Life Abundant Blog

living life abundantly in spite of PCOS

PCOS, Hypothyroidism, and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis

By: Jessi2 Comments

Since the beginning of this blog, I’ve always been honest when it comes to my medical journey so that women know they aren’t alone. I realize this much transparency isn’t for everyone, and it can make some people feel uncomfortable. In fact, it makes me feel uncomfortable sometimes. But the truth is when we’re experiencing symptoms or newly diagnosed with something, what’s the first thing we do? We Google it. We seek out others who have come before us. Some people are just very quiet about it, while others are more public. I’ve decided to be more public. So today, I’m going to recap my journey that brings me to today. I’m not sharing all of this for sympathy. I’m sharing it to help others, perhaps you.

In 2008, my diagnosis of PCOS began. I was anovulatory, rapidly gaining weight in my midsection, experiencing extremely painful cystic acne, feeling lethargic and low on energy quite often, and wound up having polycystic ovaries on ultrasounds. I learned to navigate it over the years, managed to conceive my daughter while on treatment, and each year since she was born I’ve continued to learn how to manage symptoms and live my life to the fullest.

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Getting Hormone Levels Checked with Modern Fertility {The Process & My Results}

By: Jessicomment

Disclaimer: I received the Modern Fertility kits free to try out in exchange for a review. However, like all of my reviews, all comments and opinions are my own, are honest, and not swayed in any way, shape, or form. Read my full disclosure policy.

When Modern Fertility reached out to me in October 2018, I didn’t have any plans to check my hormone levels or pursue additional fertility treatment of any kind. However, when I saw all of the levels they could check with a finger prick in my own home, I decided to just go for it. At this point, I had nothing to lose, but only hope to gain.

The Modern Fertility test checks these hormones, as long as you’re not on any kind of hormonal birth control:

  • AMH (anti-mullerian hormone [egg reserve])
  • FSH (follicle stimulating hormone)
  • E2 (estradiol)
  • TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone)
  • FT4 (thyroxine [thyroid])
  • LH (luteinizing hormone)
  • PRL (prolactin)
  • T (testosterone)

Here’s how the process went:

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Meal Planning: 15 Days of Meals {Paycheck-to-Paycheck Meal Planning}

By: Jessicomment

Photo by David Nicolai on Unsplash

I promised this was coming! Earlier this month, I shared how I try to meal plan for an entire pay period as frequently as possible. It commits us to the food we have at home, makes us eat out less, and saves us money. We’re less likely to waste ingredients because we roll them over into subsequent recipes as frequently as possible. Today, I’m going to share my current meal plan that will last from January 16-30 (15 days!). It is also PCOS-friendly and Keto approved.

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Meal Planning: 10 Days of Meals {Paycheck-to-Paycheck Meal Planning}

By: Jessicomment

Photo by Heather Ford on Unsplash

With the new year, I decided to pick back up with a stricter Keto diet for January and February to sort of reset my body. I’m not going to lie, I enjoyed the holidays and all of the food very thoroughly. That said, I’m pleased that I didn’t gain any weight, but I do physically feel fatigued from all of the sugar I consumed. While I continued to eat low carb and stuck to gluten-free living, I did not eat sugar-free, which is a big part of living with PCOS and eating Keto.

I get paid twice a month at my job, so when possible, I like to meal plan and grocery shop for enough food to cover that entire paycheck, with some grace for eating out once or twice. I admit, this is not easy, specifically when it comes to fresh produce because we do eat a lot of it. Sometimes toward the end of the pay period, I do have to go pick up a few more fresh items because we ran out of something. That said, when I meal plan further out, we save a lot more money in the long run, and there’s less of an excuse to be tempted with eating out because we have a full fridge and pantry for longer periods of time.

I thought it would be helpful to share my meal plan for January 6-15. This includes ten days of PCOS-friendly Keto eating, including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. I’m not going to list which days we’re eating which meals, because it can change depending on what we’re all craving at the time. Also, January 1-5 were included in my combined Christmas/NYE meal plan so that is why they weren’t included here. We’ll start with a 10-day plan, and next time I’ll share a complete paycheck meal plan!

