I need advice from those who have pcos experience

[cfelt14]

for as long as I can remember I have had a lot of male hair growth patterns. Thick black hair on my back stomach butt sideburns mustache chin and neck. Pretty much everywhere we don't want hair as women. I always had super heavy painful periods. They weren't super consistened but never went months without one. I recently started looking up reasons why I have all this and came across pcos. I have struggled with anxiety and depression my whole life and currently on meds, I have acne and dark armpits and way extra weight around my stomach. Every symton of pcos, I have. I went to the doctor and got blood taken and all my doctor really told me was I am prediabetic, and said all the hormones she looked at looked fine and just deal with it pretty much. I'm going for a second opinion next week. My questions are, what hormones should they test for? And even if some are normal can I still have pcos and is this why I'm prediabetic? I'm only 19 and I don't drink pop or alcohol and I have recently lost 30 lbs and eat right. It just doesn't sounds right that I am prediabetic and I am told not to worry about pcos unless I want to have kids. I do have a daughter so I know I can get pregnant but I went 2 years or more without BC without getting pregnant. So I am currently on mirena( which I'm not sure I like) for 2 years and the doctor I seen wants me to take BC pills on top of having mirena. Anyways anyone have any input or answers for my questions? I feel like no body understands what I'm going through. Thank you all in advance

[cherylh87]

Hi katiekatt. I was really worried about you because you said you haven't had a period in almost a year. I had a very similar situation with my PCOS but my doctor put me on the oral contraceptive Dianette, He said that not having a period every month meant that the lining of the womb was not shedding ....and there was an increased risk of cancer. The Dianette essentially forced me to ovulate, ensuring I had a period every month so the lining of the womb would shed. In saying that, I was taken off the pill because it did not agree with me.

By changing my diet, I have found that I have returned to regular cycles and no longer need any oral contraceptives. I have found considerable improvements in my Acne (almost gone) which is great. No real improvements in hair growth though. Generally all I changed in my diet was more fruit and vegetables, rarely eating takeaways and a bit less bread. Apparently, women with PCOS should eat 30% less carbohydrates in their diet than the average person.

Its not my intention to scare you about not having a period but I just wanted to let you know in case. Best of luck.

[katiekattt]

I have pcos and was diagnosed with it about 6 years ago. It really sounds like that's what you have. I get hair on my face on my chin, under my chin, and side burns. I haven't told anyone, basically I just shave it I know that's bad but I don't have time to sit there each morning and pluck every little hair (which I do occasionally if I'm patient enough). I also store fat on my stomach. I don't get periods though, it's actually been almost a year since I had one, but every woman is different and you might be getting them because of the iud. I started taking metformin about a month ago and am hoping it will help. I've heard a lot of good things about it for pcos. I think you should go to a different doctor and get a second opinion, especially if that one says pcos isn't something to be concerned about unless you want kids. It is something to be concerned about it can cause all sorts of health problems. I'm not trying to scare you, these problems can be prevented, but it's something you should definitely get checked out by another doctor just to be sure.