October 2021

Time continues and I am having periods again. Although now I feel like they are super periods! I get them twice a month, once at what I think is “normal period time” and then around ovulation. I sometimes even bleed heavier during the ovulation one. The breast pain has only grown worse (which I never had prior to pregnancy/mc) and my cramps sometimes feel almost as bad as they did during the actual miscarriage. I also keep gaining weight. I called my doctors and they keep saying I need to let my body heal or deregulate itself and that miscarriages happen without underlying causes. They did not feel testing was necessary. I felt defeated.

Mid October comes around and I see my gynecologist for an annual checkup. I had been seeing different doctors the past few months as my usual guy is not an obgyn. I shared what was happening and how I was bleeding so often in addition to my other symptoms. He decided that a uterine saline ultrasound would be a good idea as I may have polyps. That came back inconclusive as they were unable to successfully run the catheter through my cervix, but not for a lack of trying! Ouch! A different doctor (because there was a long wait for my usual dr) did bloodwork for thyroid and PCOS and they were negative too. The new dr said that my estrogen was a little low and to take dhea. I was excited to have some sort of answer, but then looked up the drug and was immediately scared. It has so many very risky side effects. So my gut told me to send a message to my usual doctor and he emailed me back saying to absolutely not take it and he would call me tomorrow with further details.

On my doctor’s day off, he came in just to see me, did a repeat ultrasound and redid bloodwork as he noticed a full panel wasn’t done. He called me the next day saying “WE FOUND IT!” I cried. My bloodwork showed I have elevated prolactin. Normal levels are between 4-24 approximately, and mine were 106! This explains the bleeding all the time, weight gain, miscarriage, breast pain (I am actually lactating!). I am forever thankful to him for going above and beyond and actually listening to me.

I have an initial appointment with Shady Grove Fertility in just under 2 weeks. I have felt hope for the first time in a long time. It seems that prolactin is a relatively simple thing to fix. I am praying that 2022 is filled with happy and positive news for our hopefully growing family.

To anyone feeling hopeless- don’t give up. ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF!  If I hadn’t, I would have 100% experienced more losses. YOU know your body best!