STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Elle · Hermes

Duuuuuuuude, all this stuff is connected?!

ILoveChoo · Hermes

sorry i can't offer any advice, but what is PCOS??

Metric · Gucci

Can you elaborate a little Elle?

Elle · Hermes

PCOS stands for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. It's a fairly common hormonal/adrenal disorder, but it's difficult to diagnose because there isn't one definitive test and it presents differently in different people. It's most common physical symptoms are obesity/weight gain, irregular periods or heavy/long periods, acne, and hair male-pattern hair growth. It's also a contributing factor for diabetes, reproductive cancers, and heart disease. Despite the name, many women who have PCOS do not have cysts on their ovaries.

While I'm not ready to say I have PCOS, many of the symptoms sound familiar to me and therefore may not be 'normal', but instead indicative of a similar hormonal imbalance. The info I've read say the somewhere between 5% and 10% of women have it, too. I'm just excited that it might not be 'just the way I am', but a condition with a name that can be treated.

But because my symptoms are somewhat mild, I've been written off as 'normal' in the past, so I'm sure there are others who have been told things are 'normal' when they aren't, necessarily. I think alot of people who appear fairly normal would come back with at least borderline test results.

-- Edited by Elle at 15:13, 2006-03-28

Dizzy · Marc Jacobs

I'm so glad you can finally get some answers! This happened to a friend of mine. She had a miscarriage (so sad, unfortunately) and her doctor just sort of said "these things happen...." and told her she was TOO SKINNY. (a little blaming, don't you think...) Her sister heard about a specialist, she went, they found a pretty common imbalance, started her on medication and all the little problems she was having cleared up almost immediately! The medical community is pretty male-focused, in my opinion. Or really, I guess they just have a tendency to assume the little symtpoms are manageable and miss the overall pattern...

HeatherLynn · Gucci

My college roommate had this. I know that it affected her health quite a bit. She went in for testing regularly and they had it under control, but she did suffer from side effects or had issues PCOS.

halleybird · Hermes

I posted this yesterday, but apparently some of my posts got erased in the madness. My stepmom believes most health problems women have are hormonal. She had this realization after her hysterectomy, when her hormone balance started to affect all sorts of things. She actually wants my sisters and I to get our hormone levels tested now, so that when we get older/hit menopause or have problems, we know where our normal baseline is. I always thought that was a little extreme, but it's starting to make sense. Good luck!

blubirde · Chanel

One of my BFFs thought she had this a few years back. She had all the symptoms, like you're describing Elle, only she didn't have it. It's funny because once she read about it, she was convinced that it explained a lot of things. But nope. I do think hormonal imbalances are ignored waaay too often and could help explain a lot of situations women go through.

Good luck! I hope you have it! (Well, you know what I mean. )

Elle · Hermes

Thanks, girls .

My CNM was AWESOME. I told her what was going on, and she agrees that while it could just be 'how I am', there is a definite possibility that there is something else going on too. She is doing a thyroid panel and is also checking my blood sugar levels. If those come back normal, she's referring me to an endocrinologist for further testing. And, hey, I got 3 months of free HBC out of the deal too!

I'll keep ya updated .

-- Edited by Elle at 18:16, 2006-03-30

travelgirl · Kate Spade

I know that cutting carbs down (kinda following a diabetic diet) helps ease some of the symptoms of PCOS. In fact, I believe it may be somewhat related to diabetes? There are some good websites on this. I thought I had this too and my doctor tested me and said she didn't think I did. I think I recall her saying there is something called Glucophage that helps PCOS.

Kelly · Hermes

I have PCOS, luckily we caught it in my teen years. My mom had the same problem a few people were talking about, that she had trouble getting pregnant and she had all these other problems, but her doctors kept shrugging it off and attributing it to other things. Finally she learned about PCOS and was tested and had it, so she had me tested too because I had a lot of the symptoms. Glucophage is a relatively new method of treating it, but I've been on it for about a year and a half now (although the first month is absolutely awful, I was sick every single morning and started waking up earlier to account for the fact that I'd have to spend some time vomiting) and now I really have to watch what I eat or else I'll be sick the next day. But overall I'm glad that I'm on it, although my periods didn't come back after months and months so now I'm on birth control for that. I really think that PCOS is starting to gain press, which I think is really good because after my mom found out she had it, she recommended to a lot of her friends and family members with similar symptoms that they get tested, and many of them finally found out what had been plaguing them all these years!

small fry · Chanel

I hope you find out what is going on and can get the right treatment.

My SIL has this and has had it since she was a teen. She also diabetic (type 2) It has been a real struggle for b/c she is not able to have kids and will have to adopt if her and my brother decide they want kids.

-- Edited by kaykay at 18:01, 2006-04-09