~*~ Ladies with PCOS, please read. ~*~

Don't freak out. It means your hormones are misfiring. This is my experience with PCOS...

I've been irregular since I was 15. That's when they found the first cyst. But then we kinda forgot about it. We just thought I was naturally that hairy. With puberty at 13 came a lot of weight gain. I grew 5 sizes over one summer. Again, nobody thought much of it.

When I was 20, and the second cyst appeared, this time a 12 cm that had to be removed via a bikini incision, suddenly we needed answers.

Turns out having one painful period every 4 months is not normal. Huh. Turns out my "depression" was really a severe hormone imbalance. Turns out I wasn't crazy.

I had a higher level of testosterone than I should have. This lead to body hair, aggression, and um... it was hard to find a guy who could keep up with me. In the bedroom. o_o

They started me at 20 on birth control pills. If your body is given hormones, it doesn't try to make it's own, is the idea, I think. They needed me to stop trying to ovulate. Ovulating led to cysts because the egg would never drop. It would just sorta mutate.

Sometimes the mutation was a small cyst and they'd form a string of pearls on my ovary. Sometimes one would go haywire and I'd get a big one. They're essentially harmless. They can cause some pain. Your ovaries regenerate tho. Taking hormones (birth control) will make them go away.

There are other medications out there you can try. Glucophage is one I've heard of. It's a symptom treater. They say that excess insulin gathers around your ovaries (I'm sure your doctor can confirm my facts, don't take my word for anything) and the glucophage takes care of that. That excess insulin is supposed to keep you from losing weight as easily.

I've not found that I can't lose easily. I've found that I gain easily. Really easily. My sister is my OB and she tells me that my symptoms would be helped a great deal by being in the normal BMI range, so that's what I'm going for.

The biggest concern for many women with PCOS is that it can keep you from being able to conceive in some cases. For me it was a matter of being on birth control for a while then going off and getting pregnant like that. The hormones I was on were able to allow me one stable ovulation.

Might be the only one I ever have. But I'm hoping losing weight will allow me to have just one more.

Your doctor will be able to design a treatment based on your specific symptoms. Don't sweat it. You'll be just fine.