Help! I Was Diagnosed With Pcos

[diadiamond]

Hi Ladies!

 

I'm not sure if I'm posting this on the right board, but I was diagnosed with PCOS a few days ago and I'm having a hard time trying to wrap my head around everything.  Does anyone else have this condition? 

 

My main concern is that I want to try for a baby after my wedding in September, but I was told by my doctor that I can't have kids.  Is it possible to have children if you have PCOS?  Having children is very important to me, and I'm not sure if it is possible.

 

My doctor told me that I have to lose around 100 lbs.  this is really scary for me as I don't know if I can do it.  I heard that losing weight with PCOS is very hard to do.  Is anyone else struggling with this?  

 

Anyways, my diagnoses is still so fresh to me and I'm so confused with everything.  I know that I have to sit down and research it, but for right now I don't want to feel alone and I just want to know if there are others out there.

 

 

 

 

[calgarybride2015]

Oh hun, hugs! I can only imagine how hard it must be for you to digest all this news.

 

Are you in Canada or USA? (Sorry on my phone). Was your doctor just a GP or were they an OB/Gyne?

 

I don't have PCOS but as an obstetrical / women's health nurse I can tell you that I see pregnant women often with PCOS. When I'm at work tomorrow I will find you some good reliable documentation I can send you.

 

I also wanna throw in that you can do anything you set your mind too. I was 280lbs and have thyroid issues and I've lost around 120lbs. I struggle all the time but it's persistence and consistency! You can do it. I can talk about this all day so when you are ready I'm here to support you.

 

I hope someone with more experience than I will pop in.

 

 

 

 

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Edited May 1, 2015 by calgarybride2015

[TinkerSofi]

hey!! Welcome to the club my friend! I've had PCOS since I was 13. To start off, this disorder has soo many different presentations that it's hard to say which symptoms you will have or which ones will be the ones that bug you the most. 

 

Some girls do have a hard time losing weight, others don't. For example my main issue is facial hair but not so much my weight, even though I also suffer from hypothyroidism. I do think that your doctor jumped the gun a little bit with telling you that you cannot have kids. According to my doctor it is hard to say whether you will have trouble or not until you start trying. He said some women really don't have any issues while others need quite a bit of help to get pregnant and of course, there's the other extreme with women that can't get pregnant at all. The reason for this is that your body doesn't ovulate every month. On a positive note, there are drugs out there to help you out in ovulation, etc. so not all is lost! I know it is hard to get these news when you're older and you have been thinking of having a family for years, but you have to know that there is hope out there! Hell, you might get pregnant on the first try! you really don't know until you try. 

 

If he suggested for you to lose weight, it might have to do with the fact that if you do get pregnant it's safer for you and the baby. Have you tried losing and do you have a hard time? 

 

If you have trouble with losing weight you can get an insulin resistance test. Sometimes women with PCOS that have trouble with their weight have insulin resistance. Mine came out ok but I know it is very common among people with our disorder. 

 

I can't stress enough how important exercise is in balancing your hormones. I find at least that when I exercise regularly my periods are more regular. Also, if you have insulin resistance, it's important to try and eat foods that have a low glicemic index (spellcheck on me here). I also read a while ago that sometimes medication for diabetes helps to balance things out. Just a few things to research because I guess I don't have much info. 

 

I take birth control for my symptoms but birth control is really a mask for symptoms rather than a cure. I will have to come off these, of course, when I want to try and get pregnant. Has your doctor prescribed anything for you? 

 

Just know that you're going to be ok. There's no cure for this but it can definitely be managed. Let me know if you have any other questions! 

[calgarybride2015]

Great advice @@TinkerSofi!!

 

I agree with the weight. Being overweight does cause issues for mom in pregnancy and post partum and can make you considered high risk. But also when you are overweight you can have a harder time conceiving. Given the PCOS can interfere with this for some people, he is probably trying to provide solutions wherever possible!

 

 

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Edited May 1, 2015 by calgarybride2015

[TinkerSofi]

I agree with @@calgarybride2015, anything is possible if you set your mind to it. It might take some people more or less work, but you can get there! She has a lot of the medical information that I don't. I basically only know what I've gone through but I can try and help you with whatever you need! 

