I scheduled an appointment with a new physician and a new gynecologist.
My physician was fantastic – his initial thought was Irritable Bowel Syndrome, but he wanted to make sure I wasn’t dealing with something like Celiac’s, so he ordered a bunch of labs. And, he threw in a few more tests since he knew I would be seeing the gyno the next day. Thankfully, I do not have Celiac’s, so it looks like IBS is the diagnosis.
The gynecologist was a dream – compassionate, he listened, he explained, and he had answers. His initial thought is that I do have PCOS – this cannot be confirmed by any test, but through a series of questions and analysis of my background. Before we can treat it, though, he put me on hormones to clean me out. After that happens, we will analyze the best way to go forward. PCOS can cause weight gain, or difficulty in losing weight because it makes it hard for the body to use insulin.
That wasn’t all, though. My blood work came back that is indicative that I am in peri-menopause. I am 38 years old. Let that sink in for a minute. This is probably the hardest out of it all to wrap my head around. Peri-menopause generally occurs in women anywhere from a few months to 10 years prior to menopause. All women go through menopause, and I certainly could go through this peri-menopause for a long time, but there is something about knowing my body is preparing to stop being able to have kids that is hard for me to grasp. It is definitely an emotional issue for me! Aside from the emotions, though, physically it is also contributing to my difficulty losing weight.
This is quite a long post for me so I’ll wrap it up now, but before I go, I do want to leave you with this – it is crucial to learn to listen to your body. If something doesn’t seem right, get in to your doctor. And, if that doctor doesn’t provide you with the highest level of care? FIRE HIM! Find someone that will listen to you.
Don’t forget to tune in next week as we wrap up “Scaling Back”!
