I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is April and I was diagnosed with PCOS about a month ago. I feel awful because I found this website then and have just been lurking. I felt like if I didn't do anything or just took it with a grain of salt, then it was like not even having it. I know it's silly to think like that. I had to post to let you all know that after reading some of these posts, I feel like I have a connection with other people who know exactly what I am feeling and going through. When the doctor told me that I had this, she was very nice about it and has been wonderful in planning a course of treatment for the symptoms I am experiencing.
I am lucky because I have my kids already, but I still feel angry and frustrated for some reason. My symptoms didn't really start until after I had my daughter. Every time, I would go to the doctor, they would tell me that it's normal for a new mom to be tired all the time, it's normal for some women to have acne, I needed to exercise more and eat less if I wanted to lose the weight. I am sure you ladies know the drill. I kept having a nagging feeling that something wasn't right. After moving to a new city and getting a new doctor, I had the courage to ask her about my symptoms. She immediately asked if anyone had ever mentioned PCOS and ordered some blood work. A week later she called me in and told me that my blood work along with the physical symptoms pointed to PCOS.
I have Metformin, but am not going to start it until next week bc my hubby is gone and I am scared to start new meds when I am alone with the kiddos. I also have meds to treat the acne and the doc said that the Metformin would help with a lot of the other symptoms. I am scared to death to take it though after reading some of the forums on the internet about it and hair loss. I know it's vanity, but I am a fat girl with acne who doesn't want to add bald to it as well. It bothers me that I gained 30 pounds in a year and all the doctors I saw didn't believe me when I told them that I ate a healthy diet and worked out 6 days a week. I could see the "Yeah, right!" on their faces.
I have a husband who is SO supportive. He has seen the changes in me and knew something wasn't right. I know I am lucky. He is the only one who has been supportive. Most people I talk to about it think it's just "not having a period". One of my friends actually said " I wish I had that so I had an excuse to be fat". Needless to say...not much of a friend anymore. My mother said "It's not like it's cancer or anything bad". It feels bad to me.
I apologize that this turned into a book. I didn't know I had this much to say. The lack of information and support in the medical community has shocked me. I have a daughter and I hope that if she every develops PCOS that she doesn't have to fight for a proper diagnosis. PCOS has taken away my energy, self-esteem and so much more. Yet it's not even looked at like a "real" disorder.
Thank you all for reading this far and I look forward to getting to know you ladies!
April :O)
Last edited by EODWife2002; 01-23-2009 at 05:49 PM.
Reason: Spelling :O)
OMG April and I so right with you! I was dx with PCOS a few years back but I only recently found this site. I too have been lurking. I personally have not had any hair loss problems with Met only GI problems, but I know that everyone is different.
I too am sick of peoples' ignorance about PCOS. It is a serious condition that can lead to many even more serious conditions. Thankfully you have children but for many of us the possibility of never being able to experience the joy of motherhood is one of the worst things in the world! Alot of my friends, family, and doctors just wouldn't believe that I wasn't a lying lazy pig! I finally had to find the right doctor, educate my family, and get some new friends!!! lol.
I wish people would start seeing PCOS as a serious condition that can lead to weight problems and infertility. I think alot of people just don't want to accept that women who have this condition and may be suffering from weight gain, are truly suffering from something that does not yet have a cure and whose cause is still not truly known.
Hang in there. I am so glad I found this site. I have spent a few night crying as I read over the posts because it was the first time I heard the voices of women who were going through and feeling exactly as I do!
SGirl81-I know exactly how you feel. I went from 110 to 145 in about a year. I am only 5'2 so, that is a lot for me. I have always been 105-110 my entire life. If anything, I was eating better and working out more bc I saw the weight coming on. One doctor told me that I wasn't committed enough otherwise, I would be seeing some loss. The truth is that I was working out days a week, on a 1300 cal diet and was losing...very little. In the year that I gained that weight, I lost maybe 3 pounds! It seemed like for every pound I lost, I gained 5. Even now, it seems like I gain weight so much easier than other people I know. I am starting a low glycemic diet soon because my doc said that women with PCOS usually respond well to it. I can only pray...
I feel so incredibly blessed to have my kids already. My husband and I had my daughter when I was 22 and I wasn't having any real symptoms at that point. I have never had regular periods though. I have one or two a year at the most. We did have to use meds to get pregnant with my last one. It took a year and a half and I only ovulated once. But once was enough! He is in the military and was gone a lot during that time too so we were just lucky he was here for it when it did happen. After I had him, my symptoms seem to explode! The acne became horrid, I started growing dark hair on my face, started shedding a ton of hair on my head and the weight started to creep on again. I was too emabarrassed to go to the doc because I was having to shave my face everyday. I honestly didn't think there was a medical problem that caused it. PCOS has stripped my feminity from me. I feel disgusting. My hubby is sweet and tells me that he still sees me as the girl he married, but he doesn't see me shave my face in the mornings or see me naked for that matter anymore thanks to the weight in my belly. He doesn't see me trying to fix my hair to hide its thinning or not leaving the house some days bc of the acne on my face. I think PCOS is just as mentally exhausting as it is physically. My self-esteem is shattered now. I am working on it though. I am hoping the meds help. I always thought "If I just knew what was wrong...I could fix it and make it better". The day after I got told it was PCOS, I remember getting dressed and seeing myself in the mirror and I started to cry because now I knew what was wrong, but there was no way to fix it. I could take meds to ty to control the outward symptoms, but my doc explained it as a uphill battle to control this.
Not that I am all gloom though! Finding this sight and reading other women's stories has helped me feel not so alone anymore. I feel ready to take charge and make the changes necessary to control this.
I went through years of having doctors tell me there was nothing wrong and throwing BC at me. It wasn't until my late 20's when I refused to take BC and found a doctor who was willing to investigate why I never ovulated, did they discover that I had PCOS.
I am new here too, just today in fact. I am finding it refreshing to my spirit to hear from others who had struggled and found answers. It gives me hope.
Just remember we're all here for you even when you don't think anyone is
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This is only a moment; it's not the rest of your life. ~ Julianna Margulie
welcome to sc you will sooo love it here. ive been on met years, and find that as long as i avoid greasy/fatty/sugar foods as much as poss and always eat with the met i am ok with it.
eva
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