Ashlea,
You have found a good place to ask questions. We do not know all the answers, but together we have a lot of good info for you!
PCOS stands for Poly cycstic ovarian syndrome. It can be different for every person that has it. Some of the symptoms include hair loss, weight gain around the middle, missing periods or like in my case, complete loss of periods, acne around the jaw line, hair growth on the face, mood swings- the list goes form there!
Basically, the way it was explained to me, is that this not a female hormone syndrome- this is caused by the way your body deals with insulin- it does not aborbs the insulin that is created in your body by certain foods and normal body functions. The increased insulin in your body, that does not get absorbed, turns into fat, causeing the weight gain, it also cause a rise in certain hormones, and some people with PCOS and have cycst grow on their ovaries, that is caused by eggs that are not fully developed, being released and not going any further than the ovary. The become like oysters on the ovary and turn into cycst.
I myself, do not have cycst. You do need to lose weight. If you can stick with something that is low carbs, like potatos, corn, white bread, pasta, white rice, a lot of sugar is also bad. Try to eat whole wheat items, sweet potatos, and if you must have sugar, make sure that it is in a limited amount. Carbs increase your insulin levels, and therefore aggrevates the PCOS. Sugar does the same!
You are young, if you can get this under control now, and get a good handle on what to do and not to do, you should be able to have children. It does make it harder to get pregnant, and you may ended up taking some kind of medication to help you, but it is possible. It also depends on how severe the PCOS is for you. You may also be able to take some medication that helps the insulin absorbtion, I take Glucophage. It helps me a lot. I have lost weight, and had some spontanios periods.
I highly recommend talking to your doctor again. If they are not willing or unable to give you the information, then you must find a doctor that can and will explain this PCOS better to you. This is a very important part of your controling this syndrome. With out the proper information, this syndrome can lead to cancer, loss of ovaries, diabets, endometrios and some other disorders. I highly recommend getting as much info on PCOS that you can. There are some good websites.
http://www.inciid.org/forums/pcos/index.html
That is one that has a lot of good info.
I hope I have helped a little. Please feel free to ask more questions. If we can help, we will.
Good luck with this, and remember, you are not alone!
Pravda
New here newly diagnosed