 

Really don't be discouraged, and for the love of Pete do not look up forums on this stuff because they paint the grimmest picture. Or at least don't start your research there. I did that one day out of curiosity and started to get really paranoid. All of a sudden everything was a symptom! Definitely stick to medical information on symptoms and management. Just like with any other chronic disorder what works for one person might not work for others and it's just a matter of finding what's right for you. It might take a little while but you'll get there .

Edited May 1, 2015 by TinkerSofi

[MrandMrsBonitto2016]

I have PCOS too. It's nothing to be scared of my love. We can still have babies

[diadiamond]

@@calgarybride2015  Thanks so much hun!  I'm in Canada.  I finally went to my family doctor after not having my period for 9 months.  He ran blood work and saw that I wasn't ovulating.  He sent me to see a gynocologist that concluded the same thing.  I went for a pelvic and transvaginal ultrasound today and my technician said that she saw the cysts too.  My gynocologist prescribed these pills that I have to take for 7 days and I think it's supposed to give me a period.  I'm supposed to see him in a month.  Until then he told me to make some major lifestyle changes to lose weight.  

 

I would really appreciate some resources so that I can learn more about the condition.  I just feel really defeated at the moment with this and gaining back most of the weight I had previously lost.

[MrandMrsBonitto2016]

@@diadiamond babycenter.com has been very helpful for me:)

[diadiamond]

@@TinkerSofi Thanks so much hun!  It's all so new to me and I'm happy to know that I'm not alone.  Thanks for the reassurance.  I'm happy that I'm not completely infertile and that there are ways that I can still get pregnant.  In the past when I put my mind to it I usually lose about 2 lbs. a week if I really stick to it.  I put weight on really quickly though.  I've gained 15 lbs. since the new year.  I will admit that I haven't had healthy habits in the past year, but I'm defiitely going to make a change.  For the past few days I've been watching my caloric intake and making sure that I'm eating healthy foods.  I've also started going on 30-60 minute walks everyday as I heard that exercise is important when you have PCOS.  I also grow hair on my face.  I've also always had great skin, but lately I notice that I break out a lot more than I used to.  

 

What kinds of medications do the doctors put you on for PCOS?  Do the cysts ever go away?  Also I've been getting pain in my right ovary is that normal?

[TinkerSofi]

I'm only on birth control but my symptoms aren't so bad. Like I said, I know some women are on diabetes meds and it seems to help! Especially when you have insulin resistance.

 

In terms of hair I've been getting laser treatments for years now. The hair will never go away completely but it's totally manageable and at least I don't get any new hair. I go for laser every 3 months but this time it lasted about 5. It has gotten much better than at the beginning.

 

I've been breaking out quite a bit lately but I think it has to do with my late nights haha.

 

Birth control really helps with he acne and also with the pain during periods. When I was 13 I got my period for a month straight and I didn't know that wasn't normal because it was only my second period. That's how they discovered it. The cysts are actually the diagnosis tell sign but they won't go away , although they won't usually cause other problems either. However if you feel like your ovary hurt maybe tell your doctor. If they did an ultrasound I'm sure they checked for any other abnormalities but it's better to be safe than sorry.

 

When I moved to canada they took me off my birth control. That's when the hair started growing and I stopped getting regular periods for a year. I would have one once in a while and it was very painful. It actually took for my parents to pretty much fight with our family doctor at the time to get a referral to an endocrinologist. He kept saying I was fine and all he hair on my face was normal, even with my history . Let's just say at 14 those symptoms were terrifying and they caused me a lot of issues at school with being bullied, plus being new to a country. Anyways once treated things got a lot better. My periods are still irregular sometimes, they're not very heavy sometimes but my dr. Said that's totally fine, it just means that sometimes I don't ovulate which we know it's part of the whole syndrome but that's ok. At least we know the lining in the uterus is not getting thick or anything so I'm ok. I find exercise really helps though so keep at it!

 

Of you put on weight easily definitely do some research on low GI foods as they will help to stabilize your blood sugar levels and keep everything running more smoothly

 

 

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