To My Health - PCOS

     If you have been following,  you will know that my health is seriously unpredictable. I have difficult issues with my menstrual cycles. I would like to report that things are all resolved and I am on the track to a full recovery. However, that is just not true. Things have gotten better. There is no full recovery for what I have, there is just management (for the rest of my life).
     Here is a recap of what is going on now. I have PCOS, very low progesterone, and a really hard time absorbing the vitamins I need to function (vitamin D, B-12 and I suspect Magnesium). In other words, my body is fighting against my will to live. The organs in my body are under stress and fighting to function. My liver is having a hard time keeping up with the toxic load my body carries (your liver processes everything your body carries, eats, drinks, etc.).
     Since I have PCOS, this means that I have excess estrogen running rampant in my body. My poor liver doesn't know what to do with it. Therefore, it has free reign. However, that is not the only problem. Because I have PCOS this also means that I have low progesterone (tests have confirmed this). Progesterone is the hormone in your body that is responsible for maintenance of the uterine lining before, during and after pregnancy. Because I have practically no progesterone the estrogen in my body is unchecked. Progesterone and estrogen are not produced at the same time. Think of it more as a competition, if one is active the other is waiting it's turn to run a-muck. However, instead of having estrogen do it's job in the first half of my cycle, it is present the whole time. It just keeps producing. Usually, progesterone would take over half way and help with ovulation (the release of an egg). Progesterone would stick around to see if ovulation results in pregnancy. If a pregnancy occurs progesterone then gets super produced (this is what maintains a pregnancy to the end, by maintaining the uterine lining and causes morning sickness). Without progesterone, there are no babies. If pregnancy does not occur, progesterone production ceases and this drop produces a period. Estrogen takes over for the building-up of the uterine lining, to help with egg attachment when ovulation and pregnancy occur.
     What does this mean for me? Because I have estrogen production down to a science, my body builds up my uterine lining with no problem. However, I have no opposing progesterone. Therefore, I am not ovulating (no egg production), which means progesterone isn't being produced at all. Estrogen just keeps going, building and building (doing it's job). Because progesterone isn't being produced (or at a very insignificant rate) my lining becomes thick. I then have a period. However, it is not normal. It causes sever bleeding and clots. Progesterone isn't being produced to stop this from happening. Excess estrogen tells your body to build, causing an unopposed period. This is why I have long cycles. The absence of progesterone to maintain a normal building/shedding cycle with ovulation in the middle.
     What am I doing about it? What we know is that I have a cycle that does not work. It is broken and needs to be fixed. Unfortunately, fixing it isn't as easy as taking progesterone when my body needs it. PCOS is a complicated disease. The optimal thing to do is to achieve hormonal balance and get your body to recognize what this is and start doing it on it's own. However, this rarely happens without some sort of medicinal support throughout your life. The real issue is trying to find what exactly works for you. This disease is very individual. What works for one person could be too much for the next or not enough. It is a disease that many women suffer through. So, there are therapies out there. But getting the right dose and cocktail of drugs (herbs or pharmaceuticals) is complicated, very trial and error.
     What am I trying? As I am sure you know, I have tried many things already. Vitex is my latest herb. It seems to have improved my life drastically. It has cut down on my flooding issues and even managed to make my periods only 2-3 weeks long, for a time (I am currently up-ing my dose to continue this effectiveness). I have also discovered that taking Vitamin D (for me 5000 i/u daily) has completely stopped my bleeding (this past cycle was 65 days). It is very surprising and I don't understand why Vitamin D would have this type of affect. But, I am going to continue to take it. I have also paid for an herbal consultation to help figure out what I should be doing/taking to control this disease. It has opened my eyes to really get serious about losing weight, watching what I eat (there are some foods that exacerbate my condition), and taking my supplements regularly (instead of when I feel like I need them).
Here is the current list of supplements that have been suggested for me to take:
 Eat a PCOS Fertility Diet
Multivitamin or prenatal vitamin (daily)
Omegas (daily)
Vitamin D (daily)
Blood Builder (daily)- iron
Fertility Smoothie (daily):
-Maca
-Alive Bee Power Royal Jelly-overall reproductive health/endocrine health
-Whey Protein
-UltraGreens
Slow Flow (during bleeding times)-mixture of herbs to help stop heavy bleeding
Saw Palmetto (daily) - helps fight male hormones
Cinnamon (daily)-for heavy bleeding and reduce insulin resistance
Milk Thistle Extract (daily) -for liver detox and renewal
Vitex (daily)-hormone regulation
Tribulus (daily)-normalize ovulation
DIM (daily)-combating estrogen
Exercise/Walk
Chart your cycle
Make an appointment with ND for progesterone testing-to make sure I am taking the dose I need. 

