(In)fertility Journey- 2. Background

A little background here might be helpful.

I have a history of painful periods. Which I address by taking lots of Ibuprofen before and during my period. For years.

I’m prone to insomnia. It was slight during college, more severe at times during graduate school, and very bad during my time as a civil servant in my mid 30’s, and I still have it to a certain extent now.

I finished my Ph.D. in Plant Biology (mostly molecular biology and biochemistry) in 2011.

I suspected I had lyme disease because I got a bulls eye rash after a trip to Lake Berryessa during graduate school. I did not get it checked out (because I’d never heard of lyme disease up to that point). I would get recurrent rashes, heart palpitations, tingling in my limbs, wozziness, etc. A whole plethora of strange symptoms that my doctor could not decipher. When I mentioned chronic lyme disease, I got the ‘frazzled little lady is imagining things’ treatment.

I have recurrent, thyroiditis (6 rounds so far) that started in 2006, and appears to be triggered by intense stress. Each time my thyroiditis resolved by itself after management with propranolol and rest. This started after the possible ‘lyme’ exposure, and I have no idea if one has anything to do with the other. Maybe? For me, the symptoms are rather distinct between the two. Because I’ve had so many episodes of self-resolving thyroiditis, I’ve become very aware of my body; I am the only case my current endocrinologist has ever had in 15 years of practice, to more than 2 episodes of thyroiditis. My endocrinologist has a standing blood order for me to get my TSH, T4 and T3 evaluated whenever I ‘feel’ the symptoms, and I’ve been spot on. When I am in the hyperthyroid phase, I take 10mg propranolol throughout the day as needed. I simply weather the hypothyroid phase, and so far, my thyroid has normalized after every episode with a month or so of taking better care of myself. I’ve always been somewhat aware of my body condition, but thyroiditis has increased my awareness greatly.

In 2011 I had a bad period episode. I started taking birth control pills in graduate school, but after about two years, stopped it completely- I felt I was constantly getting cold sores, getting allergies, getting sick. I knew my mother (30 years ago) had tried birth control and it made her feel horrible. She was so sensitive to it that she opted for an IUD. Now my sensitivity to birth control might have been complicated by the stress of my graduate research and lack of physical care, but I discontinued the pill and relied on a physical barrier after that. In the middle of October 2011, I freaked out at a condom malfunction and took Plan B. Later that month, on the morning before my period began, I had such massive pains in my stomach that I nearly passed out. I basically writhed around on the bathroom floor, trying to take little breaths and sweating buckets. I managed to call my boyfriend (later my husband) who rushed home and he was so scared he called 911. By the time the EMTs arrived, I was better- having the shakes and still soggy with sweat, but I refused to go to the hospital. Because of this episode, I got a gynecological checkup which revealed nothing out of the ordinary. Meanwhile, my ‘lyme’ symptoms were still present so I found a doctor who believed in chronic lyme disease.

The lyme doctor ran a number of tests which all came back nonreactive. All except for a microbiology assay from Advanced Laboratory Services for spirochete/Borrelia culture. Borrelia burdorferi causes lyme disease. For those of you with a scientific background, you might be questioning the validity of this assay. All I can say is that at the time I was not in a condition to press the diagnostic company to provide information regarding their methods. My life was rather unstable at that time- I was finishing up my dissertation, I did not have health insurance, we had recently moved to a new city where my boyfriend’s boss was not paying him. The Borrelia analysis came back positive for microbial growth. The report stated:

“Patient Blood culture displays positive growth of spirochetal organisms in the blood which stained positive via immunohistochemical method using polyclonal antibody for Borrelia burgdorferi.”

For about 5 continuous months from late 2011 to early 2012, the lyme doctor blasted me with horse pills of antibiotics. This included Azithromycin, Cefuroxime, Rifampin, Amoxicillin, Omnicef, SeptraDS, Tindamax and Nystatin. The ‘lyme’ symptoms went away. I developed fungal infections. My tongue turned a strange dark purple/grayish hue. I found lumps under the skin on the insides of my forearms. My boyfriend got a job close to the city where I went to graduate school and we moved again. I found an infectious disease doctor in a reputable health system who reviewed my symptoms and treatments and advised me to stop all treatments. I don’t know if she believed in my chronic lyme disease diagnosis, but I knew the massive amounts of drugs I was taking was wearing me down. I stopped all the drugs. The ‘lyme’ symptoms stayed away.

I got married to my sweetheart in 2013. We adopted two kittens. I start working for the state of California in 2014. We moved twice more. We bought a house in 2015.

I resigned a ‘scientific’ position in civil service in 2017 (at the time I was having another thyroiditis episode, after 8 years of healthy thyroid function) which triggered a deep depression from which I am still recovering, in 2020. I put ‘scientific’ in quotes because that position was many things, but scientific it was not. 2017 was not the best time to start anything new, but that was when I started seriously considering growing our family. We had put aside all birth control in 2015, and I’ve never been pregnant. In 2017 I was 36.

I don’t know how any of the above affects my fertility. I suspect some. So add the effects of my experience onto the years. I’ve never been pregnant. In 2017, I figured I needed some answers.

Series Navigation