Jennifer Ellis (texas) | Friday, August 23, 2002 - 04:12 pm  I am 30 years old. About 4 years ago I started going to my gynoclogist with the complaint that I was missing periods, but was not preganant. I wasn't trying to get pregnant at the time and he told me that everything was fine. This continued frequently and he would condenscendingly tell me that I was being paranoid. About a year and a half ago, I went back to complain that I was having hot flashes, as well. Again he said that there was nothing to be concerned about... I was too young to be going through menopause. Finally, about 3 months ago, when I had significant lower abdominal pain, hadn't menstrated in 3 months, and had severe hotflashes, I went to a new gynocologist. He too, said that it was nothing to be concerned about. I insisted he do a blood test, and the results showed that I was post menopausal with an FSH level of 82.6 and an LH level of 65. I was told that it was too late for me to have children (at age 30!) and that this is a rare condition called Premature Ovarian Failure and that the cause is usually never determined. I was not going to accept this, so I went to both a reproductive endocronologist and my primary care physician to run every test they know of that can be linked to POF. They all came back normal. I had seen Dr. Toth's website and I asked my specialists about the possiblity of infection. They said they did not think the two could be related and that I should give up hope and take comfort that I could use donor eggs. Instead, I flew to NY (I'm from Texas) to be tested by Dr. Toth. He was the first doctor that I spoke to that had a plausible explanation for the potential cause of my early ovarian failure. He was very honest and upfront about the fact that it may be too late for me, as the signs went ignored for so long. After testing, he found a bacteria that was very prevalent and difficult to eradicate. I went through 10 days of intravenous antibiotics and 10 days of the lavage treatment. Dr. Toth and Angela were warm, nurturing, caring and wonderful... Very different from my other experiences! I was very cautious about believing the treatments would work because it was such a difficult process to accept my infertility the first time, that I didn't want to go through the dissapointment again. But one by one I got signs that the treatment had worked. My lower abdominal pain was gone. Then I had my FSH, LH and estrodial levels tested and they came back as normal! Two weeks later I had them tested again and had a sonogram. The results indicated that I was developing a folicle and was in the middle of a normal cycle. Yesterday it was confirmed... I started my first menstral period in over half a year! Unfortunatley for me, my boyfriend and I are not married yet and we are not at the point of starting a family. But I am sure that if I tried, I would get pregnant. To preserve our ability to have our own biological children in the future, we will be starting the process of freezing embryos this month. None of this would have happened without the help of Dr. Toth. I am so grateful that he has spent his life dedicated to determining the cause of infertility and correcting the problem. I only wish that more people knew about Dr. Toth's treatment and that more physicians would be as thorough and persistent as Dr. Toth, instead of giving up so easily. I gaurantee that someday I will be back on here posting my proud announcment that I gave birth to a healthy baby. Hopefully, some day soon! |