49, Depressed, Hate my Endo, wanna quit the Met

[PCGeekz]

Does that say it all? My Met needs to be refilled and to get that I need to go see my Endo, I hate him! It's who my Gyn referred me to so I don't know that I have a choice of who to see. I'm 49 now (BD in Jan), obviously not ttc anymore. I know met helps with other side effects aside from fertility but I don't want to go back to that DR so I'm thinking of weaning myself off met.

Anyone else done this? I'm not menapausaly yet but how do you really know if you are?? I'm very overweight and met never helped me to lose any lbs.

Suggestions... Anyone???

Thanks

Kath in WI

[asifgracecouldbecontained]

[Fuzzy Bear]

Hi
I am 49 - 50 in Sept. and I do have some suggestions as a woman that is in the same age range.
If you don't like your Endo, ask one of your doctors for another referral. They shouldn't disagree if you tell them it is just a personality conflict. If you aren't comfortable with your doctor you won't be properly cared for because you won't be as forthcoming with the information that could be critical in deciding on what to try. You should check the board on good doctors and endo's and see if anyone recommends someone in your area. If there isn't anyone, you can try googling (http://www.searchandcure.com/) endocrinologists in your area and if you can, call and ask the secretary if she knows if her boss has other patients with PCOS... she should know that if she has been there for any length of time with that doctor. If/When you find a name, you can take that name to your doctor and request a referral. You might even try phoning your doctor's office and try requesting it over the phone.
If the new doctor doesn't suit you, do the search all over again. With PCOS it's very important that you are comfortable with your doctor so you can talk about your health without feeling judged. If you have a negative doctor (I don't believe you are even trying to diet!) you won't want to try to improve yourself.
Being over the ttc part in our lives doesn't mean we shouldn't take care of our bodies so we don't end up with a brain more active than our body can be. If your doctor put you on Metformin and you are having any results from it, you should continue on it. You would have to have before and after blood tests to confirm whether or not you were having any results from it though. Losing weight isn't the only thing that Metformin does, and it may be helping in another way that isn't obvious to you.
Your regular Primary Care, or even your Gyno are both able to give you another script for Met, so you don't have to go back to that doctor to get it. I can't imagine any doctor trying to force someone to go to only one doctor.
If you are over-weight and 49, you could ask about Insulin Resistance to see if that is the problem. I am IR and Met didn't have any obvious effects on me so I was switched to Avandia, but blood tests were at the crux of the decision. You really sound like you should talk to your doctor about another Endo so you can continue to get proper treatment for yourself. If you don't, it could turn worse for you in a few years. My blood sugars went from being controlled for 10 years with oral medications, to over the roof-top levels within a year, and went on within another 6 months (of working at changing my lifestyle) to needing Insulin.
Talk things over with a Primary Care doctor and get another referral, and another if you still aren't happy with one. If you don't want to have more possible illnesses later in life, you have to take care of yourself now to avoid it.
BTW if you want to know if you are peri-menopausal, or in menopause, you can ask your doctor after you have your yearly pap. It is one of the results from it. Other than the symptoms, that's the only way I know how to be sure of where your hormonal stage is.
asifgracecouldbecontained ~ (wow what a name!! lol) I was once on dexamethasone and the doctor I had at the time told me it was my eating that caused my weight gain, and wouldn't believe me when I told him I didn't eat very much. This was back in the mid 80's though and I don't think that I.R. and P.C.O.S. was necessarily something that they were sure were connected back then. I eat more now as a diabetic than I have ever eaten in my adult life.
It's nice to see a thread with some of the older cysters.

Fuzzy Bear

[Fuzzy Bear]

Hey PCGeekz!!

I just stumbled across this web site and thought I'd post it here for you. I also posted it in the Looking for a Doctor board.

the web site is the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, and if you go here:

http://www.aace.com/resources/memsearch.php

or there is this site: http://www.pcosupport.org/

with this as a doctor locater page:
http://www.pcosupport.org/membership/professionals.php



and use the menu for the Specialty to make it for PCOS, you should be able to find some local Endo's to inquire about. At least if they are given to you through this site, with the menu showing PCOS, you won't have to ask if the doctor is familiar with it!!

HTH!
Fuzzy Bear