Diabetes

So sometime when I was about 28, my very thorough doctor sent me for a Glucose Tolerance Test since I have Polycystic Ovaries. Impaired Glucose Tolerance (or Insulin Resistance) and Polycystic Ovaries are often linked as something called Metabolic Syndrome.

I remember lying in bed once and understanding the links between the chemical imbalances caused by my ovaries and pancreas and the resulting excess weight, but it glimmered and disappeared.

Suffice it to say that there is a sliding scale between "Normal" (under 7) and "Diabetic" (over 14) and at 28, I was impaired (it may have been about 9 at the time or as high as 11, I just don't remember ...)

My doctor told me that this would mean that I may have problems conceiving and if I did, I would need to be monitored for Gestational Diabetes and ultimately, I was a candidate for Type II.

Hard to say what went through my head, but I do remember crying about my failure to be risk free and not really doing anything else about it. Except stopping birth control. And starting Metformin with a warning not to get pregnant on it. Not a great start.

I knew the odds of 1 in 10 the old-fashioned way, so I "couldn't really get pregnant" and actually stopped birth control so that when I did want to start a family at the planned age of 30, and we needed assistance, we could say we had already been trying for two years.

It really was a fine plan.