My name is Andrea and I am 31 years old. When I was 17 years old I still had not had my period. My mother took me to the county health clinic to find out what was going on. The doctor that I had seen was a specialist in PCOS and recognized the outward signs of it and did further testing to confirm. So, at 17 years old I was diagnosed with PCOS. They had to induce my period not once but twice. By the time I actually had one I was 18 years old.
From there they put me on birth control to help regulate me. From that point onward it was one horrible period after another. They were so bad that I would be bed ridden and would on occasion pass out from the pain of them. When I was 22 years old I had my first cyst rupture. I ended up in the hospital because of the pain and how sick I ended up afterwards. Shortly thereafter I was in and out of the Doctors. When I was 23 years old I went in to the get the results of my latest ultrasound and the Doctor told me that my likelihood of ever having children was nil to none due to how extreme my PCOS was. They even went so far as to tell me that I should get a hysterectomy to save myself the trouble of having more issues in the long road. I refused to have one done because I wanted to have kids some day.
From then on I was on and off birth control. Eventually, I just stopped taking it all together because I found out that being on birth control for a extended period of time could make you sterile. Needless to say, I didn't have a period all the time. I could go six to seven months without having one. I had just turned 30 when I had decided that I wanted to look into an alternative way to deal with the PCOS. In late 2012 my husband started seeing Dr. Jackson for his own health issues. By April of 2013, I started seeing him for my PCOS. Within a month my period started to regulate. The most amazing thing to me by far was the fact that I had absolutely no cramping by the second period. When he first told me you weren't supposed to cramp during your period I thought he was kidding. I can attest that it is true.
By August I became pregnant much to me and my husband's surprise. I had a difficult pregnancy from the get go unfortunately. I ended up having a severe case of hyperemesis. Dr. Jackson was the only Doctor that believed me that this was not typical morning sickness. I would see a regular obstetrics doctor and then see Dr. Jackson the day after. Eventually, the hyperemesis subsided around week 20 of my pregnancy. I went to the doctors on January 8th and explained to the midwife what I was experiencing. She didn't even examine me or anything. As soon as I got out of the appointment I called Dr. Jackson to set up an appointment for January 13th to discuss some issues that I thought were important and being overlooked.
On Saturday January 11th I woke up not feeling well. I went to work and around 8:30 p.m. I started to feel a sharp pain. I just brushed it off as her kicking me hard. They continued until I got off work. I called my mother and she said that I was having contractions. I was admitted to the hospital that night and gave birth to my daughter on January 13th. I called Dr. Jackson that day to let him know what had occurred. From there he would see me to repair the damage the pregnancy did to my body along with following my daughter’s progress.
Thankfully, I can say that through the health regimen that we planned out I am getting back to normal. I can't begin to say how grateful we are to Dr. Jackson for giving us the opportunity to have our miracle. We also can't thank him for all the support he continues to give us through everything we went through with having our daughter prematurely.
We couldn't ask for a more caring Doctor.