MY JOURNEY

I remember getting my first period around age 11. From the beginning, I experienced very heavy bleeding and painful cramps. I would bleed through Regular and Super tampons in less than an hour. One day, my bleeding was so heavy that my mom decided it was time to see the doctor. Our family physician performed a sonogram to check for a ruptured cyst. Upon finding nothing, the doctor said "I guess you're just one of the unlucky ones who has heavy, painful periods." I spent the rest of my middle school and high school years having to wear both pads and tampons. I would rush to the bathroom in between classes, praying I had not bled through onto my uniform skirt. In high school, I also began to struggle with irregular cycles. Sometimes I would have a period every two weeks. Other times, I would go six months without a period. 

My freshman year of college, I went in for my first Well Woman's Exam. I shared about my experience with heavy, painful periods and irregular cycles. Without many follow-up questions or any tests being run, I was given the one size fits all "solution" of the birth control pill prescription. Now, being raised Catholic, I knew birth control was not allowed for preventing pregnancy. But I wasn't wanting the pill for that purpose. I just wanted my periods to be manageable and regular. And here was the medical professional with years of experience telling me that one little pill could do just that! So, at 19 years old, I went on the birth control pill. For the next 4 years, the only thing the pill "helped" was the "regularity" and length of my periods. My periods remained painful and heavy. I even started to notice blood clots and uterine lining during my periods. 

In May 2023, after getting engaged to my now husband, I decided to explore my options for coming off of birth control. During my yearly Well Woman's Exam, I explained my desire to come off the birth control pill and explore possible causes of my heavy, painful periods and irregular cycles. Due to a family history of Endometriosis and with many of my symptoms lining up with that condition, the gynecologists over the years were always pretty confident that I had Endometriosis. Unfortunately, the only way to get the condition formally diagnosed is to have a laparoscopic surgery. In order to rule out other possible conditions prior to resorting to surgery, the doctor recommended a transvaginal ultrasound and bloodwork. The ultrasound showed polycystic ovaries and the bloodwork indicated both elevated androgen levels as well as  a 3:1 ratio of LH to FSH. So, in September 2023, I was diagnosed with PCOS. While an Endometriosis diagnosis was something I was prepared for, a PCOS diagnosis was not. No one in my family, that I knew of, had PCOS. While my bloodwork did indicate a high level of insulin resistance, the doctor still suggested that I incorporate some diet and lifestyle changes. This was very important for me anyway since there was also a family history of diabetes. Over the course of the next several months, I implemented these diet and lifestyle changes. 

Following my wedding in May 2024, I decided to revisit the laparoscopic procedure. I told the doctor that following the procedure I intended to discontinue the birth control pill. While my husband and I were not planning to have kids yet, I had really started to feel the side effects of the birth control pill. I was struggling with anxiety and depression and just an overall feeling of emotional numbness. I also knew that I needed to start addressing the root cause of my conditions if I even hoped to successfully carry a pregnancy one day. But I was absolutely terrified of coming off of the pill. What would discontinuing synthetic hormones after 5 years result in? What withdrawal side effects would I experience? Would I be an emotional trainwreck? If I began experiencing mental breakdowns, at what point should I be concerned and call a doctor? These were all questions I asked the doctor. But I was met with the response of "well everyone's experience is different." Extremely dissatisfied with this answer, I spent the months leading up to my surgery in August doing my own research. 

This is when I discovered the Hormone Genius Podcast. I started listening to episodes that specifically discussed the topics of PCOS, Endometriosis, and birth control. The episodes made me feel so seen and validated in my own experience. I began to realize that the symptoms I had been experiencing my entire life were actually far from normal! 

In August 2024, I had my laparoscopy which finally formally diagnosed me with Endometriosis. It's a strange feeling to finally have a definitive answer to something you have suspected your entire life. At my two week post-op appointment, the doctor told me that the only way to prevent the Endometriosis from regrowing was to continue taking the birth control pill. The doctor said that when I was ready to have a baby I would simply discontinue taking the pill. If in 6 months I was not pregnant, then we could explore options like hormonal therapy to ensure ovulation was occurring. And if I was not pregnant after 12 months, then we would explore IVF. I was so frustrated. I had been very clear about my desire to come off the birth control pill post surgery even though I wasn't trying to get pregnant right away. Needless to say, that was the last tie I saw that doctor. 

