Thickened uterine lining - nauseous with worry

Heya Nat,

The coil actually lasts for 5 years before you need it changed. That's not to say it has to stay in for 5 years, just that that's the max it can stay in there for.

Thing is, with your lining naturally thickening and thinning through the month, back in 2018 they might have just put it down to part of your natural cycle. But I'm sure all will look ok in the womb, I have faith that the last biopsy was right! It's all we can do really, stay hopeful.

I've found with my PCOS that it's all about getting my metabolism working. Just dieting does absolutely nothing for me, I HAVE to be active as well - which is really difficult with the cancer in my spine and the chronic fatigue that I get. But when I was cycling, working on my feet all day, walking everywhere, and clubbing until who knows when in the morning - I could eat anything and everything I wanted and I slimmed right down. Yet 3 years ago my diet was super healthy, properly portioned, well balanced, but I was the biggest I've ever been! So I'm now trying to stick as close to 900 calories a day as I can, while being as active as I can, and the weight is slowly coming off. Now I def don't suggest you restrict your calories like that, that's very extreme. But I will 100% recommend some form of exercise a day that gets your heart rate up.

I'd recommend the Samsung Health app, for your smartphone. In it, there are lots of little routines you can do. I've actually found there are some that I can manage, and they def get the heart rate up! The ones I do only last between 4 and 10 mins too, so easy to fit into your day, 2 or 3 times.

Usually with PCOS, it's actually an excess of testosterone that you have in your body. There's a very definite 'androgen shape' to some of us with PCOS. Broad shoulders, weight on around the middle in your classic and unhealthy 'apple shape', breasts not massive or not rounded, not much of a bum.

But I'd not be saying that you don't ovulate, because that's not been checked by the doctor. So don't put barriers in front of yourself that might not need to be there. There are hundreds, possibly thousands, of reasons why people can't get pregnant - and it's not always down to an issue with the female! If they sort your womb, and you lose the weight and are classed as 'healthy', if after you try and should nothing happen - it's actually cheaper and easier for the NHS to first rule out any issues with your partner. Then they'll have a look at you and see if there's anything else untoward going on. But again, that's all for the future. For now, WW. Not Weight Watchers, but Weight and Womb! lol

Lass

xx

Hey Lass,

wow 5 years, didn’t know it lasts that long, hoping I won’t have to have it that long though. I just figured that was the only explanation that I didn’t ovulate and that’s why I produce more Estrogen and that’s why the lining was thick. 

I know what you mean about metabolism, mine is so slow I swear it goes backwards lol. I have had a weight problem all my life, I’ve been on SlimmingWorld more times than I can remember and never stuck at it. Now I’ve been on it a year and yea I’ve had bumps but managed to keep the 2 stone off I’ve lost. It’s come off so slow and it’s disheartening. I’m not active I’m not gonna lie but I do admit I need to be more active. I love going for walks but for the past month since being on these tablets the more I’m up moving, the more I’m getting the cramps and heaviness in my stomach so it makes me just want to sit down. I know I need to push through it and move more. Still bleeding too but after what you said I’m worried less about that and I’m focussing on losing weight as it’s the only thing I feel like I have control over at the moment. I hope your doing ok? I might try calorie counting and will deffo have a look at that app. 

Heya,

In regards to the heaviness and cramps etc - the more you move around the faster it will be over and done with. There's a finite amount of lining inside of you, so the faster you can get it out, the faster you'll be free of the cramps and bleeding. So if you can use that as motivation, stick an old towel in your pants, and get to star jumping! ;)

If you're looking at apps and thinking about calorie counting, I'd HIGHLY recommend myfitnesspal. It's a free app and you use it to track what you're eating. It comes with a barcode recognition system, so you just scan what you're eating, tell it how many grams of it you've eaten, and it logs it in whichever meal you ate it for. You also give it your details, tell it you want to lose weight, and it will tell you how many calories you should aim to eat per day to lose weight. It also has a really good function where if you're cooking a family meal, you tell it everything you've put into the meal and then how many portions you've split that meal into, and it works out how many calories per portion for you. The other good thing about it is that it tells you what % of fat, protein and carbs you need to be eating to be healthy and eat a balanced diet. So you can check and see how balanced you are, because even if your calories are right, if you're eating too much fat in your diet then you won't lose weight.

Slimming World doesn't actually teach you about healthy eating, because they have points or syns for things. And some things they have down as point or syn free, which just isn't right. Everything has a calorie value to it, so whatever you eat or drink will be adding calories to your total for the day. So I really dislike SW and WW, because they are teaching people how to follow their plan forever, not how to live a healthy life. It's their way of ensuring repeat business, because as soon as someone stops their plan, 9 times out of 10 they put weight back on again.

So yes, track what you eat, make sure you're eating enough and of the right things, and try to increase your daily activity. The NHS advises that we should all do 150 mins of moderate activity a week. A good way to get started is if you drink tea or coffee, when you go into the kitchen to boil the kettle, while you're waiting for it to boil march on the spot. You could even grab a couple of tins from the cupboard and lift them from waist to shoulder as you march. I think it takes a kettle roughly 4 mins to boil, so say you're having 5 cups of tea or coffee a day, that's 20 mins a day of exercise, 140 mins a week. You're only 10 mins off your weekly target then! And as that gets easier, you can increase the speed of your march, or jog on the spot, then run on the spot. Whatever makes your heartrate increase up into the moderate intensity range.

