I debated a long time before creating an account on here, especially since I haven't been diagnosed.
On Tuesday I went to see a new Dr. because I wasn't happy with the level of attention I was getting from my previous Dr. He was pretty abrupt and while I don't blame him for anything, I just wanted someone who would take a little more time with me.
Anyway, this new Dr. did listen to what I was saying and connected a lot of dots that I didn't expect her to do. About a year ago I woke up in the morning with the word PCOS on my mind. I knew what it was and I knew people who had it and because of some of the symptoms I had I thought that perhaps it was the answer to my own problems. I looked at the major symptoms for people with PCOS and I didn't have them. I never missed a period, I never had one longer than 3-4 days, I never had intense cramps, etc etc etc. I just didn't FIT into those guidelines so I pushed it aside and figured someone else was wrong.
Anyway, this new Dr. took the time to talk to me, listen to what I'd been going through this past year and she came back to me and said, "I'm considered that you may have PCOS. I want you to do an ultrasound so that we can find out."
I was supposed to call and schedule the ultrasound myself and so I left with a good feeling. This Dr. seemed to think there was something wrong and that it wasn't just the unexplainable. I headed back to work and before I even got there I had a call from the radiology department with an appointment for 3pm yesterday. Wow. Not even 24 hours later!
I had my ultrasound yesterday and let me tell you that was really strange. THe external one was fine but the vaginal .. I'll pass on having those often. It's just so graceless. :p
Anyway .. now I'm playing the waiting game . I just get to bide my time and wait for my Dr. to call and tell me whether or not I have PCOS. I have been patient for so long with my health, or as patient as I can be, so a week or less shouldn't be that hard ....
A little more about me .. I'm 30 and have never had the traditional menstrual problems. I was very blessed. I was always on time, I was never in a lot of pain, I always had a very normal period and life was fine. When I was in HS I became very sick and the Drs. didn't know what it was, about 2 years later I was diagnosed as having Epstein-Barr virus. Ever since then I've always been tired, I sleep soundly but always wake up tired. A year after that diagnosis I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Yay, another "disease" to add to my collection. I've never been medicated for it since all my Drs have felt my levels were in the normal ranges.
I'm "morbidly obese" at 272lbs and I've been overweight since I was around 13. I actually don't remember when I got my first period but I was never a small child in size and then after a disastrous summer away from home I came back much heavier and I never stopped getting heavier.
Anyway .. fast forward to last summer and I had been doing a low-cal/low-fat diet and began feeling just awful. My periods changed and became more intense. They weren't longer yet but they hurt a whole heck of a lot more and it would last an entire day (previously it was a couple hours of cramps) and I thought it was the effects of such a low-fat diet (not completely unheard of) and I resumed my normal eating and hoped things would go back to normal.
But they didn't. I still have horrible cramps and now my periods are lasting at least 7 days for the past 3 months and are much heavier. That's when I got scared and made the appointment with the new Dr.
I'm glad I did ..
This is really long and for those who've read it all, thanks ... I'll be posting once I get my results but it just feels right in my gut. To be honest, I'll actually be disappointed if I don't have PCOS. It's not that I *want* it per se but I want an answer. I want to know what is wrong so that I can set about making my life better and if I don't have it, it's just this elusive "Thing" that I have to deal with.
It's kinda like playing golf in the dark right now, I keep trying things to help me feel better and they work to some extent but never enough ...
I'm eating a low-carb diet and that helps a lot but I'm still so tired all the time.
Thanks for reading and you guys are all such a blessing. My heart aches with what some of you have had to go through, my life has been hard for me but it's nothing compared to what you guys have gone through and I just wanted to thank you for being here and sharing your stories and your thoughts with everyone. It's very appreciated.
What a wonderful woman you are. I enjoyed you post a lot. I'm sorry about your awful experience with drs, the can be a bit frustrating. I do hope you get answers and the proper treatment. I don't know much about your other problems, but you may want to get tested for Insulin resistance. I did and I am thankful. I follow an IR diet and day by day am feeling better and better. Plus taking vitamins is a good thing too!
I completely understand what you mean about just wanting to know so you can deal with it, I've been there myself. I'm also morbidly obese and have tried every diet known to man, none worked. That is until now. I've lost a total of 14lbs!! That's in a short time. So I'm feeling good and I have faith you will too.
