I'm 18, and just got told that I've got PCOS [my firsy gyno appointment was April 2nd, where I told her "I think I have PCOS". To bad I was right]. She did a transvaginal ultrasound and did blood work as well. [checked thyroid, insulin, etc]
She showed me the ultrasound, explained about the many cysts on my ovaries. Told me that my thyroid looked fine, that my insulin levels were good, but she did put me on Yaz and explained to me about needing to lose weight and exercise, about going to my normal doctor and talking to them. [their answer for everything always was "lose weight and you'll be fine." No matter WHAT medical issue I had!!]
Reading around this forum, I've got to wondering...
I got my period around the age of 7. It's never been normal. EVER. And around that time, I started getting a ton of stomach problems, my stomach constantly hurt. No matter what I ate, no matter what I did it just hurt. I've complained about it hurting for years! Spent mass amounts of time at Hershey Medical Center as a kid and even they couldn't figure out what was wrong. But my stomach is very picky, somedays can't eat grease, some days can't drink dairy. Is there ANY bit of a slight chance that this could be connected??
My gyno explained the hairyness to me, granted I ahem, shave the chin/upperlip and didn't tell her this, so she's under the assumption that there's no hairyness. HOWEVER, I have really hairy arms [legs, butt (ha!), and seems like everywhere else too] but she said that PCOS doesn't cause that? That it's only the facial area??
Also..I've got horrible depression. [also horrible moodswings in general. I'm not quite sure what "level headedness" means anymore lol] Horrible sleeping. I either go weeks without sleeping or weeks where all I do IS sleep. Lately I sleep..wake up tired...go to bed tired..constantly dragging, never fully awake to the point of feeling good. And anti depressents never helped for the depression...could depression be a factor with this? Is it something that can come along with it??
Right now..the whole weight issue scares me..I'm a big girl =( and I can drop weight fairly easy, and gain it back even easier if I don't make a concious 24/7 struggle about it. Those aforementioned stomach problems..I started gaining weight REALLY fast with them too..and it's stuck all my life....
Could ALL of this..be interconnected to PCOS?? Is it even possible?
I mean, I've been dealing with all this since I was around 7years old...that's 11years of skipped periods...terrible bleeding/periods when they did happen..weeks/months of getting sick before hand..depression, sleeping issues, stomach issues, weight issues..in it's own relieving way..it'd be nice to knw that I'm A) not crazy n B) that there is a common link to all of this so we can start solving it all.
But this entire thing terrifies me...I've been one medical mishap for so long. Just got over two surgeries 2 years in a row..finally thought I was free, and got dumped with PCOS on top of it all. And my biggest fear is never being able to have children, scares me more than anything.
Last edited by PaperAirPlanes; 05-03-2008 at 06:12 AM.
Hi and welcome! PCOS does cause excess facial AND body hair growth. Also, the hormonal imbalances can trigger depression and anxiety..and feeling insecure over the many cosmetic symptoms PCOS causes can make these worse..at least that's been my experience! And PCOS can lead to weight gain with fat distribution typically centering around the mid-section.
So, no, you're not crazy--a lot of your symptoms could definitely be related to PCOS. If you're suffering from constant exhaustion, I would recommend getting your thyroid checked again by an endocrinologist (that's a hormone specialist...they tend to know more about the sublties of how hormones work together than would a gyno or PCP). I would also get your Vitamin D and iron levels checked...I used to be exhausted and cold all the time until it was found that I was severely deficient in both of these..feeling much better since starting supplementation..and it's common for cysters to be deficient in these.
PCOS can make it difficult to conceive, but it's not impossible.
Not sure if I helpe in answering your questions or not, but hope this helps!
I'm so sorry you're going through all this. It is a really good thing though that you found out so early and can maybe do some things to help. I just found out two days ago. I have always had similar stomach issues and I have read about other people having them. I always thought I had IBS before I found out about PCOS a few years ago. I hope you can find all the answers you're looking for here
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