PCOS Soul Cysters Unite

PCOS interferes with my workouts all the time. I'm in constant pain, and it keeps me from being active. I'm glad to know other people have the same issues I do!

What kind of pain?

I never TOM problems until after I had my daughter in 2002. I was diagnosed with PCOS in 2005. I was also diagnosed with Hypothyroidism. I was put on metformin for the PCOS and meds for the hyrothyroidism. I was taken off both the metformin and the other meds.In 2008, my husband and I tried fertility treatments. I was on chlomid for 3 months and had no luck. The doctor suggested that I would have better chances of concieving if I lost weight.

I was at my highest weight, 263, in 2009. I decided to get the Lap-Band because of all the failed diet attempts. With the Lap-Band, I have gotten down to 213. I have been semi regular with my TOM since November! It however has not helped with the hair growth, hair loss, or the acne.

I have found herbal supplements that are helping with the hypothyroidism and the PCOS. I take thyrodex for for the hypothyroidism and am taking cinnamin supplemets to help with the PCOS. The cinnamin helps regulate blood sugar and helps metabolise body fat.

ANyone is more than welcome to add me!

I was diagnosed with PCOS about 8 years ago and have a (male) sibling with type 2 diabetes. I'm not currently managing it with meds as it's too much of a bind. Have read that diet and exercise are the best way to keep it under control and as I can stand to lose more than a few pounds, I have decided that this time I'm going to completely change my lifestyle rather than follow my usual feast and famine routine. 12lbs down, another 42 to go... Would be pleased to receive advice and support from anyone in a similar situation and very happy to return the favour.

Oh, I also meant to say I was diagnosed with PCOS at the age of 16, and ovarian cancer at 21. My husband and I have been trying to concieve for going on 8 years, and it seems we will never be blessed.:sad:

Just wanted to tell you, don’t lose hope. My sister in law has PCOS and endometriosis (spelling???...lol)… After 15 yrs of and 6 miscarriges, she now holds her precious baby girl in her arms everynight!!! It has been a hard and painful road for her. She had to adjust her life in many way before conceiving and finally got pregnant. She is in awe right now and in love with her baby girl. Don’t lose hope. :flowerforyou:

Has anyone with PCOS gotten pregnant? My husband and I have been trying for about 2 years ( well i dont count the first because my doctor didn't put me on anything to regulate my period) so we have been trying for a year with meds and I'm tracking my periods very well, but I just dont feel like there is any hope. Can anyone lift my spirits at all. I'm the heaviest i have ever been and when my husband and I met I was 183 pounds and i didn't have pcos and then i gained alot and all of a sudden now i have it. Can it go away with weight loss? Am I never going to be able to have kids? I get very depressed seeing all my friends having babys and I can't have one. Please I need some support. :-(

The doctors told me that I have had PCOS my whole life. My husband and I had a baby girl in Nov 02. My periods were never regular so it was a complete shock to find out that I was pregnant. We have been trying again for the past 7 years and nothing yet. Have you thought about seeing a fertility specialist? I know several people with PCOS that has gotten pregnant on chlomid.

Hello all,
I am 23 years old and was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 2, hypothyroidism at 16, and PCOS at 19. Losing weight is such an incredible struggle. It drives me crazy when people say "just go to the gym and eat less." I know it is a lot of hard work day in and day out with balancing medications, going to the doctor, eating right, hitting up the gym, etc... It is nice to see others are out there who understand. Feel free to add me as a friend, I would love to be a part of a support group.

I fear that I have this, or might....just wondering what symptoms/signs you had? Were any of you diagnosed before you were trying to get pregnant? How did you know?

I was diagnosed with PCOS two years ago when I at a TOM that had lasted a full month. Turned out that I had a cyst that was bleeding. My gyno removed it and did some bloodwork and told me I had PCOS and that it was related to insulin-resistance, and then he put me on metformin. He actually didn't say anything about diet and exercise, but I did some research on my own, so I started working on that (I had already been working out, but not seeing any results). Luckily for me, the metformin has never really given me the side effects that people complain about.

When I went to the doctor, my weight was 280 lbs, which was 40 lbs higher than it had been the previous year (when I had last checked my weight before). I was floored, especially since I had been working out for several months. I've lost about 65 lbs since, and I'm looking to lose another 60, which I hope won't take another 2 years. Oh, and when I plateau, it's for like 6 months, which really really sucks. I don't know if that's the PCOS's fault or what.

Some people in this thread have been talking about having small periods because of PCOS, but I always had really heavy and often longer ones, so I'm also on Loestrin-Fe. I have no intention of having children, so I'm not disappointed by the difficulty it creates for that at least.

I was diagnosed with PCOS almost 15 years ago...but I wish they had caught it about 30 years ago!
I was never able to have kids and the PCOS/wieight gain turned into type II diabetes.....because I had no clue I had it.
It's great to hear so many people catching it quicker now!

Last year I had endometrial ablation which was the best thing I ever did. No more periods! No more cramps..and no hysterectomy.
Too bad it doesn't get rid of the bloating and crazy mood swings

Feel free to add me! I am currently not taking anything for my pcos and my diabetes has been reversed with weightloss.
Mostly I just watch everything I eat and try to eat very low carb/low glycemic/high protein....works for me. Exercise helps too!

I haven't been diagnosed with PCOS, but I think I have it. I don't have health insurance, so I don't go to the doctor.

Wow! Reading all of these stories and how so many of you were diagnosed so many years ago makes me mad that so few doctors really even have any idea of what it is or what is going on with us.

