YOUR experience with PCOS...(pos tmi)

Me and my Gynae *think* I have PCOS, but she is loathe to make a diagnosis proper until I have been for a scan... Our system here is sooo antiquated that even though I am going private, I can't get in for a scan till NOVEMBER 12th!!! That is a whopping 4 months, yes 4 months after my GP made the request for scan and 2 months since I saw the gynae, and she hurried it along... goodness knows how long the wait would hav been if she hadn't re- requested it!
Symptoms- painful and very very very heavy periods, painful ovulation that make me sick as well, missed 4 periods in a row, sore back, huge weight gain in short time frame, painful blind pimples on jaw, excess hair, especially chinny chin chins (ICK) and mooooody.
The only one of those I had pre children was painful ovulation. Am gutted the most abouthte hair thing cos I am very fair and have never had to worry if I missed a week or so shaving as my sparse blonde hairs weren't noticeable. NOT ANY MORE. GUTTED. Oh and the weight sucks arse too.

So, anyway, I can't be on the pill as it makes me LOOOOOPy, mad, insane and very very depressed and suicidal, so she is thinking a mirena (not having any more kids) however I have 2 big concerns that make me think I'm not sure.. those would be weight gain (I am lardy enough.. although I never gained on the pill - only after I finally stopped taking it, lol) and the moods, currently my moods are bloody terrible, and do not want to make them worse, as I am an absolute harridan as it is 2.5 ish weeks a month. My moods were, as i mentioned psychotic onthe pill, which is why I have been off it for 9 years or so.
To manage my moods I have just started taking 30 plus and after 2.5 weeks of taking it, I have to say I have really noticed a change this last week, and I like it...
So anyway. What I want to hear is your experience with PCOS and how you deal with it, treatments, side effects etc.

Thaks for sharing!

I am a suffer of PCOS and I hate everything you have mentioned. I have been told that other people don't notice the dark hairs (I just think they are just saying that thou). I hate having to pluck all the time but I have to put up with it till I my millions to get rid of it some other way. I am waxing my upper lip every 3 weeks and the other hairs all over my body are removed all the time. I really really hate it.

I have a mirena inand I love it, as for my my issue with PCOS was very very heavy bleeding. I have only had 1 real period since getting it in, in May. The only weight gain I have had is around my tummy and I am working on that.

The pill never worked for me (bleed consintly and loopy as well) and consider a mirena only if it will be paid for by insurance as it isn't something you want to waste money on only to have it in for a few months.

Your post sounds like me!

I was on Estelle but got depression and IBS, it did control the acne and hair growth though.

Basically, I can't afford a Mirena which is what I really need so am just getting a normal IUD. It won't help the bleeding (have no idea what I'm going to be like - used to go a year without a period so might not be a biggy for me), and won't help the ov pain, but I have great painkillers for that.

I also take a herbal diuretic as I've found I get a lot of fluid retention due to my hormones being up the wop all the time.

Sorry not that helpful for you really!

Personally I wouldn't go for a hysterectomy as previously suggested, unless you're a lot older. My cousin had one at 27 (PCOS, endo being removed every few months and became infertile) and she is having constant issues with HRT. My aunty (a nurse - who has also had a hysterectomy) said that it's not something that should be considered unless you've got serious, serious issues. There are days however where I'd just love one to be able to live a close to normal life!

I have PCOS wasnt diagnosed until I stopped taking the pill when TTC and my periods were 52-47 days apart and I had major weight gain as soon as I stopped taking the pill, didnt really have any other symptoms but I went to fertility associates who told me to loose weight, so I got lots of books out on PCOS and diet which are very interesting reading I then ended up having acupuncture from a guy that deals with womans issues and my periods went from 52 days apart to 35 and I fell pregnant! I dont want to go back on the pill as I feel its too fake and have noticed that although my periods are now about 32-40 days apart that they are coming regularly now the other thing im doing is weight watchers and exercise so inadvertantly (cant spell) doing the low GI food diet and eatting healthy like the books say ive lost 19.1kg and feel way better and in turn I am hoping that its helping my PCOS, I wont have another scan until I TTC again to see if I still have it or not, but there are other options out there to manage symptoms other than drugs, I would recommend diet changes and acupuncutre, has helped me

Thanks, some great tips, I will get some apple cider vinegar tomorrow, Emz, i notice big time the highs and lows with blood sugars, so wouldn't be surprised if bloods come back with diabetes or whatever. Gynae said the metaformin may help with weight loss.

Thanks Ro, that is my main concern, I know what I am like in the pill, attempted suicide once before and had no idea that the pill was making my depression so bad, I saw a different Dr to my usual one at that time and he pointed it out to me and i have never had it tht bad since I came off the HCP.

I had wondered about having a hysterectomy, I am well finished having children, and am almost 35, so I don't think that will be an issue. The concern for me is the hormone replacement and the higher cancer incidence, however I think you get that with PCOS anyway, we have the dud cancer gene in family, so I'm fairly wary about that.

Oh and the fluid retention. 2 out of 4 weeks my wedding rings almost castrate my fingers but the other two weeks fit fine, no point getting them bigger then they come off. Will head into the health food shop at tweekend and look at diuretics nd the tea. Hair isn't too bad on face, its under my chin and ive some moles under there and



Oh and legs and bikini line. never ever had to worry about those.

She did say she can "cook" the lining on my uterus to stem the bleeding, siad it may stop it totally for a while, so...*shrugs*

Man it sucks being a woman

I suffer from PCOS and I can honestly say that for me, 2 cups of spearmint tea a day definitely reduced my facial hair. I'm not taking it at the moment as my MS has made me very selective with what I can and cannot eat.

I choose low GI foods and use xylitol in my tea and baking. Xylitol is a natural sugar substitute made from corn husk. It does not effect your blood sugar and has 40% less calories than sugar. I also add a splash of cider vinegar to my stir frys.

I also have a specialist acupuncturist/Chinese herbalist I go to. She has treated me for both PCOS and infertility. For the first 2 months, she worked on flushing out the old blood – something which I think sounds like you could benefit from too.

I will most certainly never go back on the pill. I plan to use charting as my form of contraception. I am very proud to be drug free (I won't even pop a panadol!).

Something that I thought of whilst reading your post, has you GYN ruled out Endo? Personally I think your symptoms sound like you could have a combination of PCOS and endo.    

Wow I'm so glad you started this post. I suffer from PCOS as well and have all symptoms as described. It's great to hear other peoples advice and treatments. I'm totally going to try out the spearmint tea!

Thanks Treen It would be great to get the beard under control (OK it's not even anywhere near that bad, a couple of stray hairs lol but it makes you feel like a werewolf )

You could have endo too but there are heaps of other things as well, and endo can't be picked up unless they do a biopsy (some say they can pick it up on scans, but it's not reliable).

There's heaps of other things, like only the beginning stages of endo (like I have - nothing to do anything about) can cause that much pain without it being bad enough to do anything about, irritable uterus, prostratic glandular uterine contractions (mild to severe - I have had a few severe attacks, seriously as painful as being in labour, but the mild ones can just be crampy: basically blood supply gets cut off - you can get drugs to treat it).

Unfortunately its one of those things, they don't know until they explore. Do you have medical insurance? If so, I'd be pushing for a hysteroscopy/laproscopy once you've had your scan to figure out what the heck is going on down there.

It's not an easy thing to go through, I hope you get some answers from the scan

Glad you have a diagnosis

WTF about not ovulating with PCOS? You can too, it just turns into a follicle that's all.

Sucky about the rings (and about the other stresses). Keep us posted, I hope things start coming right for you, it's not an easy thing to get used to aye hun?