Through the Hormone Genius Podcast, I had learned about NaProTechnology - a women's health science that focuses on monitoring and maintaining a woman's reproductive and gynecological health by working in cooperation with her natural menstrual and fertility cycles. In addition, NaPro offers medical and surgical treatments for infertility, menstrual problems, and other gynecological conditions, emphasizing a restorative approach. Upon further research to find a NaPro doctor who specialized in Endometriosis, I discovered Dr. Katrina Pakiz and Naomi Davis, PA-C at Vivify Women's Health & Fertility Clinic in Nebraska. I began having telehealth calls with Naomi Davis, PA-C. I vividly remember my first appointment. It was over an hour long and consisted of multiple follow-up questions and discussion. I had never felt so validated and cared for by any medical professional, let alone a gynecological medical professional. 

Around that same time, I had discovered Fiat Institute, a hormone coach certification program founded by the Hormone Genius Podcast Co-Host, Jamie Rathjen. I searched the Fiat Institute Coach Directory looking for a coach whose ideal client was a woman with PCOS and Endometriosis. That's when I found my personal Hormone Coach, Taylor Allmand. From my first call with Taylor, I felt so supported. I wanted someone who could walk with me on my journey of ditching the birth control pill and getting to the root cause of my issues. Taylor did just that! She taught me basic hormone and cycle knowledge, helped me create and achieve personal goals, and gave me helpful cycle-syncing diet and exercise tips. She even taught me how to naturally track my cycle using the fertility awareness based method, FEMM. This was very important for my husband and I since we were still trying to avoid conceiving. Over the course of my time learning FEMM, I actually came to discover that charting my cycle did more than just help me avoid pregnancy. It helped give me valuable data on my hormonal health and overall wellbeing. 

Through my work with both Naomi and Taylor, I realized that I was not ovulating following my discontinuation of the birth control pill. After 12 weeks with no period on my own, I began my first round of intramuscular progesterone injections. The injections was difficult for me for many reasons. The main one being that I hate needles, always have. And now here I was having to self-administer these injections with a 1-inch needle over the duration of 2-minutes. Talk about facing you fears! While I am proud of myself for doing this, I also became more anxious with each administration. So after my second round of injections, I decided to switch to vaginal suppositories instead. Mentally, I was able to handle the suppositories better. Thankfully, the suppositories produced the same effect as the injections. Both induced monthly bleeding which was one of the goals of the progesterone therapy. Unfortunately, the other goal of getting my body to "wake up" and start naturally cycling on its own was not achieved as quickly.  

While on my journey to heal my own body, I began to feel called to help other women too. My own personal struggles had created a fiery passion to help other women. I decide to take a leap of faith by applying and getting accepted to be a part of the 2025 Fiat Institute Hormone Coach cohort. 

So where are things at as of today (August 2025)?

I am coming up on 1 year post laparoscopy (August 20th) and post birth control pill (September 18th). After 5 rounds of bioidentical progesterone therapy rounds, I am still not naturally cycling on my own. Based on my FEMM charting observations, I am also most likely not ovulating on my own either. It's crazy to think that if I was still working with my old doctor and trying to conceive after coming off the pill, IVF would be the next step. I am thankful every day that I found an amazing NaPro clinic that works to get to the root cause of my issues. My induced bleeds following each round of progesterone still consist of severe cramps and heavy bleeding. It is a possibility that I will need another laparoscopy performed by a NaPro surgeon in the future. I am also struggling with severe cystic acne as my hormones are trying to rebalance and my gut is still healing post-pill. 

My journey has been filled with many unexpected and often frustrating twists and turns. But, there has also been so many exciting surprises along the way like finding Fiat Institute! I am currently wrapping up my practice client work to finish my hormone coaching certification. I am also working on my FEMM Instructor certification as well. I am currently accepting clients for both my hormone coaching and FEMM education programs.