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I’m Still Standing: The Triangle Family and Infertility: One And Done, Not By Choice

By: Jessicomment

The infertility community is full of incredible and supportive women with so many different stories. Whether trying for a first, second, third, etc. child, there is someone who everyone can relate to. However, it gets tricky when you’re in a position like me…

Read more: The Triangle Family and Infertility: One And Done, Not By Choice

Photo by Natalya Zaritskaya on Unsplash
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I’m Still Standing: “Pregnancy Dreams Are My Worst Nightmare”

By: Jessicomment

Throughout the last decade of my journey with PCOS and infertility, I’ve had more dreams than I can count that are related to pregnancy and childbirth. While going through fertility treatments, I can remember dreaming about getting two pink lines on a pregnancy test. I remember dreaming about those sweet little kicks and what they would feel like. Each pregnancy dream gave me so much hope and I felt like each one was a sign… a gift… a glimpse of what was to come. I would wake up from those dreams feeling so happy.

Read more: Pregnancy Dreams Are My Worst Nightmare

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My Top 8 Natural Remedies for Sickness

By: Jessicomment

Disclaimer: This post is not intended to prevent or cure any disease. It also contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure policy.

Recently, I picked up some kind of cooties for the first time in a very long time. It came with major body aches (my rib cage felt like I had been beaten up), a sore throat, and I was freezing. I never had a fever. I never had enough drainage to warrant taking medication. It wasn’t the flu. It felt like an early onset of strep, and yet it went away without antibiotics. I understand that strep comes in viral form and bacterial form, and sometimes (heck, most of the time) it needs antibiotics. I’m not tossing out the idea that it was strep and I am not claiming that I cured strep naturally, but whatever it was, it went away as quickly as it came. I wanted to share what helped me survive the sickness and manage symptoms without pharmaceutics. I keep these items on hand at all times just in case we get sick, that way we’re never without! I will also add that if I didn’t start to feel better so quickly, I would have gone to a doctor. Thankfully, I never needed to. 🙂

My Top 8 Natural Remedies for Sickness

Elderberry Syrup

In the past, we took the over-the-counter brand Sambucus Immune, but my whole family noticed we would get stomach cramps and nausea from it. This year, I started making my own with Frontier elderberries. I follow this recipe from Wellness Mama. It tastes better and doesn’t lead to feeling gross. We normally take it every day for prevention, but for whatever reason, we got lazy and stopped recently and, well, guess who got sick? We’re back on it and intend to stay on it through the cootie season! If you don’t want to make your own and want to try the over-the-counter version, I do recommend it. Not many people report the same negative experience as us.

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I’m Still Standing: “Holiday Pregnancy Announcements And Social Media Anxiety”

By: Jessicomment

After spending a lot of time in various infertility support groups over the last decade of my adulthood, I’ve learned just how deep the roots of social media anxiety goes when it comes to the holidays and pregnancy announcements. Everyone who struggles knows they are coming. It’s like a ticking time bomb we’re all just waiting to go off.

The quintessential pregnancy announcement: piggybacking on a holiday as a way to announce a pregnancy.

Read More > Holiday Pregnancy Announcements And Social Media Anxiety

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Free Disney Vacation Planning Resources

By: Jessicomment

Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. This is no extra cost to you, but sometimes I receive a commission from links for referring you.

We started planning our first Disney vacation in 2014 (went for the first time in 2015) as a way to have something exciting to focus on in the midst of our struggles with infertility. We had no idea we’d get addicted to the most magical place on earth like we did, and no idea that it would save our sanity after our miscarriage last year. While we haven’t become a “Disney every year” family, we do go every other year, and we’re currently planning our third Disney vacation for May 2019!

Quite often people tell me “I want to plan a Disney vacation but have no idea where to start”, so that is what this post is going to focus on today! Disney vacations are not like any other trip you plan. I spend fewer hours planning to go to the beach or the mountains. There is a lot of detail involved with Disney, and while it can look overwhelming from the outside, once you’re in it you understand why there is so much to plan. From dining to FastPasses, to touring plans so you can avoid long lines, there is just a lot to figure out. But the good news is there are so many free resources available to not only making planning more fun but to also take the hard work out of it. Whether or not you have children to take to Disney, there is something at the parks for everyone.

Before you get started on planning your Disney vacation, check out my posts on How to Afford a Trip to Disney World and How to Earn FREE Money for Vacations, then come back here for your free planning resources.

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I’m Still Standing: “PCOS Awareness Month: Why It’s Important”

By: Jessi2 Comments

September is PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) Awareness Month. I heard someone say recently that they feel like there is an “awareness” day, week, or month for everything these days and it feels like we’re in this vortex of over-saturation of “awareness”. This made me cringe.

I mean, I get it. But here’s the thing: there is still a major deficit of awareness of so many things. If we keep quiet and don’t speak up, we can’t expect people to understand what we’re going through. It leaves us feeling isolated, alone, and left behind while other ailments receive attention from the medical community.

Read more> PCOS Awareness Month: Why It’s Important

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