Doctors willing to diagnose PCOS in Virginia

pamplemousse21
pamplemousse21 Posts: 20 Member
edited November 2018 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all! I have had the worst time with doctors on my PCOS journey. I’m sure many of you can relate. Most of my doctors haven’t believed me that my rapid and extreme weight gain was not accompanied with binges, bad eating, and lack of exercise. I ate health consciously through my undergraduate years and still gained 150 pounds in 5 years. They have lectured me condescendingly on the absolute basics of healthy eating (eg. you do know that asparagus is better for you than cheez it’s, right?). Writing in my chart that I have a binge eating disorder when I explicitly told them that I don’t have a problem with this. Not believing me when I tell them I’ve never been hospitalized for blood clots. Ignoring abnormalities in my blood tests that would indicate a possibility of PCOS. Etc etc.

My last doctor told me that I probably do have PCOS and that it was important for me to lose the weight but that my current method of losing the weight (low carb) wasn’t going to keep working. When I asked her if metformin would help she told me yes but then when I asked if I could get a prescription she dodged the question and said we will see at your next appointment (a year from now). She is perfectly able to prescribe it and I have no other medical concerns that would discourage her from doing so.

I have lost 40 pounds on low carb after not being able to lose weight for 5 years no matter what I tried. I’ve also been getting fewer migraines, less ovarian pain, more regular periods, less acne, less fatigue, and my depression and anxiety have gotten better. However recently my weight loss has completely halted and these other symptoms are coming back slowly with no change to my diet. I still have plenty of weight to lose (over 100 pounds to the “healthy” range).

All of this to say, has anyone been diagnosed and prescribed metformin by a doctor in the Charlottesville, VA area? I would be willing to drive 2+ hours to see someone who I know would take me seriously and help me solve this, so any suggestions in Virginia, Maryland, DC, northern North Carolina, or eastern West Virginia would be appreciated. I’ve been wasting so much money on doctors who don’t help and it’s very frustrating and depressing to get your hopes up and have another doctor not take you seriously.

Edit: I have been doing everything I can to break through this plateau. Recalculating calories, more water, less sodium, more exercise, etc. I recognize that this could just be a general weight loss plateau that will go away but what concerns me is that it is accompanied by an increase in all of my other PCOS symptoms. Thank you for the tips, but I am in fact on top of that.
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Replies

  • pamplemousse21
    pamplemousse21 Posts: 20 Member
    I am not looking to metformin to be a magic wand. I know multiple people who have used it and it has helped them lose weight with a healthy diet and calorie deficit. I am perfectly willing to put in the work and have seen metformin make it so that people don’t have to work twice as hard to achieve 1/2 the results. I know this doesn’t happen for everyone but it has happened for multiple people I know and is supported by studies, though they don’t know why some people lose weight on metformin. As stated before, even if metformin doesn’t help me lose weight, i would want to try it because I would like to have a normal ovulation cycle so that hopefully my ovaries some day aren’t just useless piles of pain.

    I am in a calorie deficit calculated to lose 2 pounds a week. Those things i mentioned are all useful for breaking through a weight loss plateau if that plateau is caused by water weight, which is why I mentioned them.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,127 Member

    I am in a calorie deficit calculated to lose 2 pounds a week. Those things i mentioned are all useful for breaking through a weight loss plateau if that plateau is caused by water weight, which is why I mentioned them.

    How long has it been since you have lost weight?

    and how are you determining your calorie intake are you guesstimating, measuring with cups or weighing?
  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
    God. I thought posting on MyFitnessPal would be fine but apparently the internet is trash everywhere. Thanks to those of you who actually said helpful things instead of assuming I was lazy and wanted metformin as a magical solution. And to be clear, i have been diagnosed but the doctor didnt do or suggest anything helpful (my title maybe makes this unclear, thats on me). I am not self diagnosing. I am counting calories meticulously (including weighing/measuring my food). I just want a doctor who believes me when I outline my symptoms and provides some sort of solution instead of “you aren’t going to be able to keep losing weight but you have to to be healthy” or just writes binge eater down in my chart when I explicitly told them I’m not. If they had some sort of solution other than metformin I would be perfectly happy with that (prescription or otherwise) but no one has done so.

    If you are looking for a doctor then search on healthgrades.com
  • me0231
    me0231 Posts: 218 Member
    I have PCOS. I'm happy to share with you my story and how it relates or doesn't relate to weight loss. I was struggling with infertility and successful pregnancy, having suffered 7 miscarriages in 7 pregnancies in 6 years. I started to see a gynecologist who specializes in oncology. They diagnosed my PCOS (didn't know I had it) via ultrasound. The very definition of PCOS is that you have multiple cysts on your ovaries, something easier to see than detect in blood. I started metformin. I was not actively looking to lose weight at the time, and did not lose weight while I was on it. I stopped metformin with a successful pregnancy (he's 6 now and super cool).

    I still have PCOS. I don't take metformin. Yes, my calorie limit is adjusted for that because I do believe it affects my BMR. But I was still able to lose 70 lbs without medication.

    My advice, I guess, would be 1) see a gynecologist for an ultrasound to determine if you have PCOS. 2) get your BMR tested to determine what your CO portion of the equation really is.

    Best of luck.

    Just wanted to add that you don't need cysts to have PCOS despite its name. It's an endocrine disorder that can cause cysts but it's not a requirement for diagnosis ( that's why a hysterectomy doesn't fix pcos).
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    the things with drs is its going to be trial and error. my mother in law when sick saw more than 5 drs for her illness,finally she found one who was able to figure out what her health problem was. she had many tell her one thing and another would tell her no she had something else. by the time she found out what it was it was too late.so it can take dr after dr to figure out the issues and find one that is willing to listen as well.

    same with endos. my daughter went to one who did not believe she barely ate 1200 calories,she looked at her like she was an overeater too. she wasnt and still isnt.she told her she had insulin resistance just by looking at her(she had Acanthosis nigricans). she did NO blood tests. made my daughter feel like a piece of *kitten* and belittled her because she was NOT a vegetarian.

    we left her practice after that ONE visit. it was that bad and had our family dr find another endo. she finally found one that doesnt belittle her and treats her like a human being and we found out she does not have insulin resistance either and the Acanthosis nigricans cleared up with her thyroid meds. she had no other issues besides that. she can actually talk to her endo and she is helpful.
  • pamplemousse21
    pamplemousse21 Posts: 20 Member
    the things with drs is its going to be trial and error. my mother in law when sick saw more than 5 drs for her illness,finally she found one who was able to figure out what her health problem was. she had many tell her one thing and another would tell her no she had something else. by the time she found out what it was it was too late.so it can take dr after dr to figure out the issues and find one that is willing to listen as well.

    same with endos. my daughter went to one who did not believe she barely ate 1200 calories,she looked at her like she was an overeater too. she wasnt and still isnt.she told her she had insulin resistance just by looking at her(she had Acanthosis nigricans). she did NO blood tests. made my daughter feel like a piece of *kitten* and belittled her because she was NOT a vegetarian.

    we left her practice after that ONE visit. it was that bad and had our family dr find another endo. she finally found one that doesnt belittle her and treats her like a human being and we found out she does not have insulin resistance either and the Acanthosis nigricans cleared up with her thyroid meds. she had no other issues besides that. she can actually talk to her endo and she is helpful.

    Thank you so much for both of your very helpful responses.