GP/Gynaecologist/endocrinologist?!

*tinks* · 09-22-2005, 05:50 PM

Hey guys i was just wondering who you all see to help with ur pcos? i was referred by my GP to a gynaecologist last year, but i was wondering if it might be a good idea for me to see an endocrinologist? (maybe its a silly question - but do we have them over her in the UK?!)
would be good to hear who has helped/is helping you - i'd be grateful for any advice/experiences u've had!

Cyster Sam · 09-22-2005, 08:43 PM

I've only ever seen an ob/gyn (who was a fertility specialist) but that may well be because I have always been ttc.

Sam

PearlKitten · 09-23-2005, 06:57 AM

Hi there,
I went to GP being very sure that I have PCOS and wanted to see endo ....he just kept telling me to go home ,loose weight ,have a baby and apparently I will be just fine...what an idiot.
I kept going back demanding to go and see endo and he would always refuse, up until the day I paid him privately for medical( which I had to had in order to proceed with adoption),then I asked for for refferal to see endo ....and surprise surprise he gave me one.
What I am trying to say BE VERY PERSISTANT...and I do feel in order to get PCOS under control you do need to see endo and gyno.
all the best

naomi123 · 09-23-2005, 09:13 AM

Hi- as soon as I was diagnosed, even though I was not TTC, I was referred to an endocrinologist. This was all on the NHS. Im not sure how much a gyne will know about PCOS- an endo will know more as PCOS affect the whole endocrine system.

Eva37 · 09-23-2005, 09:30 AM

Hi

Well my gp referred me to a Gyn. But then the Gyn referred me to an Endo. So I got there in the end.

But I do see a Gyn about my periods, etc.
Eva

*tinks* · 09-23-2005, 10:44 AM

hey evryone, thanks for your replies! i think i'm going to ask my gyn about also going to see an endo when i go back to see her next week. as so far (since being diagnosed last summer) my gyn put me on dianette which really didnt agree with me and now i think i'd prefer to try more natural methods/ways for regulating my hormones and controlling the pcos symptoms and hopefully an endo will be able to help, tho i'm not TTC.
thanks again
xx

LEXUSAN · 09-23-2005, 11:18 AM

I would say go for the natural way before resorting to these meds. Im goign to start the shutdown/cleansing with herbs for three months to cleans out my liver, colon and put my ovaries to rest and then i can know what is rwally my prob. Im a thin cyster so I dont not have some of the bad symptons but regular period and ovulation is my aim, get that straight and there comes babies.

*tinks* · 09-29-2005, 09:52 AM

Hey again girls - some of you have said u see an endo - can u give me any names of good endos in the UK? South or North England wud be great?! i'm going back to see my gyn tomo and kind of wanted to go back with some names to ask her what she thought. cos i do want to try to go the natural way and i think an endo might be good so i know what's going on with my hormone levels and can take things to help - i already know ive got/had high testosterone levels - so i'm now taking saw palmetto, vitex, green tea tabs and EPO to help regulate my cycle.
thanks in advance

cat180 · 09-29-2005, 10:09 AM

Hi

I saw a Gyno 3 times (well i only saw her once, the other times I saw the registrar)

The 3rd time I went I had done lots of reasearch and was determined to be out on Metformin. At the time DH and I had started trying for a baby but I wanted help with my symptoms (excess weight and hair and Acne)

I saw the registrar initially who said Met does not help any PCOS symptoms - I had gone prepared and gave him a load of info i had printed off about the benefits of Met with PCOS he refused to look at my info and said no way was I going on Met the only thing I could do was loose weight - After a very long discussion I ended up crying and asked him to see my gyno. I was eventually sent in to see her and she was horrible. She looked me up and down as soon as I walked in and said NO to the met, I ended up crying again and said I wanted to see an Endo - she reluctantly agreed to refer me.

By the time my endo appoinment came through (it took over 3 months and a lot of chasing up by me) I had just found out I was pregnant but went to the appoinment anyway.

The endo I saw was fantastic. She had a really good look at me - noted things like where my acne and excess hair was, and discussed my symptoms in detail. She knew lots about PCOS and of the reasearch on it.

She AGREED that met was the best way forward for me BUT as I was pregnant It wasn't a good idea to start it at the moment - she said she would make an appoinment for a years time to see me again and to put me on met - A week later my appointment letter came through and I am due to see her next June.

