I've been meaning to sit down and write this for awhile but it just seems so overwhelming. I've been married 5 years but I guess the best place to start is 3 years ago. I had a persistent Lupus flare that just kept getting worse- my joints ached, I had sores in my mouth and nose, and I was so tired I could hardly make it through work. I went to see my Rheumatologist who ran blood work and found my antibody levels were too high. I had to go on methotrexate which is a form of chemotherapy. I was devastated because we wanted to start a family but mtx causes severe birth defects. In fact, I was told I needed to use 2 forms of birth control.
A year and a half of giving myself weekly chemo shots went by. My weekends were full of nausea and exhaustion. You just get to a point where you are sick and tired of being sick and tired. At the suggestion of a friend who's wife also has an autoimmune disease I read the book "Wheat Belly." I was willing to give anything a try at that point. I stopped the mtx and began eating a gluten free diet.
I broke the news to my Rheumy that I had quit the mtx and decided to go gluten free. She thought I was crazy... until she looked at my labs. My antibody levels were the lowest they had been since before I started the mtx! I have maintained (relatively) stable levels on my gluten free diet with just plaquenil.
It didn't take long for me to bring up the fact that I wanted to start TTC again. My Rheumy agreed under the provision that I get cleared by an ob-gyn. My medical history is complicated- on top of the Lupus I have a blood clotting disorder. I am deficient in clotting factors V and VIII so my blood does not clot properly. My poor ob-gyn had to refer to medical journals but ultimately cleared us to TTC with a "I don't see any reason why you should have trouble getting pregnant."
Here we are a year after those words were uttered and he has now officially diagnosed me with "infertility." DH's SA was normal, I ovulate, but we just aren't getting pg. My sister tried for two years to get pg before having a lap for endo- she got pregnant four months later. Since I am also presenting symptoms of endo and there is no explanation for our infertility I am doing a lap next week as a last ditch effort. I am praying that this is what we need to get pregnant. If not, this is the last thing my insurance will cover and we will head over to the RE OOP.
So that's (believe it or not) the short version. If you read that whole thing- thank you <3
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