I'm having a do nothing day today as over the last 2 days I baked and packed up 103 2 person portions of home baked goods for my local food bank. Thought it might be a nice treat for people to get more than the basics, especially with VE day on Friday, and lots of people talking about having an afternoon tea. But it's wiped me out, so I'm just pottering today, though I do need to clean my kitchen and put away the ingredients I was using! lol. See what happens!

Lass

xx

Hey

Yea I get that, yesterday I went on a long walk and lifted some light weights because I felt alright, not really much pain and the bleeding seemed to be easing off but today im feeling it, been food shopping and im bleeding more and there's more pain, probably all from yesterday. Im hoping im nearly at the end of it now. there must be a lot of crap in there to get rid of lol. I am deffo going to push through it though even if its just doing little exercises like you said. may try those star jumps too! 

I know what you mean about Slimmingworld... iv always done it because it just seems like the easiest diet (iv never tried WW) to an extent SW worked for me but now I think im at a point where my body needs something different. I get it about calories, fruit and veg are "free" but if you eat like 1000 calories of fruit and veg on top of your daily meals then its obviously too many calories. I have been checking calories on the nutracheck website but I will have a look at my fitness pal app. I just think my body needs a change up so im going to give calorie counting a try and try get out everyday for a big walk and just move more even through the cramps. 

sounds like you have been busy!!! what a lovely thing you have been doing!!! sometimes you need a day or 2 of doing nothing. I have had more than my quota of those already lol. Are you managing ok? are you able to get shopping and everything else you need xx

Heya,

Yeh, I found the bleeding always came the day after the exertion too. And the thing with blood is that it always looks more than it actually is! So you think you've lost LOADS when actually it's barely a tsp!

WW is pretty much exactly the same as SW from what I've been able to glean from people I know who have done both. I believe at one point rice was free on SW, which is insane as it's so calorific. I think they removed it after folks were eating masses of rice and gaining weight! lol.

I've definitely found that a 'lifestyle change' is better than a 'diet'. It's what the NHS recommend too. Don't think of things as off limits, don't severely restrict anything or cut it out of your diet completely. It's just about moderation. For me, I was in the prediabetic range, and I've got NAFLD to the point it's turned into fibrosis. So I had to change things around for my health, not just for weight reasons. So I'm now in the normal range for the diabetes test, and my liver test results are MASSIVELY improved. I've gone beyond being able to reverse the liver damage, but the improvement is huge. All through using the app to track what I was eating, and making sure there wasn't too much fat in my diet. That's the problem with your low fat foods, they often increase the sugar. While low sugar, they often increase the fat.

For me, sometimes I'm forced into doing nothing. lol. I have thyroid cancer too, and it's spread to my spine. So standing and walking, even sitting upright, really hurts and drains me. So doing all of that over the last two days has me wiped out and at my pain threshold.

I'm ok. I spent a load of hours at the start of lockdown, searching out local shops and producers who would let me buy online and would then ship it to me. So while online shopping slots are like golddust for the supermarkets, I've been finding other places to get things from. It's cost me more, and I did find a site that will send me out of date junk food for stupidly cheap prices - so my kitchen is FULL of crisps and chocolate - but it has meant I've been ok. Had a bit of an issue for a couple of weeks though in that the cat had thrown up on the duvet and I had NO way to get it to a launderette because it's too big for my machine! Managed to find someone on the local FB page who when they heard my issue offered to do it for me. So it was finally cleaned yesterday and it smells amazing!

How are you doing with lockdown?

Lass

xx

hey

It does always look a lot doesn't it! but yea your right its really not.

Would you believe that rice is still free on SW lol and pasta! I don't eat much of of them though. They say fill your plate with 1/3 or half of speed food like veg or salad then add your carbs and protein so your not eating too much carbs. its amazing youve managed to reverse some health issues by loosing weight, isn't it funny how much weight can affect different things. 

Aww how lovely! Facebook can be amazing can't it when it comes to things like that. Im glad you were able to get it sorted. I have heard that if you go online at stupid o'clock then sometimes you can get a delivery slot, I don't know how true that, I don't use it. Im able to go to the shop and leave the slots for people who need them. I did out of curiosity try Iceland and they had a slot in my area for tomorrow! so I think there are some but its picking the right times. 

were ok, just going out once a week on a Wednesday to do the big food shop..... tried to clear the shed out but the tips have been closed so iv nowhere to put all the crap put of there so its still in there lol. I don't really go out much anyway so im not struggling with lockdown really. I don't really sit out in the garden, I don't like the heat lol or the sun. I have lots of moles and freckles and really fair skin so iv always been paranoid about being in the sun, even on holiday I spend the week reading under a big umbrella with factor 50 on lol. xx

Hey 

how is everyone getting on? I hope you are all well. I got a letter yesterday cancelling my appointment on June 1st where I was supposed to have my hysteroscopy and coil. They couldn’t offer me another appointment yet due to covid. I was under the impression that the NHS was “open for business again” and routine procedures were starting back up again. I was so upset. I geared myself up to it. I just want the treatment to start before things have a chance to go worse, iv already waited so long to get this sorted. I’m still bleeding on the progesterone pills this is week 8. I called the consultants secretary and told her about the bleeding and that I’m worried things will get worse unless I get the coil and have the hysteroscopy so they can make sure everything looks ok inside and she she will see what she can do and get back to me.... I don’t know what she could possibly do. I’m sorry for moaning I just feel so frustrated and fed up. I’m fed up with the bleeding, I feel like I can’t do anything, I always feel tired. 

nat x