Homeschool Portfolio Fixes

     I have been working on our homeschool portfolio this week. I knew we were supposed to keep one and I have been, I just found out I was doing it wrong. I was putting all of Kaine's school work (art, projects, handwriting, worksheets for math, science and phonics) into the 3 ring binder with a sheet of notebook paper that was logging his day/week. So, it looked like this:

1. Sheet of notebook paper with written schedule of what we did that day/week:
1. Prayer, Pledge, Weather, Calendar activities
2. Math -Whatever workbook pages he did, if we did an activity (such as matching objects, building patterns with Lego blocks, sorting, etc.)
3. Phonics- Our ABC book (pasting, cutting, finding pictures), Reviewing/Learning sounds of letters, or worksheets of letters (sounds, shape, writing)
4. Hand Writing-Worksheets 
5. Religion-Memory verse (written on board and recited every day), activity(s) from "Who Am I?" and Memory Verse book, Bible readings (including music or the passages read)
6. Science - Workbook pages, pictures of science experiments
7. Miscellaneous - O2B Kids work (art projects, pictures of sports, science projects)
2. Presented in this order:
1. Worksheets in order of: Math, Phonics, Handwriting
2. Crafts from Religion, Science, O2B Kids, Math (in clear page protectors)

What I didn't have:

1. List of books read from start of school to present (which was substantial, I had to go back through Goodreads.com, library account, current books reading on our shelves and memory to write out a list- I am sure there are books missing. Good news, we did have over 50 books in a 6 week period!)
2. Attendance Sheet (I do have this, it just wasn't/isn't in my portfolio)
3. List of textbooks (I have this also, just in my lesson plan book, not portfolio)
4. Work organized  by subject (dividers, with notebook pages as a separate "log")
5. Log of days work, organized into a section (see #4 and above)
6. The portfolio also needs to have a copy of your "letter of intent" (saying you are homeschooling and sent to the school board of your county). However, I don't need to do this until Kaine turns 6 (they don't require it until that time and Kaine is officially registered as a school child through Kolbe Academy). This will be added when Kaine starts 1st grade or turns 6 whichever comes first. 

What I have to change:

1. I need to organize the portfolio into sections. This is easy to do, I just need to get dividers and organize Kaine's work by subject
2. Keep a log of daily/weekly activities at the beginning of the portfolio (the notebook paper)
3. Add our lists of Textbooks, attendance and books read at the beginning
4. Double check to make sure that is all the portfolio needs (as appointed by the state)

      So, as you see, work needed/needs to be done. I have already placed the notebook log in the front and added dividers. I need to go through his work, by subject, and place it back into the portfolio. The one thing that is suggested is to keep the first item ever done and one of the last (example: beginning writing pages and end of unit pages). This is to show the child's progress. I, however, am going to keep ALL work (mainly because I won't throw it away anyway and it will be organized enough to keep/look at later). 

     It is nice to have a portfolio on hand. I didn't like it at first, but now I am able to see improvement in subjects (such as handwriting) that I would not have seen otherwise. It is very encouraging, especially when you don't think you are doing so well. I think it will also be nice to look at, at the end of the year, to see how much we have done and the progress we have made. I am sure the portfolio and I will be great friends after a few years! 

October 2012 already!

Hey! It's been a really long time. I have been without a laptop for a long time. Matt just found a cord for one (of the three we have) and now I am back in business!

Well, a ton of things have been happening. And since I didn't take the time to see what I posted last (cause, we all do that, right?) there might be some repeats in this post.

We started Homeschooling, officially, on September 4, 2012. Kaine is registered with Kolbe Academy as a Kindergartner. We started him a year early. I might have already explained why we did this but, I am not sure, so I will again. As I was looking over the curriculum for Pre-K, I realized that it is the same stuff he has already done, for two years in a row! So, we decided that it was time, and Kaine was ready, for the next level. So, Kindergarten at four it is! He is doing really well. His subjects are: Math, Phonics, Religion, Memory Verse, Music, Art, Handwriting, Science and Science Experiments. Some of the things I added to the curriculum are music, art and memory verses. I thought they would be good extras. We also do Prayer, Pledge, Calendar and Weather. This means that we are mostly doing prayer memorization; the pledge of allegiance; going over the calendar to recognize month, days, year and holidays; and looking out the window to discover what the days weather might be. I have to say it is going really well. Much better, in some areas, than I expected. Much worse than I expected in others, such as Handwriting! Oh, Handwriting how I loathe you! (It is getting better but, that first lesson was frustrating for both of us!) The best part is, we are learning together, I am able to see how he learns, what he is learning and what he is struggling with (so he can have more one-on-one instruction). Also, a big plus is that if he gets something right away, we can move on to something new (no wasting time). If we also don't get some things, we can decide to do more supplemental things or wait until later (when cognitive development might be better for understanding subject matter). So, all-in-all, it has been a learning experience for us both. We have had to adjust our thinking about what school is and what it means to us.

In health matters, I have gotten a little bit better. I have been talking Vitex and it seems to have helped the flooding issue I was having. However, I think my body has become used to the dose and symptoms are starting to come back. I am currently looking for a reproductive endocrinologist to help with my PCOS. I am also hoping this specialists can help me get pregnant, regulate my hormones and get things back to, or as close to normal as possible. So, the journey continues. I am hoping by Christmas I will have a clearer picture of what my health is going to look like for the long term.

If I haven't said so already, I am no longer working or looking for work. I have been able to rest, recover some and reassess my goals. I have been blessed to know that what I am doing (staying home, homeschooling) is what I am suppose to be doing. It has brought me real happiness. I feel like I can make a true difference. I have also realized that change comes in small doses. If you really want to make a difference, like I do, than you should do it one person at a time. (Not that group charity is at all bad.) I feel like making a difference in one person's life is just as spectacular as changing a million lives. And, honestly, who knows what the life you change will change later. Joseph made a decision to keep Mary, even though she was pregnant out of wedlock, and look what happened to the life he decided to honor (instead of destroy, it could have been a great loss). So, by doing my small part, I am trusting God to honor it and use it for His greater good.