HunnyBunny8

I was diagnosed with thyroid disease when I was about 14, Im 21 now, and I have since been on synthetic hormones to balance everything out. well when i was 11 i started my period, and had heavy flows that lasted 7 full days and were SO PAINFUL. i was in middle school and had to skip a day or 2 every time i started my period, so I was put on BCPs. I have been on them ever since, so I couldnt tell you if my periods would be irregular or not if I were off the pill. Does anyone else have really painful menstrual cramps when they are on their period? anyway, I was a skinny kid, then in middle school i gained weight. i got to about 160 (at that time i was 5 foot 6 inches tall) and then i went on a diet and exercised and got down to 140. i was between 140-155 until i was a senior in high school. When i graduated and went off to college I gained weight for no apparent reason, VERY fast. in about 2 years i ballooned up to 218 lbs, where I am now, without really doing anything different. most of the weight went to my middle, causing me to get hideous stretch marks almost past my belly button. i thought, "it must be because Im eating in the cafeteria and im not out all the time with my friends like before" so I moved out after the end of my sophomore year. I live in my own apt, make my own food, and try to go to the gym. I dieted over the summer and didnt drop a single pound, so I gave up. I then noticed that I had dark spots on both of my knees, and was developing a dark spot right along my bra line underneath my arm. I bought a new bra and started putting on lotion, figuring i had some sort of dermatitis. My mom was freaking out the whole time during my weight gain, buying me "the biggest loser" books and hiding food from me when I came to visit, thinking that i was out of control. But im not an eater! I eat bad food sometimes, im not going to lie about that, im a pizza and mcdonalds kinda girl, but then again, i cut out pop, i eat whole grains, and i cook all my own dinners mostly from scratch, so I really try to stay away from processed food. I started to notice hair growing on my chin, and when i pulled it out it seemed to be back right away. I finally went to an endocrinologist, almost POSITIVE that i had something wrong with my thyroid. while waiting for my appt. to get here, I saw an episode of "mystery diagnoses" where a woman had all the same symptoms as me and the doctor tested her for PCOS, i think in the end she wound up having a problem with her adrenal glad that produced too much testosterone, but it really made me realize that all my symptoms were related. When the doctor told me I had PCOS, insulin resistance, high testosterone and my thyroid was fine, I was in shock. I am currently on 1000mg Metformin daily and am doing research on the Glycemic Index diet to control the insulin resistance. This is my story, sorry that its super long, but I really hope that I can find support and possible help someone else with their struggle