GuitarBee

hey everyone, my name is Dana; i'm a 19 y/o SoulCyster, just finished my first year of college. I was diagnosed exactly a day before I started my first year of college and I have been somewhat depressed about it ever since then. I feel like no one truly understands what I'm going though; even my gynecologist wasn't understanding about it. I'm actually about to see a new gynecologist who hopefully will be nicer and more supportive.

i first heard about PCOS when I saw my dermatologist because I was having very bad acne and excessive hair growth on my chin and my back. He said he couldn't diagnose PCOS but those symptoms were synonymous with it. I then went to a regular doctor who said that the aforementioned symptoms, along with my irregular periods, definitely fit the bill for it, but she couldn't diagnose me either. So she referred me to a gynecologist, told me to follow a low-sugar, low carb diet (to which I was EXTREMELY unreceptive, and still am, to some degree) and sent me in for a battery of blood tests. I have no problem with needles and can stand them since it pinches for just one second, but I was in tears the entire time I was getting my blood taken because I felt like my life was being taken away from me. I mean, I was about to start college and here I was, hearing that I basically couldn't have fun??? Finally, the day right before I moved into my dorm freshman year, a gynecologist diagnosed me with PCOS. She put me on FemCon, which I was to start that weekend. However, the side effects made me extremely miserable. I had no appetite and woke up every morning feeling extremely nauseous, like I had to vomit but couldn't vomit. I couldn't stand it, so I had my mom call the gyno and she switched me to Loestrin after a week of horrible side effects from the FemCon. Loestrin wasn't too bad (with the exception of a still very low appetite and waking up with nausea, until right before my period when I started having terrible mood swings and constant nausea/vomiting). The gynecologist's office refused to speak to my mom again (because I was 18) so they spoke to me and switched me to Yaz.

For about a month, Yaz seemed like the wonderdrug, because my mood swings had gone away, I wasn't nauseous anymore, and my skin was clearing up. However, once I was towards the end of my 2nd cycle, things started to get ugly. I was getting headaches, more mood swings, and chronic depression. Therefore, I went off the pill completely for 3 months even though the gyno insisted that "depression wasn't a side effect of the Pill."

For a while I was okay without the Pill, but it was around sometime in late March, early April, when I got my period for an entire month. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I saw a new gynecologist (who turned out to be a total jerk) and he put me on Provera and then Orthotricycline (my 4th pill, which, according to my future apartment-mate, "changed her life"). I felt like I couldn't find anyone who really understood where I was coming from, so one of my mom's co-workers recommended a reproductive endocrinologist who specializes in PCOS so I'm going to see her this coming week.

Well, that's pretty much my story. I've been trying to keep up my exercise by alternating yoga and pilates every day, but I don't necessarily look forward to doing it. I also am having a hard time settling on a "diet" (even though I don't believe in diets), and am still somewhat depressed. I feel like I have days where I'm really happy and some days where I feel like I've gotten up on the wrong side of the bed--it's like every other day, this pattern. Also, I can't ride in a car without getting motion sickness, which means I can't drive either.


Hoping I can find some others to whom I can relate, because PCOS left a scar on me and I want the scar to go away.