How were you initially diagnosed with PCOS?

[chickadee32]

I hope it's ok if I post here... I'm actually not diagnosed with PCOS, but have long suspected I have it. History of irregular periods (they nearly stopped last year, and are back but still very irregular; two cycles ago I had my period for 3 weeks straight), severe menstrual cramps, complex ovarian cysts (first one was at age 13), facial and body acne as far back as I can remember, excess facial hair, hair loss near my temples in the past few years, slightly elevated testosterone. I do not have high blood sugar, thankfully. My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant for 17 months and have yet to conceive - a problem I always suspected I'd have, and my worst fear realized. I see my OB/GYN regularly, and I've seen an endocrinologist, but neither of them have said anything about PCOS. At this point, with trying to lose weight and exercising 5 days per week or so, I'm not sure what I could do differently anyway... but I am a bit tired of feeling/being made to feel like my irregular periods and fertility issues are simply my "fault" due to my weight; my weight IS my fault, but the hormone issues I have would probably be there to some degree regardless (seeing as how they were there when I was 13 and was NOT overweight).

[Violet73]

Originally Posted by chickadee32

I hope it's ok if I post here... I'm actually not diagnosed with PCOS, but have long suspected I have it. History of irregular periods (they nearly stopped last year, and are back but still very irregular; two cycles ago I had my period for 3 weeks straight), severe menstrual cramps, complex ovarian cysts (first one was at age 13), facial and body acne as far back as I can remember, excess facial hair, hair loss near my temples in the past few years, slightly elevated testosterone. I do not have high blood sugar, thankfully. My husband and I have been trying to get pregnant for 17 months and have yet to conceive - a problem I always suspected I'd have, and my worst fear realized. I see my OB/GYN regularly, and I've seen an endocrinologist, but neither of them have said anything about PCOS. At this point, with trying to lose weight and exercising 5 days per week or so, I'm not sure what I could do differently anyway... but I am a bit tired of feeling/being made to feel like my irregular periods and fertility issues are simply my "fault" due to my weight; my weight IS my fault, but the hormone issues I have would probably be there to some degree regardless (seeing as how they were there when I was 13 and was NOT overweight).

first of all...(((hugs)))) to you and all that you are going through! Your weight may not be your fault at all. It does sound as if you have insulin resistance due to PCOS. I'm no doctor of course but you do have a lot of the symptoms of PCOS. I think you may have it backwards and your weight issues and fertility issues are from your hormone issues (PCOS) and not the other way around. If I were you I would just flat out ask your docs if you have PCOS and what you can do about it. If you don't get a direct answer, then consider changing docs. You can take control of your own health. Life is too short and you ARE paying them for their services. Have you tried fertility drugs to help you get pregnant? I wasn't diagnosed as having PCOS just as being anovulatory at the time which meant I had about two to three periods a year. I took Clomid and got pregnant on the second round. It was PCOS all along, at least my doc believes so, but at the time they really didn't say so. What does your doc say about fertility issues? hugs to you!