I'm just wondering how many women have found that taking BCPs helped get their hormones more balanced, and minimized or eliminated some of the excess-androgen related symptoms that go along with PCOS. I'm aware that there are many pros and cons for being on BCPs, and that they may "mask" the underlying issues of PCOS, but I've opted to take BCPs as a means to try and curb some of my symptoms (like facial/body hair that's suddenly started getting worse), and try to have a period more regularly.
For me, the only positive thing BCP's did was shrink a large, painful cyst I had. My RE put me on them for a month, as well as starting me on Metformin. After the month was up, I stopped the BCP and it was the Met that regulated all my hormones. (Keep in mind, I was TTC at the time so I wasn't using it for birth control so much as to shrink the cyst.)
I hear a lot of women talking about how Metformin really helps their hormone levels. I didn't test as IR though, so my doctor will not put me on Metformin. I'm also very thin (my doctor tells me that metformin can cause weight loss, and that wouldn't be good for me at all). Thank you for your reply!
There are new studies that show Metformin is a good therapy for non-insulin resistance and thin cysters as well. Here's some info you might read & talk to your doctor about... this is taken from this thread http://soulcysters.net/showthread.php?t=48708 Also, if you do some searching, there is a LOT of info about Met on these boards.
3. What If I'm not IR or obese. Can I still take Met?
New studies are showing new results for non-IR or obese women on Metformin. Their testosterone levels and other hormones are improving significantly.
Criteria for entry into studies where met shown effective did not include elevated insulin levels, but rather hyperandrogenemia and anovulation: http://www.ivf.com/faqs/pcos3.html
Metformin appears to do the same for non-obese PCOS women, according to a study from the University of Medical Sciences in Poznan, Poland. Thirty nine PCOS women were given metformin for 12 weeks. They had improvements in insulin, testosterone, hirsutism and acne. (Kolodziejezyk, B et al): http://www.ovarian-cysts-pcos.com/g...ormin-pcos.html
I'm not sure if the BCP has gotten my hormones back into balance, but, I do know tht I get my period like clockwork when I am on the BCP. And, for me, that's a good thing. I don't like not getting it - for me, personally, that just "feels" wrong for some reason. When I am not on a BCP, I do not get my period at all.
I think the BCP has helped me. As I mentioned in another post I am currently on Ortho Tri Cyclen Lo...and I feel as it has helped a little with my PCOS. Especially with my period...like the cyster mentioned above it comes like clock work. In addition, the facial hair has decreased slightly...instead of growing back in 2 days after i've used Nair it takes about a week so that has been a difference.
I can't really say, because all the doctors I have been to say there is no sense in doing hormone panels while on BCPs or immediately coming off because they will be falsely normal due to the BCPs.
There is a belief that if a woman with PCOS goes on BCPs for a few months, and then goes off, her hormones will remain normal for a while and she will be able to cycle normally and possibly get pregnant (if desired) The catch to this is, they also say that for a normal woman, it may take 6 months off the pill for her periods to resume. So if a women with PCOS goes off the pill doesn't have periods, it might mean they did nothing for her hormones... or it might just mean she needs up to 6 months for her cycles to return to normal (or abnormal, as the case may be)
Personally, every time I have been on the pill (and I have been on a lot of pills at a lot of times over the past 11 years), I never have periods after going off, not for many months at least. The one exception to this was, I was on Alesse for a few months when I first started glucophage. I watched my diet really well that summer, I exercised, and when I went off Alesse, I had normal periods for a while. I don't know if the Alesse affected me different, if it was the diet and exercise, or what. Have not been able to repeat the experiement. Unfortunately I was not trying to get pregnant then and now that I am... that trick doesn't work. But I don't know if it means my hormones aren't regulated on BCP or if it just means I need time to start to cycle.
I have never taken Alesse again because it made me have a lot of breakthrough bleeding, even after being on it for 4 months or so.
I don't know that I really have less PCOS symptoms while on BCP. Of course I have periods... but they're falsely induced and don't really indicate anything is going right in my body. I seem to have slower growing body hair while on Yasmin, but I also have more pronounced head hair loss. I don't really have much by way of acne anyway so that's not something I can say has improved or worsened.
Depending on your symptoms, which pill you are on, and your body chemistry, you can get good symptom control with the pill. But it's a short term solution, meaning it will only fix the problem while you are on the pill.
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"We've tried to wash our hands of all of this
We never talk of our lacking relationships
And how we're guilt-stricken, sobbing, with our heads on the floor
We fell through the ice when we tried not to slip..."
- the verve pipe
It has only been a month and my birth control pill has already made quite a difference. Losing some weight and my skin is clearing up and I actually got a period!
The only hormonal imbalance i have is high androgen levels, and the pill i am taking, ortho-tricyclen, has bought it down, and it masked my symptoms when i went to check on my PCOS. I went off the pill once for two month, and my period came, but late. I guess the effects of the pill depends on each person.
DJ.
__________________ "To see a world in a grain of sand
And heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the plam of your hand
And eternity in an hour"
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Did BCPs help get your hormones back in balance? 
