Was I misdiagnosed

piper87 · 07-10-2008, 11:42 AM

Hello,

I'm new to the board, but I hope to be an active participant! I think for you to understand my question you'll need to know a little bit about me. Forgive my long post...

I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was fifteen. My periods were irregular, I was on anti-depression medication, and was 200+ pounds. During the ages of 15-18 I went from 200 to about 257 lbs. I was extremely sedentary and was a heavy smoker. I also started college around 15, so of course I was eating a lot of junk food and studying a lot which I think contributed to my weight gain and my sedentary lifestyle. Anyway, the summer of my upcoming senior year in college, I had been dealing with horrible cysts, the Doctor said it was small, but did exhibit growth, so I was monitored heavily during this time. I was in bedridden for days sometimes, feeling fatigued and depressed. I realized that I needed a change. I got a personal trainer and began weight lifting, I went to a huge University that kept me walking at least the equivalent of 2 miles a day or more, so I didn't do much cardio. I also have severe food allergies, in an effort to be safe and healthy, I quit smoking and I began sticking to a very dull, but healthy foodplan. I didn't know it at the time, but my body and mind's interpretation of being healthy was being low carb, I was simply eating what made me feel good and what was easy... anyway all of my cysts disappeared, my dropped 35+ lbs, and my mood began to stablize. I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, and while I was still tired sometimes, I had more energy and general felt better. Now almost two years later, I've kept all of my weight off, I continue to train, and have added 3-4 hours of cardio a week to my regime, however, I have lost no more weight. But I do have regular periods with little or no cramping. I have never had an issue with my glucose, in fact, I was tested recently and my number was 70 (they did the three-month avg. test as well, same number), my bp was 101/59. I wonder now if I have PCOS or if I ever really had it. Most of the symptoms of fatigue and aches are related to Fibromyalgia not PCOS. I have never a lot of the symptoms associated with PCOS either, such as skin tags, acne, excessive hair growth, or insulin resistance. All of the symptoms that I had to diagnose me as a teenager have disapated. When I take PCOS quizzes now, I rate low risk for even having the disease. Is it possible I was misdiagnosed, or is my new lifestyle putting me in a remission of sorts? I know you all are not Doctor's but I would love your opinion before I go. I'm estatic that I seem to have supressed all of my symptoms, but I also want to make sure that I really have the disease, since that effects how I diet and continue to lose weight and maintain my health.

Thanks so much for reading!

Piper

tina_d · 07-10-2008, 11:56 AM

The symptom of PCOS can subside with the loss of weight. Most of my symptoms didn't appear until late 20s - early 30s, but that also is around the time I started having weight issues. Do you know if your dr dx-ed on the cysts alone or were your hormone levels tested?

splashsmama · 07-10-2008, 12:59 PM

It's very likely the weight loss has reversed the effects of the PCOS. Which congratulations on the awesome weight loss and keeping it off.
PCOS is manageable, and the symptoms can be reversed to where you no long exhibit any of them anymore.

When struggling with the effects of PCOS, each woman is different in the symptoms she expresses. Some express all of them, some express a few symptoms, and others don't express hardly any except for ovarian cysts and irregular periods.

irishangel · 07-10-2008, 01:27 PM

There are people whose symptoms come and go especially with weight loss and I understand I have fibro as well and some of the symptoms are hard to tell if its the PCos or fibro have your Dr run the blood tests and see

piper87 · 07-10-2008, 02:17 PM

Thanks for all of the responses!