@stacymarie01 BCP is a bandaid at best, and often worsens the underlying issue. The best ways to regulate hormones are through diet, exercise, insulin management (Metformin, incorporating fasting, etc.), removing toxins from your environment, and supplements.

BCP adds more hormones into an already tangled mess rather than straightening it out, but like a bandaid on a wound, it covers up the true issue just enough for us to ignore it and not treat it.

I personally would switch doctors if yours recommended BCP strongly. And endocrinologist is who you should see if you have ongoing concerns.

There are others here with much more technical knowledge than me. Maybe @stacicali @Dragonwolf @aSearch4Me and others have more specific guidance. There have been discussion on this topic in the last year, but I'd have to dig to find the topics.

I think BCP do work for a very rare few people. Just not in average. Most folks with PCOS tend to have more estrogen dominance than too low estrogen, so adding more in the mix, or trying to "low pills" just tends to wreak more havoc, particularly since from what you said you're pretty comfortable with your cycles now, @stacymarie01

Metformin and I were not friends. It caused me to have chronic diarrhea, but that was mainly due to me continuing to eat dairy and sugar (couldn't have any 2-3 hours either side of a Met dose). If your glucose levels are not out of control, even if your insulin is raging out of control (my glucose numbers are normal, and my insulin levels are high, showing resistance), you might be better served by incorporating dietary, exercise, and meal timing changes, if you can stick with it. Metformin mimics this combination in our bodies, and works extremely well for some folks.

The brand name medication Glucophage is often better tolerated (less side effects).

You might need to try the extended release and immediate release formulas to try out what will work better for you, as that's always very individual.

I think PCOS Diva has a site that @stacicali loves... I know @Dragonwolf has some blog writings she's done.

Once you have your tests and know which aspects of PCOS are your highest concerns, we can then offer advice for how to proceed best. Just remember, PCOS, insulin resistance, and any of the co-morbid conditions, they aren't the end of the world, and the sooner you treat for them, the more quality of life you can retake!

@stacicali - I thought PCOS needed progesterone only pills, that it was estrogen that messed up the androgen issues/hormonal estrogen dominance? Or do I have it backwards? Yaz and Yasmin were supposed to be the low estrogen ones, if I recall?? Am I totally lost?

I also feel a million and 12 times better on a higher estrogen pill and felt like total crap on progesterone supps... I got terrified of all the warnings, even after paying $50 for Yaz, I think it was, and tossed it in the garbage, unused.

I know my doc has tried to get be back on spirolactone, but that stuff massively worsened my dehydration. It was insane. I'm at a loss, @stacicali - I've not heard of docs not wanting to supp Prog...but that would make sense that it was when my PCOS took a turn for the worst after 2-3 year supplementing it, if that's the case!

@stacymarie01 - I know that my Endocrinologist wants me below 2 for sure, and would prefer me be below 1.5. My understanding is that most folks feel best at between 0.5-1.5 for TSH. I'll have to look up the numbers, but Free T3 and T4 were both a 2.??? if I remember right. I know my Free T3 by itself didn't show a problem with a neon flag, but having the Reverse T3 number being high indicated that my body was trying to protect me from running out, as T4 converts to T3, and T3 is the active usable form.

And yes, on the insulin levels, I think anything over a 5 is considered "take preventative steps" and anything over 10 freaks most doctors out (even though labs say up to 19 is okay)...and anything over 15 gives them heart issues. I think mine was a 9 and they wanted to put me on metformin.

Maria Emmerich has some good info on it: mariamindbodyhealth.com/thyroid-madness/

mariamindbodyhealth.com/zinc-hair-loss/ - and this is the one that got me started on hair loss stuff...

This is another site: stopthethyroidmadness.com/recommended-labwork/

I haven't used this specific site, but @stacicali is a huge proponent, so: pcosdiva.com/category/blog/treatment/thyroid/ and specifically I like this one: pcosdiva.com/2016/05/hormone-link-thyroid-and-iodine-pcos/.

Hopefully these will give you some starting points. I think it is Dr. Hymen and another functional doc that listed the first numbers. I will dig through my notes to see what I can find.