I know it's difficult to wait, but just take a deep breath, you'll get through this and we'll help. The women here are wonderful. Even if you don't have PCOS, please feel free to stay on board, your still a cyster! I know it's tough, so if you ever just need to talk sometime, feel free to PM me anytime!!
My Dr. did mention IR to me in the initial discussion so it's possible that she's going to wait to see my results first and then go from there. She did also say that the treatmeant would be Metformin. It really impressed me that she put so much out there on the initial consult, it gave me a good feeling that she would stick with me and do what was best. I felt very encouraged.
I didn't mention many of my symptoms so I thought I'd do that: migraines, near constant headaches, tiredness, dark circles under eyes, muscle soreness for no reason, weight gain for no apparent reason, weight loss can be difficult, skin peeling on my fingers and feet (can also be chronic yeast?), now my periods are getting longer and heavier, more severe cramping, mind fog, cold all the time, ... I'm sure there are other things but these are the most annoying.
I don't know how many of these can be attributed to PCOS or any at all but my Dr's concern for it is what made me really stop and think.
Well, I've got to say this Dr. truly is on top of things! I just got a call from her and she told me the results of blood tests and ultrasound.
She said my blood looked good, nothing strange about it. My ultrasound did show one small cyst on my left ovary which looks like it has blood in it(?) and she wasn't concerned about it right now. I'll go back in 6 weeks for another ultrasound since she believes it could disappear on its own - she wants to see if it's still there or if it has by chance multiplied.
But, she said that my symptoms were consistent with PCOS and despite not having cysts she is still going to put me on Metformin.
Well, I'm glad you got a call!!! It does sound like she really cares, and I feel that is important. I hope the meds work and make you feel better. How many of your cureent symptoms can be attributed to your other diseases? I do have a few of those and I'm not sure if it is the PCOS or the IR or a combo affect. It sounds like whatever it is, she will find out.
I don't know, I think it's hard to say which "belong" to what because so many things share symptoms.
Like tiredness, EBV, thyroid, and even PCOS can all have that symptom. :p I think that if you were to really drill down you'd find commonality in all immune system disorders and even in PCOS, which I don't believe is an immune system disorder but it wouldn't surprise me if it were.
So far I'm very impressed with this Dr (the whole medical facility as a whole actually) and I do think that she's on top of her game and I appreciate that.
We'll see what happens as this progresses.
For now though, I'm just super relieved and excited to start the meds and see if that helps how I feel.
You are right, alot of the symptoms can interchange between a lot of things. Well, at least you have a good dr that seems determined to find out what's wrong and I so hope for you that it gets better. Just keep doing what you can and hange in there. Nice deep breaths, you can do this!! We'll be there to help!
Thanks for the warm welcome. It's a truly wonderful place!
Last night I started taking the Metformin and had no adverse reactions to the pill on a fairly empty stomach so I took that as a good sign. Man these are cow pills!
I also went to the bookstore and looked at a couple of books that I've seen rec'd here on the board for diets, specifically Insuling Resistance Diet and Fat Flush Plan (rec'd on another board).
I think for now I'll stick to the Kimkins plan, it's low-carb and lower in fat as well. It's pretty easy for me to do and I don't have to think as much as I would if I were to go with the IR plan (no linking and calculating portions). I think the more simple the plan the more likely I'll follow it.
I also like how quickly I can lose weight on Kimkins. I tend to get into trouble when it becomes "OK" to eat carbs, I haven't yet figured out how to have a happy medium.
I'm gald you have started the met. I hope the plan you've picked works for you. However, if it doesn't, i am on the IR plan, and like you I hate calculating things, but it's not that bad really. But hopefully, it all works out for you!! Remember not to cut out all carbs, your body does need them for energy, so any plan that makes you cut them completely out, be leary of!
Yes, the initial plan is to cut them all out to get them out of your system and then gradually add them back in.
For me though, I have a hard time with carbs because I'm an all or nothing person. I have a very very difficult time just having SOME carbs. If I eat them then I just want more and more.
I get my carbs from things like nuts and the like, it's easier for me to handle them that way.
Bread, rice, pasta, those are just death .. I think that's anothe reason why I decided against the IR plan initially.
Oh yeah .. so I've now taken two doses of the Metformin and I just had to make a quick run to the bathroom. Eeek! I hope this doesn't happen a lot because that could be annoying.
Strangely though I took the meds several hours ago and just had it happen.
New and Somewhat Diagnosed! 
