Hi My name is Sarrah,
(33 years old - height: 174cm, Weight: 79 kgs (175 Ibs) = BMI 26.1 - so just over into the overweight category :0(
I have nearly been officially diagnosed with PCOS.
I had a Ultrasound on my ovaries recently just a few days ago and it was more or less "diagnosed" but officially I have to wait for the follow up appointment with my Endocrinologist next week.
Apparently to officially diagnose PCOS they need to compare the following things) but the Ultrasound lady said she is sure that I have it.
1) Symptoms - weight gain,scalp hairloss, hirsutism - for me chin hair, irregular or absent periods (I don't have the bad cystic acne I hear about though). BMI is 26.1 so just over into the overweight category but a lot of weight around middle which doesn't look good as I've always been a slim girl. If I didnt have PCOS I am sure I would be slim. Previously my BMI was always around 19 or 20 - lower end of normal weight.
2) Bloodtests - hormones -testosterone etc
3) Ultrasound of Ovaries - over 12 pearl like cysts on each ovary. One big watery cyst on right one (not pcos related)
Due to hair loss and hirsutism - in 2004 and more weight gain around my middle section than I thought was normal for a relatively young women (not in menopause) - I knew something was wrong and thought I better have it checked out and I had heard of PCOS and knew I had some of the symptoms mainly - hirsutism chin hair and scalp hair loss and weight gain around middle area as opposed to thighs and backside.
So I went to my GP and insisted I be tested for PCOS due to my symptoms At that stage I was still getting regular periods but but fairly long cycles 35 days and no acne, sometimes irregular but mostly not.
My GP said my blood test were normal and she reluctantly let me have the ultrasound. The Ultrasound was apparently negative for PCOS. I wasn't has overweight then so it has obviously progressed in those 3.5 years. I guess that As my weight went up the cysts formed so it is now "diagnosable" whereas before it had only just started enough to give me chin hair and weight gain but not enough to make me not get periods or for the cysts on ovaries to appear in ultrasound.
In the last 3 or so years I have gone from around 60kg to 79 kgs - that is 20kg weight gain but most of it around the middle which is not an attractive look. I would love to have a waist, clothes look so much better with a slim waist.
Since the beginning of 2003 I have lost about 50% of my very thick hair (androgenetic alopecia) and since about age 25 I've had extra chin hair and body hair in general much thicker and darker than the average girl.
I've never had the cystic acne though. I have always had oily skin and get the odd pimple but not acne.
I always knew something was wrong and at my insistance I arranged for all the blood tests the ultrasounds and referral to a Endocrinologist and a Gynocologist -its taken about 4 years for a diagnosis, so my reccommendation to girls who have similar symptoms who know deep inside "something is not right"..... keep on at your doctor for tests as sometimes they say "oh your blood test were normal"...if you think something is "wrong" or "not right".... chances are THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG OR NOT RIGHT. YOU KNOW YOUR BODY MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE DOES. I think doctors should learn this in medical school. Listen to the patient!!
Also I have a feeling that if your remain thin - ie say if you are an athlete or an avid sports women and exercise alot I believe that you can escape some of the symptoms athough you still have PCOS - only when you gain weight ie if you stop exercising or something the symptoms can come out and cysts start forming.
I believe this is what happened to me. I sometimes wonder if I'd remain thin and not stoppped exercising (I was training for the Police Physcial Exam 60kgs) I think maybe I would not have gotten the cysts and the cycle remained regualar. I already had the chin hair and hairloss but perhaps not the cysts yet...
Anyway next week at the Endocrinologist I will discuss where i go from here. In the next few years i am looking to have children and I want to avoid having infertility, diabetes and heart disease and uterine cancer which I have heard can happen to PCOS sufferes.
I am also being tested for "Cushings Syndrome" because of some other symptoms (red stretch marks and slight fleshy hump thing on top of back not very noticable to others but doc noticed and I have noticed it in the last year of so ) I have so I hope that I don't have both these disorders! I have done a 24 hour Urine test (testing levels of cortisol) so should get those results and blood test results next week too. I have had a lot of stress in the last 8 years of my life so producing too much cortisol (stress hormone) I can understand!!
I have heard that losing weight can reduce or make PCOS symptoms go away. So I am hoping to lose 20kgs in the next 20 weeks so that is 1kgs a week which I think is realistic and not too much weight to lose. I love
my food so I think lots of exercise is the answer for me :0(
I am going to be doing two 1 hour walks a day and mixing up some short jogs with that when get fitter and 3 days a week a 40 minute lap swing and some weight work outs at home ( I have a home gym - weights etc).
This site has been very helpful as I have been reading it over the last few days. It is sad that I have been diagnosed as there is no "cure" for PCOS as such, I can't say it was a "shock" though but at least I know what I have got and I can change my diet and lose weight and this may help me.
I am not sure whether I need to go on Metformin for Insulin Resistance or anything yet as I haven't had my Glucose Tolerance test to test for IR - Insulin Resistance. I will have that test in the next few weeks.
Kind regards,
Sarrah
p.s Something I read and have found interesting is that girls with PCOS often have male pattern early thinning or baldness in some of the males in the family. My maternal grandfather and his son (my uncle ) and my twin brother have thinning hair starting in early twenties. My twin brother always had perfect skin growing up but at the age of about 23/24 he suddenly got the cystic acne and had to go on roaccutane and his beautiful thick blond hair started to thin. Maybe this is the male genetic form of PCOCs.
Something to think about.
20th October - update.
I have now been put on Metformin XR and starting with 500mgs a day in conjunction with a low GI diet and exercise. I have to have a follow up in 3 months and she wants me to get from 78kgs to 72kgs (I am 175cm ie nearly 5 Foot 8.
I hope to get down to 60kgs so this nasty PCOS nearly goes away.....
Sarrahs Story (Aussie) - I have just been diagnosed with PCOS. 
isnt the internet amazing??
