MY DIAGNOSIS - Why Did I Always Have Such Heavy, Painful Periods?

She was told it was just "part of being a woman" until she finally learned the truth.

- KRISTI HEDRICK, AS TOLD TO MARISA COHEN

When I was 11, I had a terrible pain on my right side. My mom was afraid I had appendicitis and took me to the ER, where they did an ultrasound. I'll never forget when the doctor came into the room, looked at my mom, and said, "Ma'am, your daughter is about to become a woman."

I had no idea what that meant. The doctor explained that I had a cyst on my ovary and that soon after it ruptured I was going to get my first period. Lo and behold, that's exactly what happened, and it was awful. It was extremely heavy, and I had terrible back pain and cramps. My mom assured me that this was all normal.

Those first few years, my periods were very irregular, and when they did come, they lasted at least two weeks. They were so heavy and painful that I wound up missing school and parties, but I still thought this was part of being a woman and I had to deal with it.

HOPE IN A PILL

When I was 14, I heard that some girls went on birth control to help regulate their periods, but because of my family's religious beliefs, my parents were never going to allow that. Finally, when I was 18 and didn't need my mother's permission, I begged my primary care physician to put me on the Pill. That helped with the regularity of my periods, but they were still very heavy.

A few years later, I started gaining a significant amount of weight about 75 pounds-even though I was going to the gym every other day. I also struggled with acne. I was married by then and living in a new city, and I started seeing a new primary care doctor. Since I had a family history of diabetes, the doctor did some tests. She told me that I was prediabetic, that my testosterone levels were very high, and that I had polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). It was the first time I had ever heard of the condition.