thinopia-I also have Hashimoto's thyroiditis (the autoimmune hypothyroid), so I do have what my endocrinologist calls "the double whammy" with PCOS AND hypothyroidism. He never pushes WLS, but does say I need to lose weight.
With PCOS, it's the chicken or the egg-does PCOS cause weight gain (which I believe it does, b/c I had no problems with weight growing up until I got in my early 20s), but then weight gain makes PCOS symptoms worse. If only it were easy to lose weight. I seem to put on 10-15 pounds in just a couple of months by doing nothing different.
I will have to be private pay because DH's insurance does not cover WLS at all. I guess I just wonder that if I am going to get similar results with WLS as what I would with a physician supervised diet/exercise program, then I am not sure if I want to do surgery. Of course the surgeon is going to recommend surgery, b/c that's money in his pocket, so it's not like they don't have some kind of bias.
I haven't gone to an informational seminar yet-I am supposed to go next week. The surgeon also has medically supervised diet program-either 6 weeks or 6 months where they do a program just for you, and even go to the grocery store with you. You also meet with someone who has a degree in exercise physiology to train 2 times per week.
I am really torn, because I get so inspired by the weight loss that I have seen people talk about with VSG, but then I wonder with the PCOS and the hypothyroidism (which is only getting worse as I get older and my body destroys my thyroid and I have to go on higher doses of thyroid medicine as time goes on), if I will have all the wonderful results as what everyone else has had.
I did print out the paperwork for the surgeon I am going to, and he does have a specific section for PCOS. I don't know if they cover that in the informational seminar, or if that part is covered during the consult with the surgeon ( I don't know if you have to commit to anything prior to meeting with the surgeon).