I am so pleased to have found a specialist who understands

Hope this helps

Lucy x

singaL · 09-30-2005, 06:23 PM

Back home in S'pore, I see a gyn and an endo for my PCOS. I came to UK in 2001 and all my GPs just won't refer me to any specialists. My latest GP even told me that I probably know more about it than she did and yet she just won't refer me to someone who might know more. Finally I insisted on having a blood test and by some mix-up I got an appointment with another GP who usually works with ppl with diabetes. She referred me to a Gyn after right away.

*tinks* · 10-01-2005, 06:14 AM

Hey girls, thanks for all ur posts! glad ur all sorted with good specialists now even if it has taken a while. i saw my gyn yest - she was really good and said to concentrate on lots of exercise and healthy eating (as ive been doing for the past few months) to keep my weight down, cos my cycle has started to regulate itself -(at least i hope anyway) so for now i'm not going back onto another pill. i'm having my iron levles checked - cos apart from stress and big changes in hormones apparently low iron levels can also be a casue of hairloss. so i dont have to go back to see her till next septemebr now - ive decided just to stick with her for now cos she was very good and is very understanding - she said next time i have a problem just to contact her rather than my uni gp - who really knows nothing about pcos. have decided also on my gyn's advice not to bother with vitex and saw palmetto herbs - i'm just gona take a multi vit for women and take up yoga (along with the exercise i already do) to help me destress and hopefully that shud help reduce my hairloss (if my iron levels aren't normal) and hope i shud get thru my final year of uni ok - i'm keeping my fingers crossed that the worst is over now - in this past year i suffered horribly with depression on dianette - am staying on a low dose of prozac til i finish uni - but am basically back to my normal happy self - yay! have also decided not to see an endo.
clairexxx

Cyster Sam · 10-01-2005, 07:48 AM

I think the biggest problem for those of us with PCOS is not whether we see an ER or Oby/Gyn but the fact that there is still not a lot of advice/meds that they can give us to help. From what I have read it still comes down to a choice of Metformin / the pill / weightloss and as for treating the symptoms of PCOS such as excess hair / acne the doctors I have seen have admitted not being experts in this field. But I have read recently that the newer weight loss drug (is is Xenical) is supposed to be working better than Met for those of us with PCOS as far as weight loss and lowering testosterone levels. Has anyone heard or tried this?

Sam

cat180 · 10-02-2005, 01:24 PM

I tried Xenical about 2 years ago and it didn't help me at all with weight loss, it just gave me (TMI ALERT) an upset stomach - A LOT!!!!!

Lucy

squidge63 · 11-02-2005, 11:26 PM

Initially I was seen by the Gyn team who did a laparoscopy and diagnosed pcos. That was in 1982 and it wasn't long after that they referred me to an Endocrinologist, and I have been under the Endo teams ever since. Apart from my current forays into the Gyn dr's to get rid of polyps and get rid of my endometrium, I just wish they would take the damn uterus out but they won't due my me being an anaesthetic risk. I am under the Endocrine team at West Middlesex University Hospital in Isleworth and have been under them for 20 years.. I am also under the Endocrinologist at Epsom Hospital who looks after my diabetes, but I think I will see if he will keep an eye on my pcos. Not that they can do much for me as they have tried most treatments which have made me ill over the years, and I have got diabetes and high blood pressure from the pcos and they are under control mainly.

According to the locum Consultant I saw a West Mid beginning of last year I have been mis managed for 20 years, this guy went through the roof when i went into his office... and my partner was talking to her Gyn dr and was telling her about me and even she said that it looked like I had been mis-managed because of all the subsequent medical problems i Have developed from pcos, but hey there are people worse off than me in this world of ours, and I am glad that I am not confined to a wheelchair, or lil babies and kids starting out in life with a host of problems who may have a really bad quality of life.. my problems pale into significance when i look at it that way, yes i get down sometimes (esp at the moment i have had 5 ops in 2 years ... i am waiting for my own bay on the ward and my own operating theatre i think i deserve it by now lol), but at least i am here i am alive i have my faculties i have my friends and a very loving partner.

Sorry i have a tendancy to ramble, i was going to say that i shouldnt reply to posts after midnight, but i ramble in the day time as well... lol

Syra · 11-03-2005, 06:03 PM

i was referred to a derm and an endo..and the derm asked about roaccutane..and the endo reccommended the pill..sooo
i did my research..and went to a nutritionist...reccommended by the ION website (institue of optimum nutrition) and I do not regret it at all..in fact she's great! My skin is MUCH better now...working on the hair