Hi Ladies.
I just got done watching Mystery Diagnosis, on the Discovery Health Channel. This lady had simular symptoms of PCOS: weight gain, insulin resistant, facial hair, brown spots, etc. She went to several drs, including endocrinologists and they all thought she had PCOS. Her mother read an article in Woman's Day about PCOS and there was a dr listed, Dr. Katherine Sherif, who is supposed to the best of the best for treatment of PCOS. So she went and the dr gave her medicine to help with her PCOS, only it didn't work like she thought it would. It should have lowered her Testosterone level and it didn't. So Dr. Sherif tried another drug that is used for ADULT ONSET CONGENITAL ADRENAL HYPERPLASIA and that lowered it and relieved her symptoms. I just wonder how many of us Cysters actually have ADULT ONSET CONGENITAL ADRENAL HYPERPLASIA and just have been misdiagnosed???
Anyway, I just wanted to get some information out there so we are aware that there is another disease out there that has a lot of the same symptoms as PCOS.
Here is a bit of info about it:
Late Onset CongenitalAadrenal Hyperplasia (CAH):, or non-classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia, is a less severe form of CAH in which symptoms can vary widely and appear anywhere between infancy and late adolescence. Because the symptoms can be mild or be confused with the symptoms of other disorders, it may not be diagnosed until a person is well into adulthood, if it all. To make things even more confusing, symptoms can come and go throughout one's life.
The basics behind late onset CAH: Because of an enzyme deficiency, cortisol production is limited, causing the adrenals to overcompensate and make too many androgens (e.g. testosterone, DHEA). If a child has precocious puberty symptoms, advanced bone growth, or extreme muscle development, he or she is more apt to get diagnosed. Fairly often, however, it goes undiagnosed. This is because the physical symptoms in males are not as obvious since higher testosterone causes less differences in men, and a lot of doctors don't think to check for late onset CAH when a woman complains of acne, menstrual disorders, and excess hair growth, etc. Also, both sexes can suffer from anxiety or neurological disorders caused by the lack of enough cortisol (which deals with stress) and excess androgens. The most common cause of both CAH and late onset CAH is a 21-hydroxylase deficiency. However, these disorders can also be caused by a deficiency of 11 beta-hydroxylase, 17 alpha-hydroxylase, 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, or 20-22 demolase.
See: http://www.cahsupportforum.com/locah.html
See: http://www.endotext.org/pediatrics/p...diatrics8a.htm
Another Site for:
ADULT ONSET CONGENITAL ADRENAL HYPERPLASIA http://www.dundee.ac.uk/medther/taye...yperplasia.htm
Another Link about Dr. Sherif: http://www.drexelmed.edu/About/Newsa...8/Default.aspx