I was diagnosed only 2 years ago. I have been heavy all my life, and I started my TOM when I was 9. I was always told that I should just do something, work this out, eat/don't eat this or that, etc. by doctors, family members, friends, everyone. I don't even recollect ever weighing less than 200 lbs because of the trauma of a group weigh-in in 5th grade where I stood on a scale like everyone else, except mine read 205. After I miscarried at age 16, yes I was able to conceive way back then, I went on the pill, but I'm not very good at taking them daily, so I got pregnant again at 17 with twins (They just turned 18 today). During the pregnancy, I lost 30 pounds and felt better than I had ever felt in my life. After the girls were born, my doctor recommended that I get the depo shot. By the time I got the second shot I had gained 25 pounds; I never went back for the 3rd because by that time I had gained a total of 80 pounds. When I went to my family doctor to say that there has to be something hormonally wrong, he just told me that I must be eating too much because normal weight gain is only 5 pounds. I had gained 80 pounds in less than 6 months...was I eating elephants daily? I have had my thyroid checked more times than I can count, but not once did they consider anything else besides that I was overeating. Not one doctor thought that there could be more to the issue when the only time I've felt normal and actually lost weight easily was when I was pregnant, and the only time my weight would even maintain was on birth control.

I'm sorry for the long-windedness, but I'm very angry that so few in the medical field want to know, care to know, or really understand what this syndrome does to affect so much more of our lives beyond the infertility that many experience. I am going to beat this; I don't know exactly how yet, but I am going to beat this for me and my girls (who I already recognize the symptoms in). I know the road to losing the weight is going to be much longer than the road to gaining it, but that road has to have an end somewhere, and I'm going to find it. Any new information I learn or successes in my battle, I will be happy to share on here or with any of you if you would like to friend me. I may not have been diagnosed when it was painfully obvious there was something going on, but I'm not going to let the years double up on me again before I figure out how to live and feel normal...no need for bc to regulate my periods up OR down, no depression, no migraines, no swollen feet, no more carrying an extra person on my body at all times.

Hi there!
Wow, so many responses on here! Thought I'd chime in, because my PCOS case is a little unique.

I'm not really overweight - 162lbs and I'm 5'10. But I feel better and look better closer to 150.

My PCOS was diagnosed when I was 18 and in college, running track and cross country. I had wondered why my period was so funky - and they did an ultrasound and found cysts. Fast forward 4 years when I was married and wanted to get pregnant - I got on Metformin XR, and I think progesterone, then Clomid (Clomiphene, actually - it's cheaper). And got pregnant! Then 2.5 years later - same drugs - got twins! Now I just suffer the side effects of hair growth and weird periods. My weight issues are more because I simply eat too much But I still love to exercise and do so frequently.

I'd love to know what you other PCOS women do for the facial hair problem!!!

Hello everyone. I was diagnosed with PCOS June 2011 with my new doctor. TTC for 9 years. Before I was diagnosed I was on about 12 rounds of clomid having one M/C and one stillborn. I am currantly TTC again with new meds femera and loosing wieght I take glyberid for my sugars cause they don't really get high. Just looking for other women to support and help me

I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 15 (24 years ago) although it was never really explained to me and I never really understood the link between that and all of my other issues. I have struggled with my weight all of my life, I've not always been big, as a teen I would starve myself to "keep skinny" and often made myself quite sick from lack of nutrients. I then moved to the US, got married, and over the next 10 years gained over 100lbs... at my heaviest I weighed 283lbs (I was 140lb when I got there). I got sick while there with gall stones, and it wasn't until then that a doctor explained to me the link between insulin resistance, weight gain, fatty liver, excessive hair, etc. etc.

Ironically today I have to go for blood tests now that I am back in the UK to be "re-diagnosed" and to continue treatment... in the US I was taking Metformin and YAZ (birth control pill) It felt like this combination was working for me. The doctor here tried to prescribe me Cerezette because I'm overweight and the risk is to high for a combined pill... but on reading the side effects of this one I'm too afraid to take it....

I'm interested to know what other people are taking in the UK, as all that I have read about Cerezette is that it makes periods irregular (which I already have anyway) often disappearing completely, possible weight gain (don't need that), facial hair growth (I already struggle with that)...

Oh and now without any kind of medication I feel like my mood swings are out of control, I'm not depressed I know that for sure, but I swing from one extreme to the other and it is quite frankly making me crazy! Today is an emotional day, and even just writing this is making me cry, I would like to find some kind of happy balance!

I'm glad to find so many people with similar experiences on here, please feel free to friend me

I just found out I have PCOS. Me and my husband have been trying since Nov 2010 and after I got off the pill I never got my period so I was refered to a doctor that is great with these situations and from her I found out I have this. I do not know how long I have had it though. I was on the pill since I was 16. I was always 110 lbs or less but I gained abouet 25 lbs out of no where when I was 20 and figured it was just my age and things catching up to me. Then this fall I gained another 25 lbs out of no where, nothing changed in my eating or anything and I just figured it was cause it was right after my wedding so the release of stress did it. But now after hearing some of the symptoms I think that it could have been the PCOS.

I am on Metformin now, on my 2nd week of it, next I will take a medication to start my period then I will go on Clomid and pray it works! It comforts me to know that there are so many other peopl who are going through the same thing and many with success. My friedn that recommended the doctor I am seeing now has the same things and she just found it out too.

I have joined a gym and am hoping some weight loss can help me get pregnant as well. Stay positive everyone!