Freidon wrote: »

Wow. It's scary how similiar our age/body types are. 0_0

I don't have any advice regarding medications, since I haven't been able to take any (long story). However, I have noticed a correlation between my weight and my symptoms. My weight peaked at 175-180, and I started getting hairier at 160. I dropped down to and have been maintaining 138lb for about two years now, although I'm still trying to lose a final 15.

I went from only having four periods a year to being regular for the first time in my life, and my skin has cleared up a lot. Despite the weight loss, however, I'm still not proportionate, with most of my weight going to my stomach. When I was gaining weight, I was consistently getting hairier. While I'm not getting any hairier, the hair pattern that has grown up isn't going away.

I'm hoping losing the final fifteen will put an end to the stomach and the extra hair once and for all. Unfortunately, there's no way of knowing that. If you find a solution, please let me know!

Genetically, women are geared to hold more weight in their stomachs and abdomen, so that they are equipped to survive famine and continue the species, so a certain amount of that is inevitable without destroying your entire body. That being said, a lot of women maintain a bigger stomach area due to inflammation from wheat or something else they are sensitive to. It might not hurt to look into an anti-inflammatory eating plan just to see if you fall into that range... For me, I can tell you that eliminating most wheat and grains made a crazy difference in swelling I didn't even realize was swelling and not fat... Always something to consider.

I've had PCOS since 12, and my weight has gone from 130 to 108 to 130 to 117 since then and I didn't really see any changes in hair growth. It probably depends mostly on the person though, having dark hair definitely doesn't help. Hopefully weight loss helps for you.

I lost 30 lbs (and unfortunately regained a lot of it in the past year) but didn't notice any difference in hair growth when I was at my thinnest. I might have to look into spironolactone.

My gyno put me on spironolactone for hair about 8 months ago. I have noticed a dramatic improvement since being on it and also just purchased my first groupon for hair removal. My chin still drives me nuts and plucking/tweezing is only so helpful. If you find anything else helpful I'd absolutely like to hear about it as well!

There are several recent posts about many women with PCOS needing to go low carb. Read them for good info. Many of us are insulin resistant or as you say - carb intolerant. Dropping carbs while upping your fats breaks through this wall for most of us.

Jennym93 wrote: »

Hi, I'm new on here so forgive me if a similar thread has already been posted.
I was diagnosed with PCOS around a year ago maybe a little bit over, I've tried metformin and vaniqua but I stopped the metformin as it gave me unpleasant side effects and the vaniqua is expensive to buy repeatedly and there isn't enough in the bottle cover all my hairy areas

I'm having laser hair removal on my chin but I can't afford any more after these sessions are over, my parents have said they'll pay but I don't think they realise how expensive it will be.
The thing is I have fine but dark hair all over including my lower back and even a few on my shoulders, I have fine but dark hair on my arms and stomach and it makes me feel disgusting, I'm already fat and unattractive I don't need to add excessive hair onto that, I really feel disgusting when I look in the mirror, at least without the hair I wouldn't look *so* bad.

I epilate/wax most areas and shave where I have to but I feel like I'm doing it so much I don't get to relax, I'm almost obsessed with hair and hiding it if I find some I hadn't noticed before, I'm paranoid others will notice.

Anyway long complaining bit over, my question is has anyone on here seen a marked improvement in their body hair after losing weight?

Hi there. So, I have been diagnosed with PCOS since I was 16 but didn't start with excess hair on my chin (A LOT of dark, thick hair) until after I gave birth to my daughter at 19 years old. For years, I shaved EVERY SINGLE DAY. Until I discovered threading. Here is just a quick article I found, haven't looked it over, but a quick google search will get you all you need to know. http://ibrowboutique.com/about-threading/

Now, I am poor so I cannot afford it as much and it is quite painful even though it only takes about 10 mins (since my hairs are so thick). but it lasts longer than shaving AND its better on my skin. But honestly, the thing that has helped me the most with dealing with hair issues is that I have learned how to love myself completely- fat, hair acne and all.

I've always been a proud big girl, but it wasn't until last summer that I really decided I needed to go on a journey of self-love. I did a lot of things to help with this. the most important I think, was hanging out with amazing women who loved themselves too. I know not a lot of us have that, but if you can, seek out bad *kitten* women to chill with who will accept you as you are and encourage you to love yourself. I also stopped shaving my body hair as much, including my chin. I ventured out in public that way. It was scary at first, but it made me realize that strangers and others opinions aren't important or necessary for my life to continue lol. I wore crop tops and skirts and bikinis. I stopped dying my hair and wore way less makeup. Not because those things are bad but only because I wanted to be comfortable with my "natural" self for a while. And it has worked. I love myself regardless of anything that happens to my body. I think thats the most important thing. Because when you have that love there, then excessive hair or acne or fat etc won't feel as overwhelming.

However, because of societal standards and people being immensely cruel, I understand that we feel pressured to remove body hair and thats fine. Like I said, I still shave my chin hair and go get it threaded out when I have money. So, I would recommend popping some pain medication before going because it DOES hurt if you have thick hair. It lasts about a week. Its smoother on the skin than shaving. And i have seen a slight difference in the reduction of hair. If you go every week for a long time, eventually the hair stops growing back (from what I've heard). Please, do some research, but I believe this is true, since like tweezing, threading removes the hair at the very root, and enough of that will get it to stop coming back.

Hope this helps. Love yourself regardless and let me know if you need to talk about anything else! Please, everyone, feel free to friend request me or message me if you'd like. Thanks for reading!

Any updates on the IPL hair 'removal'????