PCOS or Endometriosis?

[whyntir]

Five months ago, I had an ultrasound done for severe pelvic pain. Back in 2009, I had an ultrasound done for similar reasons (at the time I was 13) and I was informed both my ovaries had cysts at the time, 5 years later and that has not changed, but absolutely no action was taken to help solve my pain. In my latest ultrasound, it reads that the ovaries are not enlarged, the larger of the two being 2.4 X 2.3 X 2.1 cm, which also happens to be the same ovary that has a .8 cm follicle and gives me more pain more often. I recently went to a gynecologist who proposed PCOS, but never really paid much mind to the Endometrial Stripe which had grown from .6 cm to 1 cm in size and was described as "Poorly defined". The ultrasound was 10 days after the start of my cycle and 7 days after. Was the size increase attributed to the timing of my ultrasound? If not, could PCOS be attributed to the thickening of the stripe? If the stripe was so large, why was is poorly defined? And could this possibly have a higher risk of endometriosis or something more sinister?

[whyntir]

Thank you for the information. I'm getting hormone tests done next week, so we'll know for sure if it is PCOS from the testosterone levels. Again, thank you for the information.

[vedadhar]

PCOS is often misdiagnosed as endometriosis if tested in female age groups 25-35 of undiagnosed symptoms.People think that these two different disorders comes hand in hand and one develops other which is not true.Please make yourself clear.

[vedadhar]

It most probably seems to be running in favor of PCOS considering all the information you gave.PCOS happens only in adolescent females where as Endometriosis occurs in sexually active females within age group of 25-35.

PCOS has much more defined symptoms like oligomenorrhea or amenorrhea (reduced cycles),acne,hirsutism(increased growth of facial and men like hair pattern on other parts of body),pelvic pain,abdominal cramps etc,where as endometriosis gives a classical feature of dysmenorrhea (painful cycle),dyspareunia (painful sex), and infertility,abnormal bleeding and symptoms that does not correspond to time of cycle.

PCOS gives water filled echoes on an Ultrasound which are referred as pearl necklace appearance as they are more in number,size varying from 0.5 to 0.8 cm,where as endometriosis gives appearance of bigger masses often referred as chocolate cysts and less in number,size varying from 2.5 to 5.0 cm.

Your cysts are less in number, though large in size,considering your history and present information,correlating it to medical facts,diagnosis draws towards PCOS mostly.

Endometrial stripe refers to endometrial thickness that changes its dimensions depending on the time of cycle.In your case it has grown from 0.6 to 1cm ,which means it is thin in contour ,indicating the first phase of next menstrual cycle.It is poorly defined suggests it has been shed from previous cycle and new endometrium is being prepared for next cycle.This is so normal.In endometriosis ,the endometrium is way too thick, the growth will be out side the uterus and it does not develop all of a sudden.

So I suggest you to forget about Endometriosis and talk to your Doc to make clear how she eliminated endometriosis and confirmed PCOS.Risk of endometriosis is genitical,multifactorial,peaks at the age of 40,risks being infertile and dysmenorrhic for long time.Talk to your Doc about these issues.

Keep us updated.All the best.